The Last Movie (1971) comes to blu-ray 11/13/18 (1 Viewer)

[Winston T. Boogie]

Arbelos Films Presents The Last Movie - Dennis Hopper's radical, much-mythologized lost masterpiece - never before released on Blu-ray or DVD! Widely unseen for nearly 50 years until now!

New 4K restoration!

Consciously self-reflexive and co-written by Hopper and REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE screenwriter Stewart Stern, THE LAST MOVIE follows a Hollywood movie crew in the midst of making a western in a remote Peruvian village. When production wraps, Hopper, as the baleful stuntman Kansas, remains, attempting to find redemption in the isolation of Peru and the arms of a former prostitute. Meanwhile, the local Indians have taken over the abandoned set and begun to stage a ritualistic re-enactment of the production - with Kansas as their sacrificial lamb.

Among the most storied productions of the New Hollywood Era, Hopper was given carte blanche by Universal for his next directorial feature after the tremendous commercial success of EASY RIDER, and writer-director-star took the money and ran - literally - staging THE LAST MOVIE in Peru at farthest remove from the Hollywood machine, with an on-screen entourage in tow that included Kris Kristofferson, Julie Adams, Stella Garcia, Peter Fonda, Dean Stockwell, Toni Basil, Russ Tamblyn, Michelle Phillips and director Samuel Fuller.

Although it won a special award at the Venice Film Festival, THE LAST MOVIE would effectively end Hopper's career for many years - the Hollywood establishment gleefully writing him off as a self-indulgent madman. Yet the movie remains thrillingly innovative and remarkably contemporary - influenced greatly by the work of Bruce Conner and the French New Wave, as well as the Pop and Abstract artists Hopper revered.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

New 4K restoration from the original camera negative.
Scene Missing (2018), a sixty-minute documentary directed by Alex Cox on the making of THE LAST MOVIE.
Some Kind of Genius (1987), a thirty-minute documentary portrait of Dennis Hopper directed by Paul Joyce.
Postcard from Peru (2018), a new series of video interviews with members of the Peruvian crew filmed by Daniel García and Aurelio Medina.
The Dick Cavett Show 1971 interview with Hopper.
2007 video introduction by Dennis Hopper.
2018 U.S. Theatrical Trailer.
1971 Theatrical Trailer.
1971 Product Reel.
Restoration Demo.
New essays by Julie Adams, Jessica Hundley and Mike Plante plus a 1971 Evergreen Review report from the set of the film by L.M. Kit Carson.

 

[Dick]

This was widely panned by critics as being one of the most ill-advised, sloppy, incoherent and egomaniacal movies of all time. I have never seen it nor had the inclination, and as the hours remaining to me dwindle as I age, I need to begin making more meaningful choices about how to spend them, including which movies to purchase. But it is evident the film has its champions, so at least this release will make someone happy.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

I have read about the film's bad reputation too but if I see it at the library I will check it out and if I don't like what I am seeing then I can look at the extras.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

This was widely panned by critics as being one of the most ill-advised, sloppy, incoherent and egomaniacal movies of all time. I have never seen it nor had the inclination, and as the hours remaining to me dwindle as I age, I need to begin making more meaningful choices about how to spend them, including which movies to purchase. But it is evident the film has its champions, so at least this release will make someone happy.

Well, a couple things I will say about this...

First, I don't think I would say it was "widely panned" as it was not widely seen. Second, the knives were out for Hopper back then and the guy was kind of his own worst enemy so there were people very excited about ripping him and his film.

The film also got some great reviews and an award at Venice so in the limited showings it had some people really liked the film and called it brilliant.

I would also say The Last Movie is an art house kind of picture which means it is not going to please everybody anyway. It is also a movie about movies made long before Quentin Tarantino turned that into a fad.

So, I would not base if you should spend time with the film on what a small group of critics or furious studio people said (they were enraged because Hopper refused to change the ending of the picture) because I think these people actually wanted to say negative stuff about both Hopper and the film.

I would probably gauge if you should watch it on what you might think of Hopper's other work.

To me this is a big deal that this is coming out. I think this is an important film both on it's own merits and in terms of film history. Plus the fact that Arbelos went through the process of restoring this should be rewarded. I posted a link to a podcast about the film in my post on it in the Movies section, which includes an interview with Craig Rogers the guy that was the primary person in charge of the restoration. It's an interesting listen and I wondered if Robert Harris knows Craig Rogers...I'm guessing he does.

 

[Dick]

Well, a couple things I will say about this...

First, I don't think I would say it was "widely panned" as it was not widely seen. Second, the knives were out for Hopper back then and the guy was kind of his own worst enemy so there were people very excited about ripping him and his film.

The film also got some great reviews and an award at Venice so in the limited showings it had some people really liked the film and called it brilliant.

I would also say The Last Movie is an art house kind of picture which means it is not going to please everybody anyway. It is also a movie about movies made long before Quentin Tarantino turned that into a fad.

So, I would not base if you should spend time with the film based on what a small group of critics or furious studio people said (they were enraged because Hopper refused to change the ending of the picture) because I think these people actually wanted to say negative stuff about both Hopper and the film.

I would probably gauge if you should watch it based upon what you might think of Hopper's other work.

To me this is a big deal that this is coming out. I think this is an important film both on it's own merits and in terms of film history. Plus the fact that Arbelos went through the process of restoring this should be rewarded. I posted a link to a podcast about the film in my post on it in the Movies section, which includes an interview with Craig Rogers the guy that was the primary person in charge of the restoration. It's an interesting listen and I wondered if Robert Harris knows Craig Rogers...I'm guessing he does.

You make cogent points. Without having seen the film I cannot legitimately criticize it. And I agree with your assessment that many people were just clawing at the chance to "take down" this boy wonder Hopper after his remarkable EASY RIDER success. Hollywood is probably more stacked with jealousy than it is with breast implants, and some wise-ass kid who storms the system with an indie film that cost virtually nothing and makes a fortune for himself and his studio is going to be held in wide contempt by those who have been in the business for eons and have spent a fortune of studio money with rather meager box office results.

I like Dennis Hopper's work that I have seen. As an actor, I think he knocked it out of the park with his alcoholic character in HOOSIERS. He was also excellent in AMERICAN FRIEND and the curiously unavailable t.v. movie PARIS TROUT. As a director, EASY RIDER is still the indie film to beat.

I might rent this, but I won't spend the money to purchase it.

 

[bujaki]

What? No mention of Hopper's brilliant acting turn in Blue Velvet? I thought he deserved the AA nod for this over Hoosiers (same year).

 

[Ruz-El]

This release isn't complete without also watching "The American Dreamer"

https://vinegarsyndrome.com/shop/the-american-dreamer/

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

The American Dreamer is a great companion piece as it shot during the process of Hopper editing the film...among all kinds of other bad behavior.

 

[battlebeast]

I hope this Any the last movie to come to Blu Ray... I don’t have a UHD player.

 

[Thomas T]

I saw the film when it was released in 1971. I didn't dislike it but I didn't love it either. It's the kind of film where the best thing you can say about it is, "It's interesting." It's a bit of a mess but very much of its era. If you liked Antonioni's Zabriskie Point it might appeal to you The thing I most remember from the film is Julie Adams' performance which is very good.