Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Dennis Hopper and the Texas Connection

The passing of Dennis Hopper over the weekend brought out alot of RIP pieces... and rightly so. Hopper was a maverick of his generation, a laid back provocateur and diverse actor who (mostly) infused every role with something fierce. Even in some of his very bad direct to video releases, he maintained an edge that is always watchable.

One of the more illuminating pieces on his lifetime was this article in the Dallas Observer, detailing the decades long pissing match between Hopper and Dallas wild child native writer Terry Southern over some copyright issues with the breakthrough late 60's film "Easy Rider". Along the way, the article links out to some rare Dallas photos when Hopper visited in the early 70's for an appearance to the USA Film Festival and details some out of control actions by Hopper during his time here. If one is looking for accolades, look elsewhere. What this excellent article does give is a wide-eyed view of a man kinda lost in the haze of the 70's and unwilling to admit any mistakes after emerging from that haze. As an all encompassing addition to the index of lovingly recreated RIP articles, this one lays out the bad and sometimes ugly. It's only fair that a man's life is remembered in all its aspects.

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