All language subtitles for Dennis.Hopper.Uneasy.Rider.2016.1080

MUSIC

THUNDER

Dennis didn't die,

he escaped.

Dennis Hopper and
the gas mask,

Dennis Hopper painting,

Dennis Hopper writing,

Dennis Hopper
taking pictures,

and Dennis Hopper doing
just about anything.

All on the run, one
way or another.

I miss you always,
my brother.

My friend.

You rest in peace

in the hands of
the almighty God.

MUSIC

I can play a feeling
of Dennis...

right?

Dennis feeling was
all like this

SUBTLE GUITAR MUSIC

you can't really
hear with this one

you know what I
mean, it's like...

the big...

GUITAR MUSIC

MUSIC

He was ready to go, man.

He was like You know what,
I'm ready, that's it.

MUSIC

He was a great witness
and participant in

a lot of important moments
in American history.

ROCK MUSIC

He had something
dangerous about him

that's made him very
interesting to me.

ROCK MUSIC

He would have rather died than
not live the way he lived.

ROCK MUSIC

He was an Uneasy Rider, yeah.

He was an Easy Rider...

he was an uneasy Easy Rider.

LAUGH

An Easy Rider that was uneasy.

LAUGH

It wasn't easy to
be an Easy Rider.

LAUGH

ROCK MUSIC

There is here no
measuring with time, no

year matters, and ten
years are nothing.

Being an artist means, not
reckoning and counting,

but ripening like the tree
which does not force its

sap and stands confident
in the storms of spring

without the fear that after
them may come no summer.

It does come.

But it comes only to the
patient, who are there as though

eternity lay before them, so
unconcernedly still and wide.

I learn it daily,

I learn it with pain to
which I am grateful:

patience is everything!

MUSIC

Often times Dennis
and I would spend

hours together without speaking

to each other because
after 45 years

we knew what we were thinking.

And we didn't have to
do a lot of talking.

I pointed things out to him,

he pointed things out to me

but we really didn't do
a lot of conversation.

MUSIC

I always used to tease
Dennis Hopper as a hayseed,

that is, he came from the
flat lands of Kansas,

from the agricultural
part of America, not

the cultural part, not the
sophisticated, civilized

raised pinky part of Hollywood
and western civilisation.

MUSIC

Well there's an interesting
parallel, if you go

to Kansas, you live in
Kansas, and you have no,

you look around, all you
see is this horizon.

The fact that you get somewhere,

and you can achieve that
from that upbringing,

you kind of, it's hard
to let go of that.

And especially with all
the indulgences he had.

Dennis was very prolific.

His photography, and his
poetry, and his sculpting

MUSIC

I think it comes from a
very unhappy childhood.

Wanting to

not getting enough approval
from the house, from the home,

having to look for
it in other places,

having the drive to
wanna be something,

wanna be somebody but really not

having the education because of

the schooling to be able
to do anything,

but perhaps play sports, fight a
bull, race a car or be an actor.

MUSIC

He was the Shakespeare
kid from Dodge City.

How am I gonna get outta here?

Acting. I'm gonna be an actor.

MUSIC

I mean obviously the guy

was curious about
the world and took

the time to study it
and to learn about it.

But he was jut like a

child.

I can't say it in any
other way, it's...

amazing.

He had a wide-eyed
looked like this,

he had that look
in his eyes that

he discovered the world for
the first time every day.

MUSIC

When I was doing
this film on James

Dean and Dennis Stock recently,

I encountered a lot of images
from Rebel Without A Cause with

Dennis Hopper in

the picture, a very young
looking Dennis Hopper.

MUSIC

What are we gonna do with him?

Oh, don't worry, I'll figure out

what we are going
to do with him.

You ever been in a chickie-run?

Yeah, that's all I ever do.

MUSIC

He thought he was
the best actor in

the world until he
met James Dean.

Then, after James
Dean died, he knew

that he was the best
actor in the world.

MUSIC

At 21 I was dropped from my
contract at Warner Bros.

because I was considered too
difficult to work with,

I been infected
with James Dean and

I was blackballed
by the studios.

MUSIC

I don't think Hollywood
can cope with actors,

much less directors that
have their own vision.

Okay,

Scene one, Take one,

each is for Hollywood

Action!

He represented freedom
and rebellion and

the outsider and that's
kind of a big topic,

that he was rebelling
against the ordinary.

Against the word no .

If he said he couldn't
do it, he tried.

MUSIC

I can remember Easy Rider when
it was first being talked about,

and how it built within
the community I was in,

huge, huge interest
in something, that

was as revolutionary
as Easy Rider was.

All we represent to
them, man, is somebody

that needs a haircut.

Oh no.

What you represent
to them, is freedom.

What the hell is
wrong with freedom,

when that's what it's all about?

Oh yeah, that's right, that's
what it's all about alright.

MUSIC

If you look at the acid
trip in Easy Rider ,

it's very quick and
very much like,

well like commercials are these

days, not like they were then,
because I went a little further,

I pushed it a little
further than I'd seen it.

I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!

I did it. I did it.
Do you understand?

Its' like a piece of Jazz,
that you're watching.

That stuff's not written.

That stuff is felt,

I mean, when you see that
scene on LSD in the cemetery,

that's brilliant and
that's what Dennis did.

I know it. I know you.
I know you.

The drug culture was
beginning to roll into

town and the world was
really aware of that

and this movie was so
simple in it's direct

approach to addressing drugs and
so, yeah, the movie was a trip.

AMBIENT SOUND

This was our introduction to

the centre of
counter-culture thinking.

MUSIC

You will see in small
areas, like towns in

Mexico, the counter
culture still holds on.

Where you won't find it
in mainstream America.

And a lot of people end
up living here, for that.

MUSIC

ENGINE SOUND

MUSIC

He's right here in our backyard

and every now and
then we get on our

bikes and we sit
there by him and

sound our bikes there
for him, and let him

know that we re still
riding, we re around.

INAUDIBLE

MUSIC

Dennis Hopper Day just summons
us like a sea in Taos.

And of all the people that
showed up to ride, and

the screening of
Easy Rider ,

the fact that Patricia
Arquette is here

it means a lot to me, and it
means a lot to, you know,

the people that loved Dennis.

So it was a little
rough last year,

and if it's washed out now,

we decided to go a
different route,

so we're gonna take Movery
Hill out to the highway,

across the gorge
bridge, we'll meet

there and then we'll
go from there.

ENGINE SOUND

MUSIC

MUSIC

Ask yourself in the stillest
moment of your night:

must I write?

Delve into yourself
for a deep answer.

And if this should
be affirmative,

if you may meet this
earnest question

with a strong and
simple "I must,"

then build your life
according to this necessity.

MUSIC

Two or three film accounts
I've read where they say

What is the worst film
that's ever been made?

and a few times I've
seen the Hopper film.

In my book, it's one of
the most interesting.

There was this story of the film
being made in this village,

the population of the
village remakes

the film, but when they
remake the film,

they make the cameras
and so on, but

then they actually use real guns

to shoot each other, where in

the Hollywood film,
the actors come,

they come to the village, they

shoot the film and

of course they use prop guns

and that part of the
film was really,

like, that was pretty, I thought
that was really interesting.

I thought it was marvellous.

I thought it was a very
sophisticated film,

the obvious direction he should
have gone in after Easy Rider ,

more complicated than Easy
Rider , a better script,

more complicated
characters, much

better story, editing fantastic.

AMBIENT SOUND

When you're so close
to a movie, you're in

the movie, you wrote
it, you directed it,

how do you get any kind
of distance, you know.

So you keep editing, you
show it to friends, they

don't like this, this
one doesn't like that,

you re-edit and you keep editing
and editing and editing.

MUSIC

There was a Hollywood editor, a
friend of mine, Davis Burlatsky,

who put the film
together and basically

built the different sequences.

And then,

his ideas and Dennis' clashed

and one evening, it was just
like something out of a movie,

I got called to Dennis' house

and I was asked Can you
finish this movie?

And I said yeah, I
think I can so

that's how I came about
and then what we

did is we polished the
different sequences

and brought it from 5, 6
hours down to a movie.

MUSIC

There was one instance
where they were pressuring

him to bring the movie back
before it was finished,

and so he,

I don't know if he called, Danny

...and he said:

The film's been stolen,
they came in with masks

and tied us all up and
took the film away .

So, everybody knew that
didn't happen, but it

proved for the moment
to reduce the pressure.

I wanna thank the
cast and the crew

for a hell of a lot of
wonderful cooperation.

I enjoyed making this
picture and I knew it

was difficult in this
damn rugged location.

God bless all of you, I see
you back in Hollywood.

I went to the opening
night, filled with

a lot UCLA film students
from that period.

People hated the movie.

And it could be, because

when you're expecting
so much, here

is a movie that took
so long to make,

this person who's transgressive,
sensitive, associated

with a movie that, by that
point, is a cult movie

and then you get The Last Movie
, you don't know what to do.

ROCK MUSIC

The critics were
dazzled and confused.

I think he was
victimized by that,

the fact, that Dennis Hopper was
willing to go the extra step.

The extra mile to make a film
that was so radically different,

so unlike conventional
Hollywood pulp,

if you will,

that he overstepped
his balance in

that, he painted
out of the frame.

ROCK MUSIC

We are solitary.

We may delude ourselves and act
as though this were not so.

That is all.

But how much better
it is to realize that

we are so; yes, to
begin by assuming it.

We shall indeed turn dizzy then,

for all points that our
eyes are been accustomed

to rest on are taken
away from us,

there is nothing near anymore,

and everything is
infinitely far.

A person removed from
his own room and,

almost without preparation
and transition,

and set up on the height
of a great mountain range,

would feel something
of the sort.

MUSIC

He began to feel like the public
was beginning to recognize him

and it made him nervous
and made him paranoid.

And so he kind of like

had to get out of Hollywood,
he had to get away from

all of that and Taos was like
a perfect place for him then.

MUSIC

Yeah in the early
seventies it was

much more outlaw sort of place.

And it's been very
commercialized since, but Dennis

was one of the free
spirits, with of course,

Mabel Dodge and Frida Kahlo and
various others were there,

it was an artists community.

For a long time.
And Dennis entered

it and gave another
feeling to it.

MUSIC

Yeah, we did a lot of
hiking, arrowhead hunting,

but he wasn't one that picked
up a lot of stuff, he was more,

I think he was just
absorbing the fact

that we were walking
through history,

through a natural history
museum, a living

museum, I think that
that was a facet.

MUSIC

I think he shared a lot of the
Indians beliefs in history and

so he was really,
he investigated

that, he really did, yeah.

TRIBAL MUSIC

TRIBAL MUSIC

In Taos he found mysticism,

a sense of the
Indians, of what's

preceded, of what's there now,

so I think that
in a lot of ways,

he found some real residence and

significance for
himself in Taos.

MUSIC

Well, he was an icon.

So, when he came,

he was welcomed on
an equal basis,

unlike Hollywood, where movie
stars have a class distinction.

They are above the pedestrians.
But not here. .

ROCK MUSIC

Yeah we would just run into each
other on parties and have fun...

- There was a great party,
remember the one at..

That's where I met
you, actually...

MUSIC

Was a really cool party.

- Satya was hanging
from these rafters,

that was the first
time I saw him.

He's like hanging
from these fucking

rafters, I said Who is this guy?

LAUGH

MUSIC

My girlfriend at the time,
was reciting a poem

and Dennis Hopper
opened his mouth while

she was giving the
poem and I said

You have to have
artistic respect Dennis,

shut that Hollywood mouth.
Let her talk."

You know. And, you know, he did.

Cause everybody was
the same there.

MUSIC

He had a fantastic life
there and very, sort of

special American dream, the
counter culture dream.

Maybe he said: Look, I don't
wanna look glamorous here,

I'll be this other
kind of character.

WESTERN MUSIC

I remember him
reading If Rudyard

Kipling, I saw him do it live...

You know, Dennis,
one time, there

was a TV-Show, the Johnny Cash

Show, you know, the musician had
a talk show for a few years

It was on the Johnny
Cash Show, exactly.

Exactly. Exactly,
yeah, forgot that.

Johnny says I think
you have something

you wanna share, Dennis, right?

In that voice, Johnny Cash.

He gets up there,

and Dennis like just,

it's like three minutes of the
most incredible performance

ever, I mean, it's really worth
watching if you've never seen

If you can keep your head

when all about you are losing
theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself
when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for
their doubting too;

Or being lied about,

don't deal in lies,

Or being hated,

don't give way to hating,

And yet

don't look too good,
nor talk too wise:

If you can dream

but not make dreams your master;

I mean he knew the whole
thing, word for word,

it was insane. It's
a really long poem.

And he knew it perfectly.

And wow, you know, that says
a lot about him, that he,

not only did he know it, but
he knew what it was about.

He understood the
meaning behind it.

If you can fill the
unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds
worth of distant run

Yours is the Earth

and everything that's in it

And which is more

you re gonna be a man, my son!

MUSIC

That's for you, Dennis.

The sun came out
just for Dennis.

It did, look!

MUSIC

In the centre of
the cyclone here,

cyclonic action surrounds us,
but we remain tranquil.

GUITAR MUSIC

And he was rough, too,

the whole period he was in Taos

with guns and stuff,
he was scary.

I visited him, stayed with him
up in Taos, this was like

and we went shooting guns,

and he has these
automatic weapons, and

we went off and did that,
and I just felt like

Boy, this is hard, I never
do anything like this

and yet Dennis wanted to do it,

you know, he wanted to go
off in the countryside

and shoot these guns off,
so that's what we did.

WESTERN MUSIC

They try to victimize icons
like Dennis, though.

It happened all the time.

Like, the IRS got Dennis,

you know, the Internal
Revenue Service.

That's what they're
called, the IRS.

Dennis got in trouble
with the whole

alphabet, the FBI, the CIA,

the IRS, you name it,
any part of

the alphabet Dennis
got in trouble with.

WESTERN MUSIC

''LA Fonda''

Did you get a shot of the jail?

Dennis was one of the
most prominent residents,

there it is, now.

But I got him out,
10 minutes argue,

I wouldn't allow him
to be detained.

MUSIC

And even if you were in some
prison the walls of which let

none of the sounds of the
world come to your senses

would you not then still have
your childhood, that precious,

kingly possession, that
treasure-house of memories?

WESTERN MUSIC

Well, I met Dennis probably

in 1972 or 3,

when I was going to
produce my first

film in Australia
about an outlaw.

WESTERN MUSIC

And we rented a little plane,

took flight from
Albuquerque to Taos

and then Dennis was
waiting for us

at the airport in a pick-up van,

with a firing gun in the
air next to the plane.

That was the introduction
to Dennis Hopper...

...very similar to the
character of 'Easy Rider'.

WESTERN MUSIC

And he wanted to
play the part in

this film and Daniel Morgan was

a character from history,
he was an outlaw,

a Robin Hood sort
of character, and

Dennis empathized
with this character.

GUITAR MUSIC

Dennis arrived in Sydney,
Australia with nothing.

''Where is your
luggage, Dennis?''

- ''I don't have any, man.''

''What about your clothes?''

''You're supplying them.''

''What?''
- ''Yeah, man!''

And that was Dennis, you know.

And he just arrived in a
pair of Levi's, no socks,

checked shirt and a passport.

''I'm ready.''

And by the second night he
was there, he was in jail.

DOOR SMASHING

We had to get him out of
jail and get him out of town

to get him away from the dogs
and the bars and the fantastic

stuff cause he was trying
to become Daniel Morgan.

It's your money or your life
and it's in that order.

''It's your money or your
life in that order.''

And he liked to do
that, to anybody, and

he would maybe like a
couple of bourbon,

but he was holding
them up in his mind.

GUNFIRE

Stand and deliver Sir!

What's happening, that
there was no hotel left

in this town, nobody accepted
Dennis in the hotel room.

What does that mean?

There's a reward for
you, dead or alive.

That's what it means.

The hotel room was a bit like
a rock band on the road.

And when the managers
would look into a room

which was somehow being damaged,
they just said ''But why''.

And I found it very
difficult to explain

that he was having a
good time, you know.

WESTERN MUSIC

Dennis left after the
shooting in Australia

going to Daniel Morgan's
grave and pouring

Whiskey over it and
being stopped by

the police having the highest
alcohol rating ever.

Last time I saw Dennis,
he left Australia

in the same set as he arrived.

With nothing.

He arrived in the
Levi's suit and he left

with the Levi's suit
and the passport.

That was it.

GUITAR MUSIC

TRUMPETS

''Apocalypse Now'',

there was a stroke
of brilliance there,

that, it was very much like
him in his kind of stream of

consciousness, understanding
and expressing a character.

I mean, what are they gonna
say man, when he's gone, huh?

'Cause he dies when it dies,
man, when it dies, he dies!

What are they gonna
say about him?

What? That was a kind man? He
was a wise man? He had plans?

He had wisdom? Bullshit, man!

He was telling me
on ''Apocalypse

Now!'' he'd get so high, that he

wandered off into the jungle and

nobody could find
him for ten days.

He was in the jungle for ten
days and then showed back

up, and he says he has no
recollection of what happened.

I mean, who survives ten
days in the jungle?!

GUITAR MUSIC

GUITAR MUSIC

He was brilliant in ''The
American Friend'', I think that

might be, maybe that's my
favourite performance of his.

He's great in Wim's movie.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

SINGING

DRAMATIC MUSIC

I like this room.

I make money. And
I travel a lot.

It was rather unsatisfying
and Bruno was upset.

On the second day, we
have it another shot.

I asked Dennis if he could stick
a little bit more to the script.

But when he again improvised,
Bruno's response

was to punch Dennis in the face
right in the middle of the take.

That was a beautiful

relationship
that he had with Bruno Ganz.

GUITAR MUSIC

...God knows, that's
where I wanna be...

GUITAR MUSIC

This gangster from
the Reeperbahn,

Wolfgang Von Hamburg,

he insisted on taking us to

the airport, ''No I
insist'', you know.

And so,

he was showering us with gifts.

Put that away, seatbelt on...

Man I am zoned.

Zoned, take these, take
these, take these!

And he makes a fool of himself,
by driving his car, erratically,

right in front of the
concords, where

the leading terminal
of Hamburg airport.

CAR SOUND

That's exactly right,
exactly, exactly.

And then he took out a
bunch of coke and poured

in on the dashboard
under the wind shield,

so that anybody passing by would
have no problem noticing it.

Shut up, shut up, gives you that

mysterious touch, you
know what I mean.

It's one thing to be in
the Reeperbahn but not

at the airport, cause
that's the frontier.

Anything goes there, you know,
cops can do whatever they want.

The white star, oh fuck.

Do you know (INAUDIBLE) press
conference, get in the car...

Why did you get this car?

I said get outta here, ...hell.

Don't let that fool you.

See this, okay, 5 minutes,
5 minutes, right.

Oh, man...

I'm Henry the VIII.

off with their fucking heads

But it was rock music.

MUSIC

Burroughs had written a
book called ''Junkie''

and I was curious
about whether they

have ever written a screenplay.

So I checked with Dennis
and the time, said

''Do you ever
remember working with

Burroughs on the
script for''Junkie'',

he said ''It was
the seventies,

I don't remember the seventies''

He didn't really had
fun at that time.

And I was like ''Come on,
you mean all these drugs,

LSD, Cocaine, you didn't
have like, a little fun''

And he was like
''No, not really''

And that was very
shocking for me.

He'd come to this decision and
realized, like, you know,

I'm not getting where I
wanna be, you know I'm kind

of caught in this trap
of alcohol and cocaine.

And I have to get out
of not one, but both.

And he did! How remarkable.

I tried everything.

Booze, coke, nothing works.

There is only one honourable
solution: The Roof.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

Everything is gestation
and then bringing forth.

To let each impression
and each germ of a

feeling come to completion
wholly in itself

in the dark, in the
inexpressible,

the unconscious, beyond reach
of one's own intelligence,

and await with deep
humility and patience

the birth-hour of a new clarity:

that alone is living
the artist's life.

MUSIC

He was practically a zombie

and we brought him to ''New
Beginnings'', the rehab centre

and he emerged successfully,
never to have another drink

for the last 23
years of his life

and I think, that's when he
spread out as a creative artist.

MUSIC

Don't you fucking look at me!

It was provocative?

I don't know.

If really, it is difficult
for me to comment on

a film that was written
and directed by David.

You know, because my
responsibility is

not the film, it
was the character.

LOUD BREATHING

But the most touching to
me was Dennis Hopper,

one day, I remember,

we were doing the
scene where Dennis

Hopper comes to hear
my character sing.

And he is holding a piece
of blue velvet rope,

and that's a cue
for the character

played by Kyle McLachlan

to understand that there is
something connecting us.

So I was singing away,

that was what I had to do,
and I looked down at Dennis,

and Dennis was crying.

And I thought, Wow, he's
an incredible actor!

He, the character he
played, loved Dorothy.

But he was a violent,
he was angry at

himself, he should
not love a woman.

And that's why he beat her up.

But in the woman that I was on
stage and slightly removed,

he could give in
to it, and cried,

because he was in love with
her, and the rage of saying,

''I don't wanna be in love with
any woman, I'm a tough guy.''

I thought that was an
incredible actor's choice.

It wasn't written. He did it.

SLOW PIANO MUSIC

So actors can add. And of
course David Lynch took it.

ROCK MUSIC

Dennis, I photographed
him once, in

the mid-nineties, in Los
Angeles, in a hotel room.

Like an angry looking guy.

But because of
''Blue Velvet'', you

know, that was really what I was

looking for him, I loved that

edginess that he
had in this film.

It's a master performance.

GUITAR MUSIC

I think it's hard to
beat the intensity

that he had in ''Blue Velvet''.

I don't think I've
ever seen that

equalled in a still picture.

I photographed him in Bottrop
in Germany with some trees that

were wrapped up for the winter
and it was a surrealistic

kind of sight, but it was
part of my fake paparazzi

pictures, so it was just to
create a mystery, really.

And then the picture
I liked best

out of those was,
the moment when I

opened the camera
slightly too early,

there was light falling into it.

And that kind of
accident made that

picture the best of the shoot.

GUITAR MUSIC

I worked with Dennis on a film
that I directed in Spain,

where he came for a day,

and he and Grace Jones
had a scene together.

In the desert in Armenia.

Which was great, and he came out

thoroughly charming
and delightful.

Everybody came to the set,

I think there were like 6
actors called that day,

like 25 actors came
because they all

just wanted to see
Dennis, watch him.

I'm looking for a room.

There are no rooms

No rooms.

Well where do you sleep?

In the shed, behind
the petrol station.

I ain't sleeping in no shed.

LAUGHTER

Of course not, darling.

Boy, I just let him go, really.

I mean, the thing
is, if actors know,

if they're good actors,
I think they know

the character better than
the director does.

It doesn't look like you're
sleeping in a shed to me.

LAUGHTER

When Dennis burst out laughing,

when all these guys

come to him with guns and stuff,

they come through the window,

, that's perfect.

I wouldn't have done
that, it wouldn't have

occurred to me, but it
was perfect, you know.

He knows what to do,
he's his character.

I wanna give you my card,

I.G. Farben, Ranch Style Homes.

Helping people help
themselves to have a home.

If he was working
on a B-movie with

a super low budget or
a giant project,

like ''Waterworld'',
the huge budget movie,

Dennis gave 100 percent.

Artistically, emotionally,
spiritually

and performance-wise.

GUITAR MUSIC

''Backtrack'' was
really interesting,

because it began in
Venice, California,

where Dennis lived,
and he made it

about that Venice
artists community.

So he would have,
like he had Bob Dylan

playing Laddie Dill,
the Venice artist.

And it was quite
funny really, it

was quite comical,
because Dylan,

again, is an amazing musician,
but not necessarily an actor.

And so Dylan would like, we
would do the takes, and Dylan

would go ''Uuh, I haven't seen
Laddie Dill in a long time ''

And Dennis goes, Cut,
cut, you re Laddie Dill!

''Oh, yeah, right
right right Another

take ''Uuh, I haven't
seen Laddie Dill in

a long time.''

- ''Cut, cut, you re
Laddie Dill!''

''Oh, right, yeah yeah yeah''...

I haven't seen Anne
Benton in a long time.

Her forms aren't
exactly simpatico.

Who did you say you
were working for?

Oh I work for Bank of America.

It was entertaining to see
Dennis in the middle, recreate

the Venice artist community
with rock'n'rollers.

WESTERN MUSIC

So Venice California was
not only a great community

for artists and aspirant
artists, it was also

the only community on the
Pacific Coast in Los

Angeles where minorities
could afford to live.

The criminal element,
gangsters, so it

was a real mix,
really interesting.

I rode the bus off Lincoln
Boulevard, got off at the bus

stop, walked down Indiana
Avenue to Dennis house, hung

out with him a couple of
hours, walk back and I find,

and I walk back and I'm
shadowed by young gangsters

These guys from the
neighbourhood, you know...

And the thing is,
I'm also carrying

my bags, they don't realize

this, but in my bags is this

really expensive
camera equipment.

And I'm thinking,''Oh man!

These guys are gonna,

are these guys gonna heist me
for my camera equipment now?

And I saved 50 cents
by riding the bus!''

You know. And I sit
down at the bus

stop to wait for
the bus to come,

one of them comes
up to me and he

goes ''Dennis Hopper man!
Yeah!''

WESTERN MUSIC

I'm just in L.A.

I was working at a gas
station in Beverly Hills,

and I really wanted to
meet Dennis Hopper.

And I would tried to
find out where he lived.

And somebody told me he
lived in Venice somewhere.

Then I rode there
on my motorcycle,

I had a '74 sportster

and I rode there and
I found this big,

metal house with
this big fence around it

and I said That's where
Dennis Hopper lives .

And I went around
the back of it and

there was a big gate
and it was open.

And I rode in, and there was a
garage and I stopped the bike

and I heard his
voice ''Hey, man''.

And I looked up and there
he was in the window,

he was looking down, he goes
''What are you doing, man?''

And I go ''Well I
came to meet you''

And he goes ''That's
usually closed,

man, that gate's
usually closed, man''

And I go ''Well, I'm sorry,
I'm not on your property''

''You are on my property, man''

And so I, you know, I
backed it out, you

know, and I said
''I'm sorry, man''

and he goes ''Cool, cool, man''

And I said Okay you
know, and then he was

watching me and I
rode away, you know.

And that was when I
actually first met him.

COUNTRY MUSIC

Have you seen ''Hell ride''?

COUNTRY MUSIC

The first thing I
said when I got to

the set, I go
''Where is my bike?''

Ironically, two days
later when he started

I heard someone say ''Dennis
is here'' and I said ''Oh, man''

So I went outside
and there he was,

and he goes ''Where
is my bike, man?''

LAUGHTER

and I said ''That's
what I said!''

He started laughing,
he goes ''Yeah I

wanna ride it, man''
I go ''Yeah''

And the transport guys
were really worried, like

''Oh, isn't he like,
old, you know, he's

super old, isn't he
like 80 years old?''

And I was like ''Guys,
you gotta let him go

out and ride this thing.
Guys, no, man''.

MOTORCYCLE ENGINE

How long have you had that bike?

Since 1976. Follow
me if you can!

Everyone's going ''Oh my
god, he's riding it''

And of course he was, I mean he
knows how to ride a motorcycle.

I love that movie so much.

A lot of people think,
it's a silly film

but I love that movie
cause he's in it.

The Gent.

That's me.

Pistolero would like to
chat with you and Comanche.

Well thanks for the latest
breaking news there,

Wolf Blitzer.

I do have a story that I
wanna tell, about Dennis.

Because it really meant a lot
to me when it made me really

understand how much pressure
he was under to be Dennis.

Which was, when we
were working on Hot

Spot, we went to a
County Fair in Texas.

And we drank a lot
of ice tea, and

I needed to use
the bathroom, and

they were looking
at something, so I

just raced off to
use the bathroom.

And I come back, and people
are circling like sharks.

Dennis is looking at the people.

And they're just not
saying anything,

they're just circling
him, staring at him.

And I break through, and I
go, 'What's going on?!''

and Dennis grabs me and
we go walking, and

he says, ''Don't ever
do that again.''

And I said, '''Don't
ever do what?!''

And he said, '''Don't
ever leave me

alone in a public
place ever again.

I have to keep moving.''

LOUD TALKING

COUNTRY MUSIC

Art too is only a way of living.

Therefore save yourself
from these general themes

and seek those which your own
everyday life offers you;

describe your sorrows
and desires,

passing thoughts and believe
in some sort of beauty

describe all these with loving,
quiet, humble sincerity,

and use, to express yourself,

the things in your
own environment,

the image from your dreams, and
the object of your memory.

GUITAR MUSIC

You know, when I was
gonna make ''Basquiat'',

the first film, that I directed,

he was the first
person that said,

he would be in the movie.

And the fact, that
Dennis was in the movie,

other actors figured, okay,
we'll give Julian a chance,

we'll see if he
can do it or not.

All the painters please.

All the painters. Mr.
Bischofberger please.

Dennis' role as the
art dealer Bruno

Bischofberger is so brilliant,

, so spot-on, I would
say, that Dennis

is even better than
Bruno in life.

Yeah just have them
drop you at Mr. Chow's.

We'll all be there.
It's a great show!

You wanna know how it was
playing Burno Bischofberger?

Exactly.

LAUGHTER

He wears these
knickers, you know,

with the socks and the thing,

it was very funny, I
thought it was very funny.

Julian said I was a little
like Peter Sellers.

It was funny, I had a Swiss
accent which I used,

you know, ''Ja, ja.
Buy the painting,

ja, wonderful, ja,
this is wonderful''

So, more or less like that.

I mean, this is the one,

I absolutely have
to have this one.

I mean, this is super fantastic.

Jean-Michel, I must have it.

I think what we're talking about

is somebody that was authentic

and who wasn't
compromised and who,

whatever he did, it
was true to him.

And sometimes, what he did
was very very extraordinary.

SPILLS LIQUID

SPILLS LIQUID

SPILLS LIQUID

Is it art?

Or is this art?

I like what Marcel
Duchamp said about

''The artist of the future
will be a man, who points

his finger and says ''That's
art'' and it'll be art.

MUFFLED TALKING

I allowed myself to paint,

I wanted to take photographs,

because I wanted
to direct films,

I learned not to
crop my photographs,

I never cropped any of
my still photographs,

so that I would use
the full frame when

I would become a
director of a film.

So I never saw any
of these disciplines

as being different
from the others,

I just saw one
continuing, to be a way

of expressing oneself
emotionally.

ROCK MUSIC

I met him through a gallery,
Ferus Gallery, here in L.A.

He went to Claes
Oldenburgs wedding,

shot pictures there
and he got that great

picture of Rauschenberg
holding his tongue out.

I think the photographs he
took of people, at parties,

of Warhol and all the
guys, over the years,

were quite special.

And they been the photos
that have documented

the period more than
anybody, I think.

GUITAR MUSIC

You would always see Dennis and
he'd have that Nikon around

his shoulder and sometimes
two, sometimes three Nikons.

GUITAR MUSIC

GUITAR MUSIC

I had done a painting, a big
painting called ''Radio'',

with the word ''radio''
and I believe he saw

that and he's taking
pictures of his friends,

you know and I say ''Wow, that's

fine, sure, what
do you wanna do?''

And he said ''Well I
got this idea, let's

go down on Santa
Monica Boulevard.''

GUITAR MUSIC

And so he said ''Just stand
there'' and look in the camera

and not much direction or
anything, just ''Look in my

camera and be yourself'',
something like that, something

really simple. And, you know,
he, 5 minutes, he was happy.

So he was shooting
lots of film, and

he would find things
on the street,

he would find, like,
common things

that were on the
street, signage,

you know, iconography of the
streets, of Los Angeles.

GUITAR MUSIC

That's why I'm so drawn to
like, graffiti, and these

sort of infantile scratches
and images on wall,

because it's very much like
our life, I mean, we're here

for such a little moment in
the whole scheme of things,

but we each contribute a little
bit to the building block

of culture, and we all work
in the vineyards of culture.

SOFT UPBEAT MUSIC

He wasn't a guy like Gerhard
Richter where painting was what

he did and here is these
different groups and...

everything is very very clear.

Because he was more
of a fluxis artist

and I mean, he did
extraordinary things.

I mean, when he blew
himself up in Texas,

for example, that was
a great performance.

I believe it's called ''Life
and death on canvas'', where

he filmed himself doing
this stuntman's trick.

Are you ready?

'Cause the stuntman is...

Staying all in the same place.

Dennis gets in the
middle of this circle,

is ignited, this
tremendous explosion.

We're getting ready.

EXPLOSION

I think nobody can possibly
survive being in

the centre of this and here
Dennis just walks out.

Hey! ... Hey man. Woo.
Woo! Woo. Woo.

It also shows kind of the
extreme, kind of

the craziness of Dennis'
aesthetic during that period.

Woo. Woo! Woo. Woo. Hey man.
How about

professional people
working huh?!

Professional people working...

It meant a lot to
him to have his

work shown in an art context.

MUSIC

This tonight, I think
it's an important

event in modern art
history cause Dennis',

his life as an artist
has encompassed and

been woven in, inextricably
with a big art

movement of the west
coast, I mean come

on, it's major people
we're talking about

here. And this, tonight
is like a combination

of it and the recognition
of his works.

SLOW MUSIC

The art world can
be very stubborn,

even cruel, saying
Dennis Hopper,

he's an actor, he
can't be an artist,

he's not allowed
to be an artist .

SLOW MUSIC

The world is run by
mediocre people.

And he didn't really fit in,
he didn't fit in one category.

And so, he was
always an outsider.

Which would make him
very attractive and at

the same time made things
difficult for him.

What is that?

Hey, look at that,
I'm in business,

I just found a piece of

post-modern
deconstructivist art.

Hey, wait a minute.

Is he the artist,
because he made it

or am I the artist
because I found it?

Or is just Charlie Saatchi
the artist because

he sells it and sells
a fortune from it.

If everything is art,
then nothing is art.

At least, not until
somebody wraps

a lot of long words around it.

So in that perspective
it was very

good to see somebody and know

somebody like him, that would
bridge these different worlds.

That someone could come
and penetrate these

various kinds of roles
of the art world.

You know, acting, painting,
photography, movies,

all of this and it was
a rare thing to see.

MUSIC

Perhaps it will
turn out that you

are not called to be an artist.

Then take that destiny
upon yourself and bear it,

its burden and its
greatness, without ever

asking what reckon pins
might come from outside.

For the creator must be a world
for himself and find everything

in himself and in nature, to
whom he has attached to himself.

ROCK MUSIC

He's a unique individual.

And Dennis Hopper chose
film as his primary

vehicle to express
his creativity.

But anyone who knows
anything about his life

knows that it went in many
different directions.

He had a keen eye for
not only art, but

also for photography
and also for music.

Once upon a time at the foot
of a great mountain, there was

a town where the people known
as the Happy Folk lived.

Their existence was a mystery
to the rest of the world

He performed on the
Gorillaz album

as a music artist. So he was

able, uniquely, I
think, to express

himself in many different ways.

The mountain called
Monkey had spoken.

There was only fire,
and then nothing.

One of his key characteristics
is not only to stay curious

about life, but also to
constantly reinvent himself.

And that's very necessary
for creativity.

I think that's one reason
why he liked U2 so much,

because U2 always works hard
to reinvent their music.

Welcome ringside, from Dublin,
Ireland, with a record of five

MTV Awards...

He used the analogy
of being a champion,

fighting hard, which
is also what Dennis

does, as a warrior, and
used that to introduce

U2 and the fans
absolutely loved it.

U2. Yeah!

It's unusual for anyone in
the creative industry to

be able to bridge gaps of
different generations.

And that's exactly what
Dennis Hopper could do.

He did it so successfully.
He stayed current.

This is Bruce Smith s shoe, man.
Huhu. Wait a minute.

This is this is Rod
Woodson's shoe!

Stacy Wall wrote these
Nike commercials with this

strange character, it's
like a homeless referee

and asked me to shoot
some commercials. I was

surprised that Dennis
wanted to do the spots.

I'm looking forward
to the season

like a slug looks
...

First day, it almost went
down the toilet. The second

commercial was him singing a
song, this is my favourite.

... Richard White, Steve
Young, Arian Foster

and players with much
longer names, yeah.

He asked for the Teleprompter,

and I said: ''We don't
have a teleprompter'' .

He blew up, said ''My agent
specifically asked for

a teleprompter'' then stormed
off into his trailer.

I said ''Here it
goes, it's over''.

So I quickly got
some big cards and

I started writing the cue card

and the assistant director is
writing the other half. He came

out, he came storming out of the
trailer, says ''Just throw

the stuff away''.
Nailed it, 2 or 3

takes, perfect each time.
Perfect.

Yeah! I'm looking
forward to the season

and especially the
Two-Point Conversion.

He was using himself as a
guinea pig in whatever

shape or form or whatever
medium he was using.

And sometimes he
would hit it, and it

would be great, and
sometimes he didn't.

SLOW GUITAR MUSIC

I met Dennis on my
very first movie

called ''The Piano Player''.

Can someone explain
to me what this is

all about? Am I a
prisoner or something?

Erica. I've had
to make some very

important decisions
about my life.

He was impatient
with me because I

didn't get things right
from the get-go,

and then he could see that I was

very intimidated and
then he finally

asked me, like, ''How
long have you been

an actress?'' and I
said Basically,

this is it and from then on, he
really, he taught me everything.

Erica, don't make
things so difficult.

I may not be a perfect father.

But I believe in my own way,
I did my best to raise you.

You know, when he liked
somebody, he could be

generous, he would have
given you his last shirt.

But he was also a
very, you know,

he expected a lot from people.

If he felt like you were not
paying attention or you

weren't good enough
for what he saw

should be given
he could be harsh.

He didn't really
get along with

the director and
my other co-star.

And you know, he tried
to convince the director

that the scene between
these two actors just

wasn't gonna work and that
he should really do

a scene where he talked to
a goat for ten minutes.

Mr. Goat, do I know you?
I'm Robert Nile.

And at the end of the day,
that's what happened he cut

the other actor out of the scene

and he did the
scene with a goat.

LAUGHTER

My mother split. You know
what I'm saying to you?

Do you think my
daughter loves me?

SLOW GUITAR MUSIC

And he had to fight, all the
time to, kind of, get by.

It wasn t

...it was always
a trial somehow.

You know, there's a
line in this book

about van Gogh,
where he's reading

one of these rhymes, it says

''Is the walking
always be uphill?''

And the answer is, yes, it will.

''And is it gonna be over soon?
No, it's gonna start early

in the morning and it's gonna
last till late at night''.

''And will it ever get any
better? 'No, it won't.''

COUNTRY MUSIC

I met Dennis many years
ago in Barcelona.

And I remember, just, you know,

because I'm very shy,
so, but I thought,

''Dennis Hopper is
here, you have to

tell him how much
you admire him'',

but then you know,
after twenty minutes,

he started drinking a lot,

and you know, there was
these two Japanese sisters,

like really young,
beautiful girls.

That was the end of
the conversation,

with these two Japanese girls.

MUSIC

And then, you know, many
years after, when we

were casting ''Elegy'' we
had Penelope Cruz, Ben

Kingsley and we were looking
for someone who is able

to face Ben. And I thought
about him, you know.

MUSIC

He said ''Nobody is
offering me roles

like this, I love
it, it's great,

yeah. And also, I
have the opportunity

to die and I love
dying in movies''.

APPLAUSE

I think the shot
we did more takes

of was when he is dying and they

have to kiss. That
last grasp for

life was that kiss
in that movie.

I owe you.

AMBIENT SOUND

DEEP BREATH

And that scene was
painful, because you

can see the guy was,
you know, he said he

loved to die in movies,
but it was clearly

an exorcism for
death in real life.

UPBEAT MUSIC

That is at bottom the
only courage that is

demanded of us: to
have courage for

the most strange, the
most singular and

the most inexplicable that
we may encounter.

That mankind in this sense
has been cowardly has done

life endlessly harm; the
experiences that are called

''visions'', the whole so-called
''spirit-world'', death,

all those things that are
so closely akin to us.

UPBEAT MUSIC

Death is an arrow from the
future, flying towards you.

That is the fear of death.

The fear of life is
the fear of death.

I'm the opening.

I'm the connecting door,
not the dead end!

I'm the only way out.

He suffered terribly actually.
But he

put on a face that
didn't show that.

Now.

Take my portrait.

He was ready to go, man.

He was like ''You know what,
I'm ready, that's it.''

You know, at the
end, I never saw

him seeming to be
worried about it.

You know? Even at
the Star ceremony.

I remember he was sitting
with Jack Nicholson.

And him and Jack were
laughing about something.

And

I just thought ''Wow, I mean,
there's a guy who knows

that he's out of time
but he's fine with it!''

John. John. Miss? Miss? Miss!

Ten years before that, I
was trying to figure out

''How does a person get a star
on the Walk of Fame?'' you know.

Even back then I was wondering
about it, that it would be cool.

And I was like ''Man,
you know what?

They're never gonna
get me one of those

fucking things, man.
I'm never gonna

get a star of the
Walk of Fame.''

And Dennis goes, ''Haha,
me neither man! Yeah, I've

been trying to get one of
those for years man!''

He goes, ''I'd have
to be dying of

cancer to get one
of those man!''

And we laughed about it,
we thought it was funny.

And now man, all those
fucking years later,

I mean, look at it, that's
exactly what happened.

Poor guy is dying and

they suddenly decided
to give him one.

By the way, when they
said there were 403 stars

already on Hollywood
Boulevard, it's hard

to believe, that it has
taken this long to

acknowledge the greatest
star of them all.

APPLAUSE

Dennis Hopper is the
coolest guy on the planet.

APPLAUSE

Ladies and gentleman,
we proudly welcome to

the Hollywood Walk of
Fame, Dennis Hopper!

And I was very happy
that he got it, he

died a few weeks after
he got his star.

MUSIC

All deaths are
beginnings, not endings.

And I like to think that
Dennis went to a higher

place, and I think he
died a fulfilled man.

AMBIENT SOUND

This is for Dennis Hopper:

See him wasted on the side walk,
with his jacket and his jeans,

wearing yesterday's
misfortunes like a smile.

Once he had a future full
of money love and dreams,

which he spent like they
was going out of style.

And he keeps right on to change,
for the better of the worst,

searching for a shrine
he's never found.

Never knowing if believing
is a blessing or a curse,

or if the going up was
worth the coming down.

He's a poet he's a picker
he's a prophet he's a pusher.

He's a pilgrim and a preacher
and a problem when he's stoned.

He's a walking contradiction
partly truth and partly fiction.

Taking every wrong direction
on his lonely way back home.

MUSIC