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Rating: The world is full of misunderstood artists, but a special mention deserves those who have had many ups and downs in their careers. In particular, those artists who, after starting off well with their first attempt, found themselves in serious difficulty in confirming their talent deserve to be understood (at least in their torments). They eventually re-emerged, but the initial sparkle remained a fond memory.
Just to not mention names (so to speak otherwise we can't proceed) when citing Dennis Hopper, our thoughts go to various interesting performances as an actor in films directed, among others, by Ray, Corman, Coppola. Hopper was also a director. It's just that, once his notable debut in that role with "Easy Rider" is mentioned, it's important to remember that maintaining that level of quality subsequently was not entirely successful for him. And it's useful, in this sense, to revisit his second film titled "The Last Movie" to see how certain interesting ideas were not adequately developed.
The action takes place in the Peruvian hinterland where a film crew, directed by Samuel Fuller, is shooting a western movie. One day, an accident occurs on set, costing the life of a stuntman. The film will no longer be made, and one of the stuntmen named Kansas (played by Dennis Hopper) decides to settle in the Peruvian village. At first, it seems to him that he has chosen well, finding himself in a place of great beauty, immersed in an almost untouched natural habitat. Unfortunately, however, what was left on site by the film crew arouses curiosity and a spirit of emulation among the local indigenous people who also wish to try their hand at the cinematic art. The fact is that, given their naive and pre-modern mentality, they do not understand the existence of a clear gap between reality and filmic fiction. Therefore, for them, recreating armed clashes in front of cameras is understood as acting without pretense, in a true direct take with imaginable bloody outcomes. The situation becomes heavy also because the village priest (played by an incredible Tomas Milian) identifies Kansas, the damned gringo, as the scapegoat for this violent drift. And so, what could appear as the best way to escape from Hollywood and the cinema world, turns out to be another trap for those who deluded themselves into having found Eden on earth.
Made in 1970 in Peru and on the wave of the great success achieved by a low-budget film like "Easy Rider", "The Last Movie" is the classic example of a movie driven by great intentions that however remain halfway. On the other hand, let's put ourselves in Dennis Hopper's shoes: you're hit by a success you might not have expected, producers give you free rein, and managing to shoot an equally valid film is not so simple, you're really under stress. You shoot hours and hours of footage and still have to trim that material to give it a standard duration (it would eventually be 108 minutes). The work still has interesting ideas scattered here and there: the return to an untouched nature, the role of the cinematic medium in creating a sort of cultural hegemony over worlds different from ours, to the point of delineating a sort of Yankee imperialism (true but I think that even Hopper's cinema contributes in this sense...).
To this, add the use of editing full of flashbacks and a directing style reminiscent of Godard's lesson in which a film has a beginning, a development, and an end but not necessarily in that order. It’s a pity that the Franco-Swiss director always had many followers unable to equal him, and Hopper, in this case, is no exception.
What I think is missing, in the film, is a jolt in the plot’s unfolding to capture the viewer's attention. A film like "Easy Rider" is anything but boring, unlike this second attempt by Hopper which, having to complete everything, ended up making a hasty work, as if in the end he had become disenchanted with it while going through a difficult period due to substance abuse.
Presented at the Venice Film Festival in 1971, "The Last Movie" did not experience a happy fate. The same producers, previously so generous with the director, became convinced that risking capital on overly experimental works wasn't worthwhile. And before Hopper could return behind the camera, 9 years would have to pass, having made a mark as an actor in supporting roles (remembered in the role of the photojournalist in Coppola's "Apocalypse Now").
So many years after these events, watching "The Last Movie," somewhat reassessed in the meantime by some critics, still gives the impression of a film that could have been better if only the author had paid more attention in the making of the film (this indeed an example of a moldy artifact). Surely it doesn't deserve certain harsh criticisms like that of a certain Harry Medved who includes it in the list of the 50 worst films of all time. Yet, it generates regret for how a golden opportunity can be wasted.
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