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Blu-ray Review: “The American Dreamer” Is A Compelling Look At An Artistic Genius

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A documentary about actor/director Dennis Hopper, showing him at his home and studio putting together his film “The Last Movie.”

Dennis Hopper is an actor that really didn’t appear on my radar until I saw him in “Speed.” The film took an everyday real-life character, a retired cop and in the hands of a less-capable actor he could have easily become one-dimensional and stereotypical. Instead, what Hopper did, was take this character and give him a backstory, a reason for existing in the first place and while ultimately, his actions were unacceptable and innocent people died as a direct result, Hopper made us understand his reasoning as to why he did what he did, even though we disagreed with them. There are not many actors today who are capable of such a feat but Hopper was one of them.

As an actor, Hopper’s resume was quite diverse; “The Sons of Katie Elder” with John Wayne and Dean Martin, “Cool Hand Luke” with Paul Newman, “Easy Rider” with Peter Fonda, “Apocalypse Now” with Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen and the aforementioned “Speed,” to name only a few. But Hopper was also a director and if you thought his acting roles were diversified, his directing credits were even more so; “Easy Rider,” “The Last Movie,” “Colors”, “The Hot Spot” and “Catchfire.” Probably the only title you are familiar with in that list is “Easy Rider” but that’s okay because Hopper was very selective with his directorial chores and they were far and few between.

After the success of “Easy Rider,” not just as one of the stars of the film but also the director, Hopper had studios falling all over themselves vying for his attention. Ultimately, he chose to make “The Last Movie” for Universal Pictures, hoping to emulate the success of “Easy Rider.” Sadly, it would prove otherwise. With a million dollar budget, it tells the story of a stuntman named Kansas (Hopper) who is in South America working on a movie when a fellow stuntman is killed in a tragic accident. He decides to leave the movie business and stay in Peru but is quickly lured out of retirement when the local priest asks him to help stop the villagers from killing each other as they re-enact violent scenes from western movies for real, unaware that the scenes they are recreating are fictitious.

The movie bombed at the box office and as a result, it would be another nine years before Hopper would step behind the camera again. “The American Dreamer” takes place after the filming of “The Last Movie” but during its post-production schedule. Filmmakers L.M. Kit Carson and Lawrence Schiller decided to shoot Hopper while he was editing his movie but it’s evident early on, that this is not just a documentary about filmmaking, it also gives you a glimpse into the life of the real Dennis Hopper; actor, filmmaker, photographer, artist and lover of all women. He talks about making “Easy Rider” and that deep down inside, he feels that his new movie will surpass the success of that film. He also talks about his love of women and of sex in general.

At one point in the movie, he casually mentions to a friend that he would love to be naked in a room surrounded by beautiful women, also naked and within a few days, his friend makes it a reality. A big portion of the movie is Hopper nude, surrounded by these beautiful women but surprisingly enough, very little of it is spent having sex with them. All of them are smoking pot and getting high and listening to some of the deep, philosophical ramblings that comes out of Hopper’s mouth has to be heard to be believed. Initially, I thought this was going to be just a behind-the-scenes making of “The Last Movie” but it turned into something weightier and much more auspicious. It gives us a glimpse into the psyche of an artist who refused to see the world in black and white and through the various mediums he had available to him, film, photography, etc., he proceeded to share his views with the world.

Available now on Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack

 
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James McDonald

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, James is a Movie Critic with 40 years of experience in the film industry as an Award-Winning Filmmaker. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association.