This fascinating double-bill includes both a documentary on Dennis Hopper and a screening of the restored and previously long-lost film, The Last Movie by the director.
Rio Cinema introduction to 'Along For The Ride':
Along for the Ride explores the highs, lows and ultimately the phoenix like ascension of iconic Hollywood maverick Dennis Hopper all as seen through the eyes of his mysterious longtime "right hand man" Satya de la Manitou. Filmmaker Nick Ebeling chronicles the unlikely duo's incredible 40+ year journey, an enduring and intense brotherhood, as intimately complex as Hopper's own legendary career. De la Manitou re-examines his dedication to his friend's idiosyncratic and uncompromising genius, reminiscing with a fascinating cast of characters Hopper's co-conspirators, family and friends all those that were also unwittingly or willingly Along For The Ride. The result is one hell of a trip. With an original score by Gemma Thompson of Savages, 'Along for the Ride' also features rare and unseen photos and vintage film.
Along for the Ride explores the highs, lows and ultimately the phoenix like ascension of iconic Hollywood maverick Dennis Hopper all as seen through the eyes of his mysterious longtime "right hand man" Satya de la Manitou. Filmmaker Nick Ebeling chronicles the unlikely duo's incredible 40+ year journey, an enduring and intense brotherhood, as intimately complex as Hopper's own legendary career. De la Manitou re-examines his dedication to his friend's idiosyncratic and uncompromising genius, reminiscing with a fascinating cast of characters Hopper's co-conspirators, family and friends all those that were also unwittingly or willingly Along For The Ride. The result is one hell of a trip. With an original score by Gemma Thompson of Savages, 'Along for the Ride' also features rare and unseen photos and vintage film.
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Chicago Reader review of 'The Last Movie':
The least that can be said for Dennis Hopper's 1971 drama is that no other studio-released film of the period is quite so formally audacious. After Easy Rider, Hopper was given carte blanche by Universal Pictures to make this disjointed epic in Peru; although it was given a special prize at the Venice film festival, the film was withdrawn from circulation in the U.S. after a couple of weeks and has rarely been screened since. After working in a western directed by Samuel Fuller (playing himself), during which one of the lead actors (Dean Stockwell) has been killed, an American stunt man (Hopper) remains behind with a Peruvian woman. He is eventually drafted into an imaginary movie being made by the Indian villagers and is also enlisted in a scheme to find gold in the mountains. The curious thing about this freewheeling allegory is that it is simultaneously about many things (the fakery of moviemaking, mutual exploitation, ugly Americans in the third world, Hopper as Jesus) and nothing at all.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
The least that can be said for Dennis Hopper's 1971 drama is that no other studio-released film of the period is quite so formally audacious. After Easy Rider, Hopper was given carte blanche by Universal Pictures to make this disjointed epic in Peru; although it was given a special prize at the Venice film festival, the film was withdrawn from circulation in the U.S. after a couple of weeks and has rarely been screened since. After working in a western directed by Samuel Fuller (playing himself), during which one of the lead actors (Dean Stockwell) has been killed, an American stunt man (Hopper) remains behind with a Peruvian woman. He is eventually drafted into an imaginary movie being made by the Indian villagers and is also enlisted in a scheme to find gold in the mountains. The curious thing about this freewheeling allegory is that it is simultaneously about many things (the fakery of moviemaking, mutual exploitation, ugly Americans in the third world, Hopper as Jesus) and nothing at all.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
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