I'm a fan of classic movies. I love The Thin Man, Rocky Horror Picture Show, What's Up, Doc?, and even pretty much every single one of The Pink Panthers. Even the ones where they go full James Bond and use lasers to disintegrate Inspector Dreyfus.
But I'm an outlier of my generation (millennials), and according to everything online, none of those younger than me care about those movies. Nor does either camp have the sort of foot-loose and fancy-free access to a buttload of money to purchase anything other than the basic necessities of life. Least of all, a prop from a movie that's 55 years our junior.
Yet, I've seen a handful of stories seemingly question why the Stars and Stripes helmet from the classic movie Easy Rider failed to elicit a single bid when it recently came up for auction. First off, the minimum reserve was set at $25,000. And secondly, who actually cares anymore?
That latter sounds harsh, but even I as someone who loves classic movies, and writes about motorcycles all day, just doesn't care for some crusty-old prop helmet. I mean, it has history. It has provenance. And it represents an era when motorcycling was all the rage among a certain portion of the population. What's, up, Boomers!
But my generation, and both Z and Alpha, don't have the same nostalgia for Easy Rider or Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. Great actors, sure, but who cares? We didn't grow with this movie and those who did have likely already spent all the cash they have on other things of their youth. Sure, there's probably some rich Boomer who has the cash and cares, but in the wide world of movie props and memorabilia, this would be a weird one to be on your list. Especially if you don't have the bike.
I get that it was a cultural touchstone for a long time. But that's just no longer the case. My generation, as well as those who've come after me, both don't care about the movie, likely being more influenced by things like the Top Gun movies in terms of motorcycling and don't have the cash for such a dumb purchase. So it's not really rocket science as to why it didn't meet its reserve or even get a single bid.
At least I don't think so.
