Dennis Hopper’s roller-coaster career spanned from 1955 (Nick Ray’s sublime classic, Rebel without a Cause) to roughly 2010 (a few clunker films at the end we'll skip mentioning). Hopper essentially lived more life in those decades than most people could in several lifetimes. Hopper was a Hollywood contract actor turned lone wolf. He was a shape-shifter and a cultural phenomenon. He was an actor (1st and foremost), a writer, an innovative director, an expert photographer, an avid art-collector and an admirably buoyant persona. The Bob Dylan (minus the musician part) of the movies- if you will. I’ve followed Hopper since I was 10 years old and 1st saw him in Easy Rider (a film I loved then and still do).
Director, writer, cinematographer Nick Ebeling’s adoration of The Last Movie (1971), Hopper’s intelligent, radically misunderstood follow-up to the uber-successful Easy Rider (1969), led the director to make a valentine to Hopper titled Along for the Ride (2016). The documentary focuses on the period of 1969 (Easy Rider) to 1986 (Hopper’s perfect performance in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet) and beyond. Dennis Hopper's entertaining adventures in movie land abound- but the heart of the doc is unquestionably Satya De La Manitou, Hopper’s right hand-man, assistant- and friend of years and tears. De La Manitou became Hopper’s “El Hombre Indivisible” in the early 70’s and basically never left Hopper's field of vision (Hopper even acknowledged De La Manitou when receiving his Hollywood star on the Walk of Fame in 2010). De La Manitou is the soul center of the Hopper hurricane. Satya De La Manitou seems to be directly responsible for saving Hopper from his famous drug and alcohol fueled path of destruction that landed him in an asylum/rehab facility in 1983. This occurred after Hopper’s successful return to directing with the punk-rock masterpiece of familial dysfunction, Out of the Blue (1980). Satya De La Manitou drove Hopper to rehab. Hopper's post-rehab existence was highlighted by the 1986 features- Blue Velvet, River's Edge and Hoosiers (Hopper received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor). Hopper also went on to direct the stark and original Colors (1988) with Robert Duvall and Sean Penn. Hopper's post-1983 ascent seems to be more than partly attributable to the friendship and generosity of Satya De La Manitou.
The period following The Last Movie's crucifixion by conventional Hollywood in 1971-72 to Hopper's appearance in Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979)- is a period fraught with delinquency. This was largely due to a forced exile by the establishment after they deemed The Last Movie to be a waste of time and money (although it won the top prize at the Venice Film Fest that year). Today- The Last Movie is respected in some circles as an unequalled masterpiece of 70's cinema. I am in that circle.
Along for the Ride is full of wonderful anecdotes (it is Hopper we're dealing with) that I shan't go into because I want you to see the movie (I will say Philippe Mora, director of the under-appreciated Hopper vehicle Mad Dog Morgan (1976), provides a terrific Hopper tale that had the audience laughing). Ebeling's film is fun, informative, passionate and pleasant to behold (credit goes to Ebeling, Danny Reams and Randy Wedick for photography). The doc has appearances by Sam Fuller's loyal and observant widow, Christa Fuller (she gives my favorite description of the 1971 Hopper in the film), as well as Fuller's daughter, Samantha (see A Fuller Life (2014) for more on father/filmmaker, Sam)- actor Dean Stockwell, architect/artist Frank Gehry, Wim Wenders and several others.
The always reliable Austin Film Society showed both The Last Movie and Along for the Ride this last few days. In a Q and A after his doc- Ebeling mentioned Dean Stockwell (the great character actor- friend of Hopper- interviewed in the film) had a stroke after his appearance in Along for the Ride. Ebeling displayed concern regarding the movie titans that are about to “turn the corner.” I know what he means. Of course- this is what Titans do- they fall. The deaths of Harry Dean Stanton (see Sophie Huber’s wonderful doc, Partly Fiction (2012)), Sam Shepard and Jonathan Demme come to mind. I miss (as Ebeling surely does) the likes of Hopper, John Cassavetes, Robert Altman, Abel Ferrara (he's still kicking in Italy), Sam Fuller and other such directors who mercilessly dealt with the human spirit in all its glory and misery. The current state of moviemaking seems a tad cloudy- watered down, cautious, even fearful- and deliberately measured for a kind of mediocrity (there are always exceptions). What would Sam Fuller make of surveillance cameras everywhere? What would Hopper think about Instagram (he’d probably love it!). Would Cassavetes be on board for the deceptive ease of filmmaking nowadays due to the availability of tech/cameras? Perhaps. But the colorful, untamed approach to subject matter and the varying choke-holds of societal convention are not dutifully inspected these days. Not like they were in the films of a handful of late 60's- 70's filmmakers. Satya De La Manitou refers to Hopper as a "gem" in the doc- a gem that needs "to be polished." Yes. In Hopper's case it's clear to see he was on a journey involving a rather volcanic- albeit necessary- and marvelous "polishing."
Ebeling's Along for the Ride is concerned with the merciless passage of time, the philosophical weight of loyalty/friendship, the legacy of Dennis Hopper- and how the film artistry of the past informs the film artistry of tomorrow. It's about the type of guy they just don't seem to make anymore- and the film suggests that by remembering mad hatters like Hopper- we may forge something very close and certainly very necessary.