The American Dreamer
Glendyn Ivin
Sad to hear that Dennis Hopper has passed away. I've seen a bunch of Dennis Hopper films but the one that will stay with me will always be Easy Rider. I saw it when I was 19 years old on VHS. There was something about that film which really clicked with me. I'm sure alot of the American counter culture flew over my head, but the sense of adventure struck deep. It inspired my early love of travel and in particular hitch-hiking. I went on many hitch-hiking journeys with a dubbed VHS copy of Easy Rider in my bag as good luck charm.
While at university I found a book of photographs by Dennis Hopper . In the front of the book he wrote an introduction telling a story of when he was a kid he drank petrol, stared at the sun and went blind for a couple of weeks. He went on to discuss how this had altered the way he would 'see the world' for ever. That story has always stayed with me too. Crazy.
In looking through a bunch of a YouTube clips I found some snippets from a film called The American Dreamer. I have never seen this film, but it looks to be a pretty cool 'behind the scenes' of Hoppers follow up to Easy Rider a film called 'The Last Movie'. I'm going to try and track down a copy because it looks pretty promising. (Bit's of this clip look like a whole heap like another film I love. But thats a whole other post...)
What was your favourite Dennis Hopper film? He directed, produced, starred and featured in over 200 of them!