Is it just me?

Bootz has it: He is more of a screen presence who occupies roles and an iconic face of the counter culture. With that out of the way he is a different kind of an actor than someone like Jack Nicholson. He does not emote so much as he draws the role into himself and becomes that character -- at least in his "classic" roles that I am familiar with.

I would also suggest that you are confusing the message with the messenger here. Peter Fonda is a wonderful actor, it is EASY RIDER is a *somewhat* over-rated film that was really super important for when it was made & by whom rather than any specific cinematic breakthroughs which came about. The most important things that came out of EASY RIDER were Jack Nicholson and the music soundtrack album. As far as it's message of urban paranoia finding it's match amongst the hayseeds down in the sticks, that isn't such a new idea and in fact worked to solidify the stereotype of the south rural areas as hotbeds of intolerance and hatred. For a movie with a message about peace and love or whatever it sure has one hell of a downer ending, and I have read at least one essay by a writer who contends that if it wasn't for that ending and the soundtrack album the film may have passed on only remembered as Jack Nicholson's breakthrough movie. I don't necessarily agree with that conclusion -- I like the trip scenes in the cemetery and identify with the urge to shuck it all & hit the road -- but there is no doubt that Peter's status within the counterculture was boosted by the phenomenal success of the movie to the point where again, people confused the film's role as a social barometer with the film's merits both pro and con.

Such overwhelming social enthusiasm for any cultural form will inevitably generate some resentment by those who find such status to be unearned. But just because EASY RIDER might be overrated that doesn't mean the people who participated it necessarily are. Dennis Hopper is still the poster child of Hollywood out of control, Mr. Nicholson is a treasure (his football helmeted grinning face is the lasting iconic image from the film), the soundtrack album helped push AOR rock music into the mainstream of social consumption & continues to sell quite well to this day, as does the movie itself as a catalogue item loaded with nostalgic appeal. Peter was very much at the right time/right place and the right choice to play Wyatt just because of who he was. It is also important to remember how much the world has changed since 1969 when he literally was the face of the counter culture, whether or not he wanted to. He was a prisoner of his own age as we all are.

If nothing else I would assert that under the circumstances he comported himself quite well and actually did give the world some great performances in the years after wards. He may not have had such a bona-fide A list blockbuster hit, but you can't really fault the guy for having been born when & whom he was. And making a decent living at it.