The dope smoking, counter-culture road flick that defined Hopper. The back end of the film looks clunkily dated now, but the earlier scenes with Hopper, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson still shine, while the images of Billy and Captain America tearing down the highway on their bikes never grow old.

Scriptless and largely improvised on the spot, the shoot for Easy Rider was a legendary nightmare, but somehow – despite spending most of the shoot drunk or stoned off his face – Hopper's directorial debut worked. The film cost around $500,000 to make. It made $19 million.

“We made all of our money back the first week,” crowed newly crowned counter-culture king Hopper. “In one theatre.”

Hop Triv – The scene where Hopper, Fonda and Nicholson's characters smoke dope? They really are smoking dope...