Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

The Last Movie Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 7, 2018

Dennis Hopper "The Last Movie" (1971) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Arbelos. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage promotional materials for the film; new program with exclusive interviews produced by Alex Cox; vintage documentary with Dennis Hopper; and more. The release also arrives with a 40-page illustrated booklet featuring new writings on the film, a reprinted vintage article, and technical credits. In English, with optional English subttiles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The stuntman

There is an old saying that goes like this: “Sometimes you have to lose yourself to find yourself”. Are you familiar with it? Dennis Hopper certainly was, because The Last Movie, which he directed two years after the iconic Easy Rider, functions a lot like a research project that was initiated to examine its validity.

Hopper plays an American stuntman named Kansas who is shooting a western in a small provincial town somewhere in Peru. The film is violent and features a wide range of dangerous stunts that the man behind the camera (a cranky Sam Fuller) insists must be done with utmost precision. However, pleasing the director has not been easy and Kansas and his colleagues are struggling with exhaustion which has started to have a noticeable effect on the quality of their work.

A serious accident offers the crew an opportunity to take a breather and clear their heads, and when production is prematurely wrapped up Kansas makes a decision to stay behind and embark on a new journey with a local beauty (Stella Garcia) looking for true love. This, however, also proves to be a challenging experience and soon after Kansas realizes that even without a rolling camera behind him in his relationship with the beauty he is once again doing a great deal of acting. While he tries to reset the relationship, an aspiring local ‘director’ begins working on a different project that requires his actors to engage in real fights, and when the violence spills on the streets the town’s priest (Tomas Milian) publicly suggests that the gringo and his former colleagues are responsible for it.

The film is incredibly fluid and instead of telling a conventional story basically produces a series of contrasting events highlighting character overlapping that is meant to help you grasp the dual nature of Hopper’s existence. Here's how it's done: On one hand there is the professional who wants to be a creative artist but realizes that he is in fact just a follower in a cruel business that does not appreciate his creativity, and he is actually a mirror image of the real Hopper who had discovered precisely the same in the early ‘70s. On the other hand there is the dreamer that replaces the professional, and again he is a mirror image of the person that Hopper frequently became when he was not performing in front of a camera. So Kansas’ decision to lose himself in Peru after production of the western collapses is the flip side of what is essentially an attempt by Hopper to temporarily do the same in this film and in the process discover more about himself.

So, how good is this research project?

The concept behind it is really good, though not unique. The great Federico Fellini, for instance, used plenty of his work to do something very similar but on a grander scale. Indeed, many of his exotic masterpieces are essentially excursions into the surreal where he temporarily surrenders the 'proper' identities of his native country and its people in order to manufacture a litmus test that would reveal their most scandalous secrets and obsessions. (For reference, see City of Women in which Marcello Mastroianni loses himself in a much deeper rabbit hole and makes some fascinating discoveries). But this isn’t easy to pull off with authority and virtually impossible to do while working under the influence of drugs, and this is the discovery that you will make while spending time with Kansas -- at the time Hopper wasn't just shooting a film about an adventurous stuntman in Peru.

The second half is especially problematic because instead of producing thought-provoking revelations it abandons the project and becomes so unbearably incoherent that it collapses the entire film. What emerges is a mish-mash of some quite beautiful but completely random panoramic shots and jumbled ramblings of people that are improvising without a purpose. There really is nothing of value here.

The great cinematographer László Kovács somehow finished the job that he was hired to do, and this is probably the key reason why this film is still worth a look. Interestingly, the cult Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo) was also contracted to do some editing work.

The Last Movie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Arbelos.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this release:

"This new digital transfer was scanned in 4K from the 35mm original camera negative by L'Immagine Ritrovata. Other elements were used in a small number of shots where the original negative was not available or lost. Countless instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, tears, flicker, and warps were digitally restored by Arbelos using Digital Vision's Phoenix. As much as possible the film's natural grain has been left untouched. A 35mm print from 2007, supervised by director Dennis Hopper and cinematographer László Kovács, was screened and used as reference for the restoration color grade. The original monaural soundtrack was restored and remastered by Audio Mechanics from the original 35mm elements.

Restoration supervised by Craig Rogers, David Marriott, and Ei Toshinari.
Colorist: Lynette Duensing/Insinctual Hollywood, CA.
Lead restoration artist: Craig Rogers.
L'Immagine Ritrovata: Davide Pozzi, Valeria Bigongiali, Charlotte Oddo.
Audio Mechanics: John Polito, Clay Dean.
Instinctual: Jesse Morrow."

The release is sourced from a brand new and very beautiful 4K restoration that was completed by the newly-founded label Arbelos. The entire film sparkles and has that solid organic appearance that we expect to see at this point of Blu-ray's cycle. What I mean is that this is really the type of high-quality presentation that a decade ago was practically impossible to offer on Blu-ray -- partially because it would have required a very substantial financial investment, and partially because the then-current technology was not as advanced as what is available to restoration specialists to work with. Anyhow, there is terrific depth, wonderful delineation, and stable fluidity that folks with larger screens will instantly appreciate. There are no traces of digital anomalies -- grain is very nicely exposed and resolved, and even where there are native density fluctuations its appearances remains very natural. The color grading is convincing. There are solid primaries and properly balanced nuances. Image stability is excellent. Debris, cuts, damage marks, stains and other age-related anomalies have been removed as best as possible. Fantastic presentation. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Last Movie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (a few bits of Spanish). Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is clean, stable, and very nicely balanced. Also, there are absolutely no distortions, pops, or other noticeable background age-related imperfections. Obviously, the audio has been fully remastered, so what you will hear from your speakers will be the native qualities of the sound design that Dennis Hopper and his crew wanted.

The Last Movie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Introduction - presented here is an archival introduction to the film that Dennis Hopper recorded in 2007. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080i).

• Theatrical Trailer - a vintage theatrical trailer for The Last Movie. Produced in 1971. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• Product Reel - vintage product reel from 1971. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• Restoration Trailer - a new trailer for the recent 4K restoration of The Last Movie. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• Scene Missing - in this new program, examines the production history of The Last Movie. Included in it are clips from recent interviews with set builder Philip Thomas, producer Paul Lewis, former henchman Satya De La Manitou, actor Don Grodon, screenwriter Stewart Stern, and actor Tomas Milian, amongst others. The program was produced by Alex Cox (Repo Man). In English, not subtitled. (48 min, 1080p).

• Some Kind of Genius - in this vintage documentary, Dennis Hopper discusses his time in the film business and some of the people that had a lasting impact on his career. There is some particularly good information about the production of Easy Rider, the actor's experience with the great director Henry Hathaway (True Grit), and the distribution fate of The Last Movie. The documentary was produced by Paul Joyce in 1987. In English, not subtitled. (30 min, 1080p).

• Postcards From Peru - this brand new documentary was shot on location in Peru and features interviews with the crew that worked with Dennis Hopper during the filming of The Last Movie. In Spanish, with imposed English subtitles. (32 min, 1080p).

• The Dick Cavett Show - presented here is a segment from an archival episode of The Dick Cavett Show in which Dennis Hopper discusses the just completed shoot of The Last Movie in Peru where he and his crew had done over forty hours of footage. The episode was broadcast in 1971. In English, not subtitled. (7 min, 1080i).

• Restoration Demo - a before-and-after demonstration of the work that was done by the specialists at Arbelos during the 4K restoration of The Last Movie. In English, not subtitled. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• Booklet - a 40-page illustrated booklet featuring new essays by Julie Adams, Jessica Hundley and Mike Plante, plus an Evergreen Review report from the set of the film by L.M. Kit Carson, printed in 1971.

The Last Movie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

You should not have to look long and hard to realize that there are a few brilliant ideas in The Last Movie that could have produced something rather special. They came from Dennis Hopper and it was up to him to unite them in a way that would have delivered the magic. But, there isn't any magic in this film. It looks and feels a lot like a very random hallucination that Hopper's stoned mind accidentally unleashed. Frankly, considering the fact that Hopper had the luxury of working with László Kovács again, it is a very, very poor effort. This being said, I think that The Last Movie is one of those fascinating misfires that deserves a second look because the bad in it is rather illuminating. Naturally, I am very happy to see that it was so beautifully restored in 4K by the guys at Arbelos. In terms of preparation and quality, this really is a dream release and folks that disagree with my take on the film will be thrilled to have it in their collections. Well done. RECOMMENDED.