The Last Movie Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

The Last Movie Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 23, 2019

Dennis Hopper's "The Last Movie" (1971) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films. 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 an 80-page book containing extensively researched new writing by filmmaker Alex Cox, rare archival photography, and full film credits. In English, with optional English subttiles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The gringo

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 The Last Movie arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films.

If you have already seen our review of the U.S. release of The Last Movie, you should know how I feel about the recent 4K restoration of the film that Arbelos produced, which Indicator/Powerhouse Films also used. The entire film looks very healthy, properly balanced, and stable. Depth, delineation, and fluidity I think are as good as they can be, and on a large screen the visuals really have that very pleasing organic quality that we have come to expect from contemporary top-notch restoration projects. Predictably, grain is nicely exposed and resolved, and there are no traces of sharpening or contrast boosting that could have produced some distracting anomalies. The entire film has also been meticulously cleaned up and now looks spotless. Great work. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B 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 LPCM 1.0. Optional English (for the Spanish dialog) and English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track serves the film as best as one might have hoped it would. Clarity, depth, stability, and balance are very good. There is some sporadic unevenness during the bigger scenes, such as the busy ones from the party, but this is how the audio was recorded and edited.

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).

• 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).

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

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

• Restoration Trailer (2018) - a new trailer for the recent 4K restoration of The Last Movie. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• 8mm On-Set Footage - this silent footage was filmed in 1970, on location in the Chinchero District of Peru, by actors John Phillip Law and Victor Maumudes. (11 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).

• 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).

• 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).

• 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).

• Image Gallery - a collection of promotional materials and on-set photographs.

• The Guardian Interview with Dennis Hopper - this archival audio interview with Dennis Hopper was conducted by Derek Malcolm at the National Film Theater in London on November 11, 1990.

• Book - limited edition exclusive 80-page book containing extensively researched new writing by filmmaker Alex Cox, rare archival photography, and full film credits.

• Poster - limited edition exclusive double-sided poster

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. This new Limited Edition from Indicator/Powerhouse Films has some additional goodies that are not found on the U.S. release, but keep in mind that it is Region-B "locked". RECOMMENDED.