Special Report: The Last Movie (1971)

On this special episode of The Projection Booth we’re looking at Dennis Hopper’s The Last Movie. Barely released by Universal Pictures in 1971, the film stars Hopper as Kansas -- a man as middle-American as his name. He’s in Peru as a stunt man for a Western. When the cast and crew packs up and goes back to Hollywood, he stays behind where the natives form a sort of cargo cult around movie-making, holding up Kansas as their god, savior, and their sacrifice.

Mike talks to Craig Rogers and David Marriott from Arbelos Films who have restored The Last Movie and have re-released the film. He speaks to author Jessica Hundley, editor of Dennis Hopper: Photographs 1961-1967, John Buck Wilkin who performed music on both The Last Movie and Lawrence Schiller & L. M. Kit Carson's The American Dreamer. Finally, he speaks with Nick Ebeling, the director of Along for the Ride and its subject, Satya De La Manitou.

Nick Dawson and Ben Buckingham join Mike to discuss the film as well as its fascinating history.