Etiquette Pictures (EP), launched in July, is devoted to painstakingly restoring unique and off-beat arthouse gems and rescuing them from obscurity. On Sept. 22nd, EP, in partnership with the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and Bond 360 Studios in New York City will release a great lost film of the 1970s, “The American Dreamer,” in a digitally restored, two-disc (DVD/Blu-ray) collector’s set. A portion of the proceeds from this release will directly benefit the ongoing cinema preservation efforts at the Walker Art Center.
In 1970, actor/director Dennis Hopper, who catapulted into stardom with his 1969 counterculture road movie, “Easy Rider,” was in the midst of finishing his follow-up work, “The Last Movie,” a film which was deeply personal — but ultimately disastrous. That moment in time became the window through which noted photojournalist Lawrence Schiller and avant-garde filmmaker L.M. Kit Carson entered to preserve Hopper’s life, who in their opinion had submerged himself in the myth of his character in “Easy Rider.”
What resulted was the quasi-documentary “The American Dreamer,” a unique portrait of the pathologically rebellious Hopper, which chronicled the late artist’s agonizing, alcohol – and drug-fueled post-production of “The Last Movie.” The result of Schiller and Carson’s work was a multi-faceted look into the unique mind and strange life of one of the 20th century’s great, cinematic voices at the peak of his artistic and commercial success.
The film is a mesmerizing journey into the indulgent and tumultuous private life of one of Hollywood’s most hypnotic stars. It shifts between an insightful look at a complex and unconventional artist (considered one of the true “enfant terribles” of Hollywood) in the midst of his creative process, surrounded by his entourage in Taos, N.M., and is a self-reflective exploration and explosion of vérité filmmaking tropes.
“The American Dreamer” was first released on college campuses back in the ’70s and then largely vanished. In the 1990s, Hopper himself brought the film back to life when he asked for it to be screened as a companion piece to “The Last Movie” at film festivals and art houses.
EP, in partnership with the Walker Art Center and Bond 360 Studios, brings this forgotten masterpiece to home video for the very first time in a new, director-approved, 2k restoration, painstakingly reconstructed from four 16mm prints housed in the Center’s Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection.
Special features include Fighting Against the Wind making-of featurette; A Long Way Home preservation featurette; extensive photo gallery; booklet and essay by film historian and Temple of Schlock blogger Chris Poggiali; and features a reversible cover.
“The American Dreamer”
Etiquette Pictures
Genre: Documentary/Arthouse
Original Release: 1971 (Color)
Not Rated
Format: DVD/Blu-ray Combo (2 Discs)
Running Time: Approx. 81 Minutes (Plus Special Features)
Suggested Retail Price: $32.98
Pre-Order Date: August 25, 2015
Street Date: Sept. 22, 2015
Catalog #: EP-002
UPC Code: #814456020037
