Tag Archives: Easy Rider
COLORS 30
In the 1950s and 1960s Dennis Hopper was a young actor appearing in classic films like Rebel Without a Cause, Giant and The Sons of Katie Elder. But by the late 1960s Hopper was tired of directors telling him what to do. He felt like he knew better and he’d prove it if he could [...]
Midnight Express at 40
The high point of cinema so far has been the American films made between the late 1960s and the early 1980s. Roughly speaking, these dates constitute the New Hollywood period when failing studios turned to young, maverick directors influenced by the anarchistic re-making of genre cinema by European directors like Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. [...]
May Daze
May is a big month for Dennis Hopper fans: the actor/director/writer/painter/photographer/art collector was born on May 17, 1936, and Hopper left this plane nearly seven years ago on May 29, 2010. One thing that can be said about Hopper is that his years of drug abuse nearly cost him his creative gifts, and maybe even [...]
Hells History
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club were the wild and wooly Zeligs of the American counterculture of the Vietnam Era: The Angels partied with Ken Keasey and his Merry Pranksters; they saw their reflections on the big screen in Easy Rider, and in the pages of Hunter S. Thompson’s first book; and they effectively ended the [...]
Rainbow Bridge
Rainbow Bridge is an odd little cinematic curiosity from the early 1970′s. Nowadays it’s become a cult fave with its over-the-top grooviness, New Age sensibilties and inclusion of the last footage of Jimi Hendrix shot before he died. The Wiki has the rundown… Rainbow Bridge is a 1971 film directed by Chuck Wein about different [...]
Karen Black: Don’t Look Back
So odd to look at the Wiki entry about actress Karen Black and find it reading in the past tense. Although Black isn’t necessarily a household name today, among lovers of both high and low cinema, and bohemian types with a high pop culture IQ, Black was iconic. A native Chicagoan, Black was a bright [...]
Dennis Hopper's Wild Ride
People who know me know I love to read and during the holidays I look forward to the books I’m inevitably gifted almost as much as I look forward to the fun, food, family and friends. I’ve been plowing through some of the books St. Nick sent my way and am planning on mentioning some [...]
Adios, Amigo.
Hola, As a special treat – an amuse bouche if you will – leading up to our Sleepless Film Festival special installment on Dennis Hopper, here is a cool little documentary that was put together by BBC Channel 2 for their Moving Pictures series. This biography of Hopper follows him from his rise as a [...]
