'What We Think About When We Think About Dennis Hopper'

One of the best things to happen to filmdom during the mid-eighties was the resurgence of The Mighty Dennis Hopper: “River’s Edge,” “Blue Velvet,” “Hoosiers…” From out of nowhere, this completely unconventional force of personality whose career reached all the way back to the tail-end of the Golden Age, was suddenly everywhere, livening up and taking to another level whatever movie was lucky enough to have him. Even the lousy ones, and there were plenty of those.

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The above video compilation is about as perfect an encapsulation of his career as you could hope for. Hopper’s a complicated guy who changed everything with his directorial debut “Easy Rider,” blew it all with the disastrous “Last Movie,” and then slowly climbed his way back to a career filled with a number of iconic performances. His portrayal of Frank Booth in “Blue Velvet” is one of my all-time favorites, his confrontation with Christopher Walken in “True Romance” is the stuff of legend, and what a testament to his range that this is the same actor who wrenched our hearts in “Hoosiers.”

There’s a taste of all those moments in the video, and much, much more. I would also urge those of you haven’t seen “Easy Rider” to give it a look. Not only is it a hands-down masterpiece regardless of your politics, but thematically it’s much more in line with conservative ideals (later in life Hopper would become a Reagan Republican) about liberty than anyone wants to admit to, especially the left. Just the fact that our easy riders don’t wear motorcycle helmets feels like a revolutionary statement in this burgeoning era of the oppressive nanny state.

You frequently read about how a film captures something. Well, few films capture the unique free spirit of America like “Easy Rider.” And the fact that our two protagonists are so wildly imperfect and misguided but still searching for something pure only made Hopper’s journey closer to our own. We’re not all cocaine dealers but we are all looking for our chance to get out from under:

Oh, yeah, they’re gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it’s gonna scare ’em.

Truer today than in 1969.

While I’m at it, let me recommend “Colors,” a 1988 film about Los Angeles street gangs Hopper directed that should’ve dated badly but hasn’t, and his unforgettable turn as Lyle From Dallas in “Red Rock West,” a steamy, suspenseful piece of modern noir co-starring Nicolas Cage and the great J.T. Walsh.

Hopper’s pretty sick these days, fighting a terrible battle with cancer. Let’s hope he beats it. He’s only 74. Compared to Eastwood he’s a kid.