The 2403rd Star – Dennis Hopper (1936-2010)

Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) passed away the other day. He made it to 74, who would have thought?

The thing about Hopper for me has always been his ability to hook your attention – even when the quality of the movie might not be … well, you know – stellar.

Hopper’s career was chequered, to say the least. You got the feeling that occasionally he just needed to pay the rent, and I can respect that. There’s no shame in working.

When he was good, on the other hand, he was really good. Some performances stand out by a country mile: Easy Rider (1969) and Blue Velvet (1986) being the ones that pretty much everybody remembers.

But there’s also the very young and clean-faced Goon in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and the surprisingly funny Huey Walker in Flashback (1990) opposite Kiefer Sutherland. Hopper’s performance as the father in Rumble Fish (1983) is one of my personal favourites, it seems so effortless. Then again there’s the scene between Hopper and Christopher Walken where they discuss the heredity of being Sicilian in True Romance (1993) which still gives me a big happy. Apocalypse Now (1979) is one of those performances that makes perfect sense too, the crazed gleam in Hopper’s eyes probably not all the way an act.

There’s also Hoosiers (1985), The Indian Runner (1991), Paris Trout (1991), The Osterman Weekend (1983), The American Friend (1977) and Basquiat (1996).

Then, on the other hand … Waterworld (1995), Super Mario Bros. (1993) and Firestarter 2: Rekindled (2002) aren’t exactly shining moments for anyone involved. Like I say – sometimes you just got to pay the rent.

Hopper also directed. Easy Rider (1969), The Last Movie (1971) – which was a spectacular failure. Out of the Blue (1980), Colors (1988), Catchfire (1990), The Hot Spot (1990), Chasers (1994) and the short Homeless (2000).

If you look at his career as an actor, he worked with some of the very best directors, and if you look at what he did as a director he worked with some spectacular actors. Directors include Sam Peckingpah, Robert Altman, David Lynch, Sean Penn, Julian Schnabel, Francis Ford Coppola, Nicholas Ray, George Romero and Wim Wenders. That’s a whole hell of a lot of talent all around.

Hopper also collected modern art and exhibited his own photography and painting.

Squandered talent always kind of angers me and Hopper was lucky in a way that he didn’t fall from grace completely, succumbing to substance abuse early in his career. He did abuse his fare share of substances there for a while, though, and got a sharp awakening and cleaned up his act.

Some actors have this ability to tap into a real dark streak, mainlining something close to evil, and Hopper is one of them. He has been the good guy too, the tough cop, all that, but he is just more in command of the stage when the darkness bleeds through.

Like with most creative souls there’s a restlessness, a sense that there is never world enough, or time. A feeling that you have to rage against the dying of the light. In his best moments Hopper gave the viewer all that and a feeling that there was an active intelligence at work behind it.

I asked around amongst my less film enthusiastic acquaintances about Hopper when the news of his death became public. I asked what they remembered seeing him in, what they thought of him, and the funny thing to me was that no one seemed to like him much. I just went “huh?” because, man I didn’t get that. I guess it makes sense that you don’t like him if all you’ve seen is Blue Velvet, because Booth is not a very likeable guy. Hopper played bad guys, like Booth or Paris Trout, with so much fire and honesty, that it makes sense.

In Apocalypse Now the Photojournalist dances about like a mad monkey on speed, lost in the jungle in so many ways and he delivers the following lines about Kurtz to Marlow: “What are they gonna say about him? What are they gonna say? That he was a kind man? That he was a wise man? That he had plans, man? That he had wisdom? Bullshit, man!”

And there it is.

There was more to him, though.

Hopper’s character Father in Rumble Fish has this lovely dialogue with Rusty James;

-Every now and then, a person comes along, has a different view of the world than does the usual person. It doesn’t make them crazy. I mean… an acute perception, man… that doesn’t, that doesn’t make you crazy.
-Could you talk normal?
-However sometimes… it can drive you crazy, acute perception.
-I wish you’d talk normal ’cause I don’t understand half the garbage you’re saying. You know? You know what I mean?
-No, your mother… is not crazy. And neither, contrary to popular belief, is your brother crazy. He’s merely miscast in a play. He was born in the wrong era, on the wrong side of the river… with the ability to be able to do anything that he wants to do and finding nothing that he wants to do. I mean nothing.

That is one of my favourite pieces of dialogue for whatever strange and intangible reason. It has to do with the setting, the pitch of Hoppers voice and the earnestness, the slight exasperation and the honesty with which he delivers it. Hopper’s character’s rumpled suit, his greasy hair, the stubble and the signs of neglect, all of it tells the story of a man with a sharp intelligence who has fallen from grace and lost his footing due to heartache and heavy drinking.

Hopper doesn’t so much sell a performance as live it.
And that’s how I will remember him.

Mule

Into the Wild

Sean Penn has directed this 2007 movie starring Emile Hirsch as Chris McCandless. His parents Billie and Walt are played by Marcia Gray Harden and William Hurt.

The movie is based on the novel with the same title  written by John Krakauer. On reading the novel I never really speculated on it being made into a movie and now that I have seen the result I find myself wondering why that is. It lends itself well to the different media being set in spectacular nature scenes, filmed on location in the deserts of California, South Dakota, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada and above all Alaska.

The basic premise of the story is that Chris McCandless graduates from Emory University and then decides to go into the wild. Literally. Influenced by Thoreau, no doubt, but also by other literature, music and his family situation he decides that civilised life is overrated and that there is a moral imperative in trying to decide for yourself what you find important for you in your life.

McCandless aims for Alaska. It is the most remote and wild area he can think of and he sets about this very methodically, divesting himself of his property, driving his car until it gets damaged in a flash flood, walking on foot, hiking and hitching rides he works his way across the country.

His odyssey has much to recommend it, he meets nice people along the way and seems to have the ability to woo people, making them help him even if they don’t understand what it is he wants to do. McCandless has an understandable disdain for modern life as being excessive and strange in all that it measures as important.

He is driven by a kind of fervent morality that Penn depicts in part through voice over reading of McCandless diary and through his sister Carine’s  (Jena Malone) letters and reflections. She speaks of her brother with great affection and understanding, but there is a slight recrimination there as well for his lack of concern about the people that care about him. He is on a journey of discovery and as such that is a pretty selfish exploit.

Penn has made a beautiful and thought through movie that moves towards its inevitable conclusion with ruthless determination. McCandless’ story is made all the more poignant because he walks into the wild – and does not walk out again. If you read the novel there is some uncertainty as to whether he succumbs due to lack of preparation or just from a tragic mistake. Penn seems to decide on depicting the whole thing as a tragic mistake and that colours the viewers opinion about what has happened.

Music is used sparingly and the original score is written and performed by Eddie Vedder who’s extraordinary voice suits the mode beautifully. Vedder even won a 2008 Golden Globe Award for the song “Guaranteed”.

Sean Penn is an interesting director. He seems to veer towards the philosophically complex material and manages to get solid performances from the actors. There is a level of involvement that goes beyond just showing up and hitting the marks. The Indian Runner, The Pledge and now this shows that in abundance.

As for the central theme and feel of this movie it leaves a lot to the viewer, which I think is a good thing. The casual rejection of societies nastier sides is interesting as well as the screwed up family dynamic, but it doesn’t really explain anything. And whatever insight McCandless might have made is marred by the fact that he died – so you as a viewer have to decide what that is worth. You also have to decide how much of a pilgrim he was, how much of a saint or a holy man, and how much of a fool. I won’t tell you what to think, and neihter will Mr. Penn.

And that’s the way it should be.

Mule