The Last Movie - Ouch!

[StevenWest]

Was always fascinated hearing about this monstrosity of a movie by Dennis Hopper that nearly ended his career. Missing out on limited releases by Indicator et al, I managed to get a really nice version from Carlotta finally. But what a mess of a movie! I can take Alex Cox westerns like Straight To Hell and Walker, but Hopper's The Last Movie is so disturbingly disjointed! Yet, some incredible scenic shots! For all the talent Hopper had with him at the time, and his own performance isn't too bad. But the whole film is so convoluted with metaphor and deflections, it's truly hard to get any semblance of any meaning out of it? At least for me. As an Easy Ride, it certainly is not! But glad Dennis made The Hot Spot and Colors after, as those are much more digestible movies. Yet if he only could embody the scenic beauty of The Last Movie into those films, he'd out score Terrance Malick for sure!

[Casiusco]

I've been looking forward to seeing tis movie her since I found out about it in the interesting documentary "Along for the Ride", about Denis Hopper.

 

Sometimes I like challenges, and I like to go into the unknown, add new experiences watching movies.

 

Sometimes it works out well, sometimes it doesn't, but overall I think it's worth it.

 

Now, reading what you've posted, I'm even more curious to see it.  

[StevenWest]

Its worth seeing, I'll give you that. And I like challenging movies myself as a rule. But honestly The Last Movie is like Two Lane Blacktop, but the cars are going in different directions. There is a commentary by Alex Cox on my version which I started to get into after watching, but was so tired I had to turn it off. But I'll be interested to hear what he got out of it all. At least with Cox's movies there's a cohesive playfulness to it all - as warped as it may seem. Something that sticks with the viewer, makes them think, makes them want to learn more. Straight To Hell, Walker, and Tombstone Rashomon. Those ones I kinda 'get' when I watch them. The one he loses me with though is Searchers 2.0 - and that could be just me trying to pair it with John Wayne's original The Searchers. And if there is to be any commonality of the two, I can't see it for the life of me? So same with The Last Movie. It's like Hopper is trying to say goodbye to 'the old standards' and point out how anyone can make a movie however and anywhere they want - that much is evident in the movie in a surreal way. But the rest is just so all over the place, and at best is Hopper's own inner turmoil after the success of Easy Rider and not sure what to deliver next? He claims on the intro he did back in 2007 he was trying to go beyond Goddard and the french new wave. But I'd say he was more the true epitome of Col. Kurtz, and simply went 'beyond the pale' with making The Last Movie.