I believe that Five Easy Pieces is a continuation of Easy Rider, and directly comments on some of the same themes and ideas that the earlier film presented.
Five Easy Pieces presented quieter or more subtle accusations of contemporary America. In the last few years of the 1960's, American films had been growing steadily harsher in their denunciations of the failures of contemporary American society. Easy Rider presented strong accusations against contemporary America. It began by discussing some American myths - the freedom of the open road, the dream of living on unpolluted land, and the journey away from civilization as an experience containing the secret of life. But when the free-living heroes reached the end of the road, they came up against contemporary American civilization, and were slaughtered by men who could not tolerate their unconventional and indifferent existence. Easy Rider questioned the American frontier myth, but the film never questioned the myths themselves and instead turned its anger against the Southern bigots who, in forgetting their nation's history, betrayed a once noble dream.
Five Easy Pieces extends the criticisms of American myths in a more thoughtful way. The character played by Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider, a small-town liberal lawyer, felt an exuberant sense of liberation traveling with his motorcycle buddies; he was murdered by Southern rednecks bitterly envious of his freedom. Shortly before his death, trying to analyze the hatred he had encountered, he said, 'This used to be a hell of a good country. I don't know what happened to it . People talk about individual freedom, but when they see a really free individual, it scares them.' The character played by Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces still believes in the mystique of the open road. However, this time there are no rednecks or bigots to prevent him from realizing his dream. .
Five Easy Pieces looks for some of the psychological reasons for the hero's rootlessness and provides a better understanding of the American drifter than a more sentimental film like Easy Rider.
