The Last Movie

The Last Movie (1971)

There is a time to die and a time not to

After a film production wraps in Peru, an American wrangler decides to stay behind, witnessing how filmmaking affects the locals.

Date of release
1971-09-29
TMDB
5.7 / 10 (68)
Runtime
1h 48m
Genres
Drama
Director
Dennis Hopper

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Peru

The Last Movie is a 1971 American metafictional drama film directed by and starring Dennis Hopper. It was written by Stewart Stern, based on a story by Hopper and Stern, and features an extensive supporting cast including Stella Garcia, Don Gordon, Peter Fonda, Sam Fuller, Kris Kristofferson, Michelle Phillips, Dean Stockwell, Russ Tamblyn and Tomas Milian. The plot follows a disenfranchised stuntman (Hopper), who begins a filmmaking-centric cargo cult among Peruvian natives after going into self-imposed exile.

Production

Hopper later said he got the idea for the film when making The Sons of Katie Elder in Mexico. He says he came up with the story and got Stewart Stern to write the script; Stern had written Rebel Without a Cause, in which Hopper played a small role. Hopper said, "I had time to fantasize as to what would happen when we left this village, leaving behind all the movie set fronts built on their existing adobe houses and church. ...

Hopper tried for several years to secure financing for the film, intending it to be his directorial debut.

In July 1966, The New York Times reported that record producer Phil Spector would help make the movie with Hopper. "It will be an art movie," said Spector. "I am an admirer of Truffaut, Stanley Kubrick, Fellini. It'll be in that tradition. Hollywood needs that kind of movie." Filming was to start in Mexico on 15 September with Haskell Wexler doing cinematography.

However, due to the artistically challenging nature of the film, no studios were interested until Hopper's actual first film as a director, Easy Rider, became a massive hit in 1969.

Based on the success of Easy Rider, Universal launched a project to give five young film makers $1 million each, and give them free rein to create a movie, with little to no intervention from the studio, as had been done on Easy Rider. The other four were The Hired Hand, Taking Off, Silent Running, and American Graffiti, directed by Peter Fonda, Miloš Forman, Douglas Trumbull, and George Lucas, respectively.

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