Alex Zhang Hungtai x 'The Last Movie'

‘The Last Movie’ is a deliberately self-reflective film, co-written by New Hollywood legend Dennis Hopper and ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ screenwriter Stewart Stern. The film follows a Hollywood film crew filming a western in a remote Peruvian village. When production wraps, Hopper – in the role of the tormented stuntman Kansas – stays behind. He tries to find redemption in isolated Peru and in the arms of a former sex worker. Meanwhile, the local indigenous people have taken over the abandoned set. They begin to stage a ritual re-enactment of the film production – with Kansas as their sacrificial lamb.

A notorious production
The film is regarded as one of the most legendary productions of the New Hollywood era. Following the massive commercial success of ‘Easy Rider’ — made for just $40,000 and grossing $60 million! — Hopper was given carte blanche by Universal for his next directorial project. The director, writer and lead actor took the money and ran with it – literally. He shot ‘The Last Movie’ in Peru, as far away from the Hollywood machine as possible.

Although the film won a special prize at the Venice Film Festival, ‘The Last Movie’ effectively brought Hopper’s career to an end for years; the Hollywood establishment was only too happy to write him off as an eccentric madman. Nevertheless, the film remains thrillingly innovative and remarkably contemporary – heavily influenced by the work of Bruce Conner, the French Nouvelle Vague, and the pop art and abstract artists whom Hopper so admired.