The Big Easy. The Crescent City. NOLA. Nawlins. Whichever way you have it, there’s nowhere quite like New Orleans. It’s a city of incomparably rich cultural history, fuelled by a musical scene that lives in the streets as much as it does in the bars lining Frenchman Street.
As such, it makes for a singular cinematic backdrop, instilling a character of its own that’s impossible to recreate on studio backlots. We took a look back across some 70 years of depictions of New Orleans on film, picking out some of the best.
Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper), two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth. On their journey, they experience bigotry and hatred from the inhabitants of small-town America and also meet with other travellers seeking alternative lifestyles. After a terrifying drug experience in New Orleans, the two travellers wonder if they will ever find a way to live peacefully in America.
