The late Dennis Hopper had one of the most storied careers in the history of Hollywood. After making his feature film debut opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, Hopper spent much of the following decade and a half acting on television.
As the industry began to shift with the abolishment of the Hays Production Code in 1968, Hopper changed the landscape of cinema by directing Easy Rider in 1969, the first true American independent movie to become financially viable. The film accurately depicted the zeitgeist of the counterculture movement in America and led to the New Hollywood filmmakers of the 1970s. Throughout his illustrious career, actor Dennis Hopper has accumulated a sterling collection of movies; these are deemed his best.
Not Quite Hollywood (2008) 95%
Hopper participated in a plethora of well-received documentaries in his day. Among them includes Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation, which traces the history of low-budget Australian filmmaking in the 1970s and 80s.
Written and directed by Mark Hartley, the film charts the evolution of Australian exploitation filmmaking that often included extreme sex, violence, gore, and the like. Movies such as Mad Max, Road Games, Razorback, Long Weekend, Turkey Shoot, and more are discussed at length. Hopper joins several high-profile celebs such as Quentin Tarantino, Alan Arkin, Jackie Weaver, and more to honor many Ozploitation gems.
Giant (1956) 95%
One year after appearing opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, director George Stevens cast Hopper to do similar in Giant. Stevens won an Oscar for Best Director for his work on the film.
Based on the Edna Farber novel, the domestic drama concerns rancher Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson), a Texan rancher who ventures to Maryland to purchase a prize horse. While there he meets and falls in love with socialite Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor), whom he marries and brings back to his Texas ranch. As time passes, the Benedict family undergoes innumerable changes. Hopper plays Bick's grandson, Jordan Benedict III.
Rebel Without A Cause (1955) 96%
In Nicholas Ray's definitive 1950s coming-of-age tale Rebel Without a Cause, Hopper played a high-school thug named Goon. His character consorts with a gang that challenges the unconventional new kid in town, Jim Stark (James Dean).
When Stark arrives in his new California town, his troubled history follows him everywhere he goes. When he sees a kid named Plato (Sal Mineo) being bullied on campus, Jim sticks up for him. Jim also meets and befriends Judy (Natalie Wood), the girlfriend of one of the chief bullies at school. The film was nominated for three Oscars, including Best Screenplay, Supporting Actor (Mineo), and Supporting Actress (Wood).
Night Tide (1964) 100%
One of Hopper's most esoteric film titles includes Night Tide, a mysterious romantic horror film in which his character falls in love with a woman who may or may not be a murderous mermaid.
Hopper plays Johnny Drake in the film, a young sailor who meets a woman named Mora (Linda Lawson) posing as a mermaid at a local carnival. As time progresses, Drake begins to suspect that Mora is a real mermaid who lures unsuspecting victims to their deaths during a full moon.
Easy Rider, Raging Bulls (2003) 100%
Named after Hopper's seismic industry-shifting 1969 indie film, Easy Rider, Raging Bulls is also a documentary adaptation of Peter Biskind's biography of the same name.
The documentary charts the rise of the wave of New Hollywood filmmakers ushered into Hollywood by the success of Hopper's Easy Rider. Everyone from Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg to Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas benefited greatly during this time of transition in Hollywood as power moved from the hands of studio execs to the exciting new crop of filmmakers.
Bound To Lose (2006) 100%
Hopper joined fellow thespian Sam Shepard in the 2006 documentary The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose, a chronicle of the psychedelic folk-rock band's four-decade career in the music biz.
Original founding band members Steve Weber and Peter Stampfel discuss the unlikely rise and eventual fall of the band's popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. The evolution of the band's sound from a folk duo to electric psychedelia is also examined at length during the film.
The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965) 100%
In Henry Hathaway's The Sons of Katie Elder, a foursome of adult male siblings set out to avenge their mother and father's murderers in Clearwater, Texas.
John Wayne, Dean Martin, Michael Anderson Jr., and Earl Holliman play the titular sons out to do right by their fallen parents. When the men return to town for their mother's funeral, they learn their father was also murdered over a card game. With the Elder ranch overtaken by Morgan Hastings (James Gregory) and his timid son Dave (Hopper), the four men
Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) 100%
The painstaking production woes of Francis Ford Coppola's landmark war film Apocalypse Now is the subject of the 1991 documentary Hearts of Darkness, which won two Primetime Emmys. Hopper appears in both films.
Directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper, the documentary charts the unthinkable odds Coppola overcame in order to complete the filming of Apocalypse Now. Coppola suffers a major existential crisis when investing millions of his own dollars into the production while dealing with logistical problems, script issues, casting trouble, and brutal weather in Southeast Asia.
Apocalypse Now: Final Cut (2019) 100%
No matter which version is cited or which ratings-aggregator is polled, Apocalypse Now will always rank among Dennis Hopper's 10 best movies. The iconic Vietnam War film won Oscars for Best Sound and Best Cinematography and currently ranks #54 on IMDB's Top 250.
The film follows a U.S. Army mission in which a ragtag band of Special Force soldiers is tasked with finding Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who is holed up in a cave and thought to have gone rogue. The harrowing journey is internalized by Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) through intimate narration. Hopper plays the hippie Photojournalist capturing images along the way.
Cool Hand Luke (1967) 100%
In the classic tale of individuality and non-conformity, Paul Newman plays Cool Hand Luke Lucas Jackson, a war vet sentenced to a prison chain-gang after vandalizing parking meters while drunk in Florida.
Upon his arrival in prison, Luke's innate characteristics prevent him from conforming to the laws of life in the penitentiary. Causing trouble at every step, Luke urges his fellow inmates to break free and act independently under the thumb of prison-leader Dragline (George Kennedy) and strict Warden (Strother Martin). Hopper plays a troubled inmate named Babalugats in the film.