Dogs Bark

Jack Falen - - Tracks (1976)

So where does this interesting, but unsatisfying, movie lie on Hopper’s artistic journey? It departed the intense disappointment of The Last Movie and arrived at the homecoming parade of Apocalypse Now.  While Apocalypse Now might have been seen as the last stop for Billy of Easy Rider, Tracks might be best seen from the perspective of an earlier independent work, Night Tide.  Both are rarely screened, but a double feature provides a luminous journey through the development of Hopper’s vision.

Like Night Tide, Tracks follows an ambiguous warrior on leave.  But unlike dry-docked sailor Johnny Drake, Sgt. Jack Falen has actually been to battle and is escorting a coffin home from Vietnam.  A hero is within, Falen repeatedly claims, who has saved his life. No other explanation is given for why he has this duty. Almost the entire plot, such as it is, occurs on a train, playing Falen’s awkward, and ultimately psychotic, affect against an oddball assortment of neurotics.  Filmed in the hand-held, cinéma-vérité of the 70’s and mixed in a counter-culture dismissal of straight narrative, the story never quite gels. Despite this, it is the interplay between Hopper and his fellow travelers that merits discussion.

Falen’s major connection is with Stephanie, a college student traveling to a vague end, who is played by Taryn Power (Tyrone Power’s daughter). Power was a pretty girl and the quintessential hippie chick. Her scenes with Hopper do huge service to the naturalist style of the film. His fumbling, but successful, attempt to get in her pants, adds to the charm and realism. This combined with Hopper’s intuitive acting builds a sweet pairing that should have been repeated in other films. Unfortunately Ms. Power left acting not too long after this. Hopper also faces off with Dean Stockwell and again the chemistry between them is authentic and affecting. It maybe heresy to ask but what if Stockwell had played Captain America? Certainly, a different easy ride. 

And also like Night Tide, we have a director, Henry Jaglom, who understood Hopper’s strengths and one of the iconic producers of the independent 70’s, Bert Schneider. Unfortunately this translated in the minds of critics to self-indulgence, in a blood lust after the poor reception to The Last Movie.  But this interpretation was supported by the movie’s inchoate story. We’re never sure what is real and what is psychosis. Great acting in a not so good movie. This must have been maddening to Hopper, again using splendid work in a movie that travels to nowhere.  And once again, Hopper was to envision the kind of movie making that the public and Hollywood refused to support. But, in hindsight, one can see the wheels turning and the destination he was approaching.

Just Say No - - We Own The Night (2007) - - 22 June 2008

Not recommended. This is a confusing movie. From an interview with the director, James Gray, it appears that many of us missed the point of We Own The Night, stated to be a study of how culture can remold a person against his better nature. Joaquin Phoenix is forced to “join us or the drug dealers,” and his fate in the end is a curse, not a calling. That’s what Gray says. The movie does not - - giving us a distractingly implausible story with a surprisingly inept performance by Phoenix. One never really fathoms the initial motivation of his character . . . and that’s fatal. Eva Mendes works hard and sexy but to marginal effect and both Mark Wahlburg and Robert Duvall sleepwalk their roles.  And even more distracting, there are several much better recent movies (The Departed, Eastern Promises) with the same storyline.  Rent them instead.

One Eye Blinking - - Le Scaphandre Et Le Papillon [The Diving Bell and the Butterfly] (2007) - - 12 June 200

Recommended - - Movies about life-changing injury are crippled.  The outcome, in a serious story, is grim and usually known or guessed early on. So where’s the drama? The bad thematic choice is to play up bravery because giving up is not really an option; courage is transcending what is dealt you. Thankfully, Julian Schnabel is a director who has absorbed this fact. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a movie built entirely on images, mostly shot through the eyes of the stroked-out and paralyzed hero, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who died immediately after writing his story. Using his painterly eye and Spielberg’s d.p., Janusz Kaminski, Schnabel reveals a unique point of view and how it was constructed. Max von Sydow, as Bauby’s father, gives the best supporting performances of the year (sorry, Javier) and Emmanuelle Seigner (Mrs. Roman Polanski), as his wife, is luminous in portrait and emotion.

Johnny Drake - - Night Tide (1961)

In Night Tide we are offered Dennis Hopper’s first starring role. The movie was made after Hopper had returned to Hollywood from Lee Strasberg care and training.  By now, James Dean was five years dead; the shootouts with director Henry Hathaway were also over. Hopper was working primarily in television and building his understanding of basic storytelling on a tight budget. All of this is used in this simple but artistic little movie, shot in and around the Santa Monica and Venice beachfront.

It’s one of Hopper’s most charming roles. He was in his early twenties and at the peak of his physical attractiveness. But beyond that, he invests the role with a oddball innocence that is crucial to the story, a young sailor in love with a woman who may or may not be a real mermaid. The influence of beatnik culture, early 60’s cinema of the macabre, and New Wave cinematography is also put into service. Hopper’s characterization sponges up all of these influences, adding to many of his now signature, quirky, gawky mannerisms. The primary motif seems to be eagerness. Johnny Drake is eager to please, eager to be accepted, eager for experiences - - all of this eagerness delightfully refracted by of the splendid cast.

One of the most appealing castings is fellow TV trooper and Roger Corman perennial, Luana Anders, who represents the ‘normal’ girl that Johnny is better off pursuing. Their scenes together have a naturalism contrasted nicely by ‘Mora the Mermaid’ and the rest of the sideshow. There is a nostalgic, summer-night flavor to their sequences, like a justly remembered Twilight Zone. Hopper cast her again in Easy Rider and they were close friends until her death in 1996.  One wishes they had worked together more often.

But it’s very likely that this movie did Hopper’s career more damage than his famous studio fights. It demonstrated that his sense memories of farm boy loneliness were powerfully affecting when appropriately utilized After this, how could he return to  Henry Hathaway (although he did in The Sons of Katie Elder) who wanted rigid performances without all that motivation stuff, lines read exactly as written? Its possible that Night Tide demonstrated to Hopper that a small-budget, personal movie and a sympathetic director  - - rare from a studio until the 70’s - - was the only way he could feel artistically fulfilled. Sometimes it’s big trouble to get what you want too early in life. 

Shooter - - Hoosiers (1986)

“Just showing up doesn’t get the job done.” said John Wayne, countering the more famous Woody Allen quip. However, for Dennis Hopper, just his appearance in Hoosiers seemed, at the time, to be 90% of his success.  In fact, Hopper showed up in three outstanding performances in 1986 (also River’s Edge, Blue Velvet), each one highly unique. Coupled with his emergence from a decade of hard self abuse and artistic pique, it’s easy to see why his peers chose this role to nominate for Best Supporting Actor. Hopper lost to Michael Caine in Hannah And Her Sisters.  But he was the sentimental favorite and his appearance at the Oscars that year, the foreshadow of a moment Lindsey Lohan still awaits.

The movie and the part have not worn well over the years; there’ve been better drunks written for the screen. But Hopper invested this part with a huge amount of personal truth. The fact that he shares scenes with an old pro like Gene Hackman also helped. The relationship between Shooter and Coach Dale is clearly a paternal one, with Hackman attempting to give Hopper a last chance, just as the coach is also on his last legs. This mimics a number of great screen pairings, for example Dean Martin and John Wayne in Rio Bravo.  The curious thing in this movie is that Shooter’s own son is on the team Hackman is coaching. This creates the interesting tension of having Hopper attempt to redeem himself to both father and son.

And this is the importance of the role to Hopper’s body of work. In earlier movies, he played the hurt and rebellious son, when the 90’s rolled around he began a string of regretful fathers. In this movie, he is allowed a chance to bridge the gap. Not from drunk to sober as is usually harped upon, but, at age 50, from adolescent to adult.  In an interview, Hopper said about the part that, at the end, we have no idea if Shooter is going to sober up. Hopper was far too familiar with alcoholic behavior to ever suggest such an easy resolution. Although the team achieves a cliched ‘miracle on pine,’ Shooter is left at the end still in detox, cheerleading in a hospital gown.

But returning to the opening quote, the job doesn’t even get started without showing up. Hopper’s return to grace ushered in a period of steady work for him. Parts were being written for him and his tempered behavior allowed him a much more productive dialogue with directors. Finally, he was listened to and appreciated and his gift had evolved into a mature and disciplined craft.   

 

Big Hairy Monsters - - Teeth (2007) - - 30 May 2008

Recommended - - Back when teen slasher movies had just taken the training wheels off the chainsaw, it was a rule. If two kids were shown making out, they were worm food before the end of the reel. Mitchell Lichtenstein’s interesting yet flawed movie Teeth, wraps the killer and the horny teen in one nicely appointed package.  Jess Weixler plays the owner of the pearly whites down under and does a splendid job. Her appeal increases as she begins to righteously employ her lethal business. But the movie itself stumbles, not really that funny or shocking, and a tad flaccid on the profundity scale.  The males were fast food, their scenes ground into one continuous Doggie Diner. A smarmier bad boy might have provided a bit more to chew on. Suffice to say, one wonders what movie would have issued from a mind actually connected to the subject body part.