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The Last Movie

United States

1971

108 Min

Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
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SCR Stewart Stern, Dennis Hopper

CAST Dennis Hopper, Stella Garcia, Julie Adams, Tomas Milian, Don Gordon, Roy Engel, Donna Baccala

Venice

Synopsis

The success of Hopper’s EASY RIDER gave many young filmmakers the opportunity to work in Hollywood under the studio system. In 1970, Universal hired five “young genius” directors to make pictures for them. Hopper was one of these and developed a script with Steward Stern, the writer for REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, about the process of moviemaking and its effect on the natives of a remote and primitive village in Peru where it is being shot.

THE LAST MOVIE was the result – an amazing milieu of cinema and the decade it was created in. Hopper is a stunt man and wrangler on a big budget western, with which Hopper infused the presence of Sam Fuller, Sylvia Miles, Toni Basil, Henry Fonda, Kris Kristofferson, Michelle Phillips, Dean Stockwell and the cinematography of Laszlo Kovacs. After the production leaves town, Hopper’s life starts to get a little insane, torn between a new movie producer in town, a buddy (the great Don Gordon) and his quest for gold, and the incredible, ritualistic movie being “shot” by the locals using a wicker camera and boom mike. Under the surface bubbles the genius of the film, dealing with friendship, loyalty, the superstitious nature of filmmaking and the notion of film genre.

Although it received the only award given at the 1971 Venice Film Festival, Universal refused to distribute the film unless Hopper re-edited it. Hopper was intransigent, and Universal gave THE LAST MOVIE only token distribution and the picture was shelved.

Director

Dennis Hopper

Actor, director, photographer, art collector. Born on May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kansas. Often taking on darker roles and suspect characters, Dennis Hopper began his film career in the mid-1950s. He started acting as a teenager, eventually signing a contract with Warner Brothers in the early 1950s.

While filming a small role in Rebel Without A Cause (1955), Hopper befriended fellow actor James Dean. The two appeared together again in Dean’s last film, Giant (1956), which was made before Dean’s fatal car crash. But it wouldn’t be until 1969 that Hopper would score his greatest success on screen with Easy Rider. The film follows a road trip made by two counterculture hippies on motorcycles played Hopper and Peter Fonda, capturing a moment in American history. In addition to his starring role, Hopper directed and co-wrote the film with Fonda and Terry Southern. The film received two Academy Award nominations—one for a then-unknown Jack Nicholson for Best Supporting Actor and one… read more

Actor, director, photographer, art collector. Born on May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kansas. Often taking on darker roles and suspect characters, Dennis Hopper began his film career in the mid-1950s. He started acting as a teenager, eventually signing a contract with Warner Brothers in the early 1950s.

While filming a small role in Rebel Without A Cause (1955), Hopper befriended fellow actor James Dean. The two appeared together again in Dean’s last film, Giant (1956), which was made before Dean’s fatal car crash. But it wouldn’t be until 1969 that Hopper would score his greatest success on screen with Easy Rider. The film follows a road trip made by two counterculture hippies on motorcycles played Hopper and Peter Fonda, capturing a moment in American history. In addition to his starring role, Hopper directed and co-wrote the film with Fonda and Terry Southern. The film received two Academy Award nominations—one for a then-unknown Jack Nicholson for Best Supporting Actor and one for Hopper, Fonda, and Southern for Best Original Screenplay.

Unfortunately, Hopper’s next directing project, The Last Movie (1971), was a commercial and critical failure. This sent him into a tailspin, and he sank into a period of intense alcohol and drug abuse. In the 1980s, Hopper went through a personal and professional revival, getting sober and landing more substantial parts. He turned in a memorably disturbing performance in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) as the sinister Frank Booth who was involved in a strange relationship with Dorothy Vallens played by Isabella Rossellini. Showing great versatility, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of an alcoholic father to tries to get sober and help coach his son’s basketball team in Hoosiers (1986).

Hopper returned to directing with 1988’s police versus street gangs drama Colors, starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall. Since then he has directed a few more films, including The Hot Spot (1990) and Chasers (1994). In the 1990s, however, he was better known for his acting, especially playing the bad guy in such films as Speed (1994).

More recently, Hopper has been acting in films and on television. Recent films include The Keeper (2004) and 10th & Wolf (2006). On television he did a series of guest spots on the hit drama 24 in 2002 and appeared a series regular in the short-lived 2005 military series set at the Pentagon, E-Ring, with Benjamin Bratt. In addition to his film and television work, Hopper is an accomplished photographer. His work has been shown at museums and galleries and several books of his photographs have been published. Hopper is also known for amassing a large modern art collection.

Married five times, Hopper is currently wed to Victoria Duffy. The couple has a daughter. Hopper has three other children. His oldest daughter Marin is from his first marriage to writer and actress Brooke Hayward. He also has a daughter, Ruthana, with third wife Daria Halprin, and a son, Henry Lee, with fourth wife Katherine LaNasa. —bio.

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