1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,319 Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Disgraceland is 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:24,480 Speaker 1: a production of Double Elvis. This is the story of 4 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: one of the most rock and roll characters to ever 5 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: work in Hollywood. An artistic revolutionary, a drug crazed lunatic, 6 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:36,239 Speaker 1: a man who once tried to blow himself up in 7 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:39,159 Speaker 1: front of a crowd in Texas. A man who took 8 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:42,160 Speaker 1: a three hundred thousand dollars hippie art film and turned 9 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: it into a forty million dollar box office smash. It's 10 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: a story about Dennis Hopper, a man whose movies and 11 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: whose myth inspired great music. Unlike that music I played 12 00:00:57,520 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: for you at the top of the show. That was 13 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: a great music that was a preset loop for my 14 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: melotron called Frank's Oxygen Mask MK One. I played you 15 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: that loop because I can't afford the rights to in 16 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,399 Speaker 1: the year twenty five twenty five by Zager and Evans. 17 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: And why would I play you that specific slice of 18 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: futuristic cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the 19 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:30,320 Speaker 1: number one song in America on July fourteenth, nineteen sixty nine, 20 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: and that was the day Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider was released, 21 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: an event that brought sixties counterculture into the mainstream, kicking 22 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:42,960 Speaker 1: and screaming, and set its director Dennis Hopper on a 23 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: path that would take him to the highest of highs 24 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: and the lowest of lows. On this episode Artistic Revolution, 25 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: the Dynamite death Chair act Easy Rider in a three 26 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: point fifty seven magnum packing Dennis Hopper, I'm Jake Brennan, 27 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:32,080 Speaker 1: and this his disgrace lamb. From where he stood atop 28 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:34,359 Speaker 1: the roof on the third story of his twenty two 29 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: room Adobe house, you could see for miles in every direction. 30 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:40,919 Speaker 1: The sun was high in the sky, and the edge 31 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,919 Speaker 1: of the horizon sizzled. The desert wind blew in from 32 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: the southeast. The submachine gun was heavy in his hands. 33 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: It rested on his right forearm. His right finger, swollen 34 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: and sweaty from the New Mexico heat, caressed the trigger. 35 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: It wasn't the kind of gun that one of his 36 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:00,120 Speaker 1: silver screen heroes, Arrow Flynn, used in Dodge City, the 37 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,680 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty nine movie named for his hometown in Kansas, 38 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: And it wasn't the kind of gun that another of 39 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:09,640 Speaker 1: his early acting influences Montgomery Cliff carried alongside John Wayne 40 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: in Red River. It was a James Cagney gun, a 41 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 1: Charles Bronson gun. It was the kind of gun held 42 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: by a man on the fringe of society and on 43 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: the fringed end of his last nerve. It was the 44 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: kind of gun that he Dennis Hopper, champion of the counterculture, 45 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 1: hero of the Hippies, fountain head of the fringe, deemed 46 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: necessary to hold in his hands while he stood his 47 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: ground and beat back the horde of angry locals who 48 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: didn't want anyone like him polluting the water in Taos, 49 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: New Mexico. He had that gun because they were coming 50 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: for him. They were coming to kill him. He could 51 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: hear the dull roar of the mob riding on the wind. 52 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: He couldn't make that shit up, a literal, angry mob 53 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: armed with actual pitchforks. The only other sound he could 54 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: hear was the beating of his own heart, accelerated by 55 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: his daily intake of cocaine or maybe was the LSD. 56 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: Some days you just never knew which drug was responsible 57 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: for what. Some days he felt clear in your mind, 58 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: but your soul was mad, And that was a whole 59 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 1: other story. How he had got in here was an 60 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: easy story. It happened the night before the year was 61 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:19,040 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy. The sun was going down, the cicadas were out. 62 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:21,919 Speaker 1: Some local kids in town gave Hopper shit about his 63 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 1: buckskin fringed jacket and his long hair, told him they 64 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:28,160 Speaker 1: didn't want his kind in TOAs go back to La Hippie. 65 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:31,680 Speaker 1: Happer pretended the verbal daggers didn't FaZe him. He pretended 66 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: he didn't watch them walk away. He reached inside his pickup, 67 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: opened the glove box, and took out a loaded pistol. 68 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,039 Speaker 1: He kept one eye on the kids as they receded 69 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:43,559 Speaker 1: into the distance. He walked casually, but with a sense 70 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,480 Speaker 1: of urgency. The sun was gone, the humbus cicadas thickened. 71 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 1: He clutched the gun tight against his body and thought 72 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,719 Speaker 1: of the sea change in Hollywood that he was responsible for. 73 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,039 Speaker 1: His last film, Easy Rider, captured the zeitgeist of late 74 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: sixties America. Old Hollywood was moldy Hollywood. Hopper an Easy 75 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: Rider had ushered in a new style, a new look, 76 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: a new Hollywood. They wore the outfits of the tuned in, 77 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: dropped out generation, not the costumes of the old guard. 78 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: They made love on screen, not war. They talked the 79 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: way they talked, not the way some screenwriter thought they 80 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 1: should talk. They smoke real dope. They are out to 81 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: change the entire course of American film. It was the 82 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: hippies turn. Popper told this to any titan of Golden 83 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: age Hollywood dumb enough to lend an ear. You are 84 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:32,840 Speaker 1: the old Hollywood. We're the new, Hopper said to director 85 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: George Kukor, nearly four decades a senior. And then he 86 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:38,359 Speaker 1: leaned in real close and dropped his voice to a 87 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 1: menacing whisper. We're going to bury you. If only crusty 88 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 1: old George Cocor could see him now. Hopper first fell 89 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 1: in love with Taus when he brought a film crew 90 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:54,159 Speaker 1: to town in nineteen sixty eight for Easy Rider. It was 91 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: his directorial debut and was made after a nearly decade 92 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: long stretch where Popper had been blacklist it in Hollywood. 93 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,360 Speaker 1: Hopper's reputation in La La Land throughout the nineteen fifties 94 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: and sixties was that of a bad bad boy who 95 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:09,720 Speaker 1: was difficult to work with and whose behavior cost him 96 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: countless good roles. Easy Rider gave him some temporary Redemption 97 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: the Road movie followed two bikers, Billy and Wyatt, played 98 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,279 Speaker 1: by Hopper and Peter Fonda, and was largely responsible for 99 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:26,279 Speaker 1: bringing hippie counterculture to the American mainstream. Made for under 100 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: four hundred thousand dollars, it went on to bank upwards 101 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,719 Speaker 1: of forty million domestically and another twenty million abroad. It 102 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 1: was an honest to god cultural phenomenon, and it made 103 00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: Dennis Hopper. It made him a star. Now just a 104 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: few years later, Hopper was no longer a fringe icon. 105 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:44,720 Speaker 1: He was just an unwanted long hair, a crazy person, 106 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:47,599 Speaker 1: a crazy person with a pistol, following a group of 107 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: shit talking kids back to their house. When the kids 108 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:55,279 Speaker 1: reached their house and we're about to walk inside, Hopper 109 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: made his move. He drew the pistol, cocked it, and 110 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:00,719 Speaker 1: told him they were under citizens' arrest. And when the 111 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 1: cops arrived, they took Dennis Hopper to jail. Hours later, 112 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:07,360 Speaker 1: when Hopper met his eight thousand dollars bail, the police 113 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: chief offered some on the solicited advice there's a mob outside. 114 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: He told him best to slip out the side door 115 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: and keep your head down. Once you get outside, we 116 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 1: Can't help You. That was the night Hopper bought as 117 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 1: many firearms as he could get his hands on. He 118 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: brought them back to the mud Palace. He stood guard 119 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:27,239 Speaker 1: up on the roof. He stood up for the Fringe. 120 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: It had taken a few years for the Fringe to 121 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: make it to the Hollywood mainstream. There were other movies 122 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen sixties that began to turn the 123 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: tide from what Hollywood had been to what it would become. 124 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:40,080 Speaker 1: Movies like The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, and Guess Who's 125 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: Coming to Dinner all represented major shifts in how popular 126 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: cinema approached sex, violence and civil rights. Prior to Easy Rider, 127 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,679 Speaker 1: producers Bob Raefelson and Bert Schneider made a first attempt 128 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: at mainstreaming counterculture with Head, a comedy starring The Monkeys. 129 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,160 Speaker 1: They were responsible for the Monkeys hit TV show Are 130 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: Ready for primetime version of the counterculture, but the movie 131 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: sabotaged their squeaky clean image and failed to make waves. 132 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 1: The Monkeys had conceived of the film with screenwriter and 133 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: B movie actor Jack Nicholson, which means they all sat 134 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: around a hotel suite surrounded by bags of California grass 135 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: and riffed while a tape recorder spawned. Later, Nicholson took 136 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: the tapes, along with some Nicholson gray dusts of LSD, 137 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: and turned them into a script. Experimentation with illicit substances 138 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: only increased. On the set of Easy Rider, Nicholson was 139 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:33,440 Speaker 1: cast as a lawyer who became the gang's third wheel. 140 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: Pond and off the set, Fonda, Hopper, and Nicholson continued 141 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: to smoke weed, continued to do LLC. They were all 142 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 1: so eager to alter their minds that Hopper didn't even 143 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: ask what was inside of an urn that sat on 144 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:47,719 Speaker 1: the mantle of one of the production company's offices. He 145 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:50,959 Speaker 1: dumped the powdery contents onto a boardroom table and snorted 146 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: them up with a wrinkled dollar bill. Fonda broke the news. 147 00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: Hobber didn't just snort coke. He snorted the ashes of 148 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:01,199 Speaker 1: one of the movie executives. Dead wives on the fringe. 149 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 1: Things aren't always what they seemed Back in tows, they 150 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:09,480 Speaker 1: rarely were. In nineteen seventy five, Dennis Hopper continued his 151 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,559 Speaker 1: role as just another long haired hippie haunting the locals. 152 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:14,719 Speaker 1: It had been years since he had a proper role 153 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 1: in a proper film years since any major studio led 154 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,839 Speaker 1: him near a director's chair. So Hopper went off the 155 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,199 Speaker 1: edge of the fringe and went all in on crazy. 156 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 1: The locals called it the Dennis Hopper Psycho drama cowboy Act. 157 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: That act played out one night that July after a 158 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: poker match at the Hotel Lafonda. Hopper won the pot 159 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 1: that night, which happened to be a handful of LSD 160 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: instead of the customary cash. Hopper then popped a few 161 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 1: doses on his tongue and chased them with some swigs 162 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:45,200 Speaker 1: of PBR. He put his stetson on top of his head. 163 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: He stood from the table and felt the room wobble. 164 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: The three fifty seven magnum stuffed in his boot made 165 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: a clicking sound when he walked. It sounded like spurs. 166 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: He stepped out of the front door of the Lafonda 167 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:58,200 Speaker 1: and saw it straight ahead. It was on his hind legs, 168 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 1: a whopping eight fucking feet tall, maybe tall or claws, 169 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:04,600 Speaker 1: sharp teeth, snarling. It was the biggest bear Hopper had 170 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: ever seen in his life, and he feared it would 171 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:09,640 Speaker 1: rush him at any moment. Hopper stumbled down the front 172 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:12,440 Speaker 1: steps to the hotel. He retrieved his three fifty seven 173 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 1: from his boot, his stets and fell to the ground. 174 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 1: He raised his three fifty seven into the air, shouted 175 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,880 Speaker 1: some psychodrama cowboy nonsense into the wind, and fired three times. 176 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: After the final shot rang out, Hopper unclenched his teeth 177 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:30,960 Speaker 1: and narrowed his eyes to take stock at the damage. 178 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: Had he made contact? Was it dead? Was it a 179 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:38,120 Speaker 1: black bear, a grizzly. Once the smoke cleared, so did 180 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:41,320 Speaker 1: Hopper's mind. He blinked twice and the bear was no 181 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,599 Speaker 1: longer a bear. It was a tree. Hopper tried to 182 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 1: outrun the cops, but there were too many of them. 183 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 1: They hauled Hopper back to the county courthouse. As the 184 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: acid began to slowly wear off, Dennis Hopper realized he 185 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,160 Speaker 1: was sitting in the same jail cell where he had 186 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 1: filmed a scene for Easy Rider seven years ago. Nobody 187 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 1: told Dennis Hopper what to do. In Dodge City, Kansas. 188 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: Son his grandparents' egg farm, he roamed the wide open landscape. 189 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: He had the autonomy of a kid three times his age. 190 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: In La Mesa, California, where his family moved when he 191 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:40,760 Speaker 1: was thirteen, he grew to resent his absentee parents. They 192 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: told him to have to become a lawyer or a doctor, 193 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 1: but they couldn't really tell him what to do. They 194 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:48,040 Speaker 1: didn't even know him, so he ran away to join 195 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: a Shakespearean theater troupe. He'd known he was destined for 196 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:54,079 Speaker 1: the stage from an early age, all the way back 197 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:56,880 Speaker 1: to when Dodge City premiered in his hometown in nineteen 198 00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: thirty nine and Errol Flynn strolled down Main Street to 199 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: the sound of rapturous applause. He was going to be 200 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 1: an actor, and not just any actor, but the greatest 201 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 1: actor in the country, perhaps the world. And no one 202 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 1: could tell him otherwise, not even Harry Cone, president of 203 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,119 Speaker 1: Columbia Studios and the maker and breaker of careers in Hollywood. 204 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 1: King Cone was one of five studio heads who offered Hopper, 205 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:24,200 Speaker 1: then only eighteen years old, a major contract after his 206 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: breakthrough role as an epileptic on an episode of NBC's 207 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:32,360 Speaker 1: weekly TV drama series medic This was nineteen fifty five. 208 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: The kid's response to the sixty three year old Cone 209 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 1: was pure Dennis Hopper gold, go fuck yourself. Those three 210 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:43,200 Speaker 1: words ensured Hopper wouldn't step foot on the Columbia lot 211 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:47,520 Speaker 1: for another fifteen years. Word traveled fast in Hollywood, and 212 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:49,760 Speaker 1: the word on the street was that this kid Hopper 213 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 1: had an oversized ego. Define it. He told King Cone 214 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: to stick his polished, glistening Oscar trophies up as goddamn asshole. 215 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 1: He was good, damn good. He had the raw, visceral 216 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: performance on that episode of medic was obviously no fluke. 217 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:09,240 Speaker 1: Dennis Hopper had something. Still, he was too much of 218 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: a wildcard. Best to cast him in the fringe roles, 219 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:16,680 Speaker 1: the supporting roles, at least until his attitude adjusted. That 220 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:20,080 Speaker 1: was Nicholas Ray's thinking that same year in nineteen fifty five, 221 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:22,920 Speaker 1: when he cast Hopper and Rebel without a Cause, not 222 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:25,600 Speaker 1: in the lead role, but as a gang member named Goon. 223 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:28,960 Speaker 1: The role of Jim Stark, of course, went to James Dean. 224 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:33,000 Speaker 1: To Dennis Hopper, the self proclaimed greatest actor in Hollywood. 225 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: Witnessing James Dean on set was a punch to the guy. 226 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 1: Who the fuck is this guy? Hopper asked himself, how 227 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:45,560 Speaker 1: is James Dean better than him? Filming the chicky run 228 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,160 Speaker 1: scene up on the bluff overlooking the City of Angels, 229 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:52,840 Speaker 1: Hopper paced from car to car. Dean's transcendent takes played 230 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:55,720 Speaker 1: over and over in his head. He had to know, 231 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: James Dean had to show him. Hopper lost his temper. 232 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:02,280 Speaker 1: He flung open the suicide doors of the forty six 233 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 1: Ford coop. Dean was getting ready to race and threw 234 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:07,439 Speaker 1: Dean in the back seat, grabbed him by the collar 235 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,640 Speaker 1: of his cherry red jacket. Hopper's eyes went wide screen. 236 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 1: I was the best actor in Hollywood, man, Hopper yelled, 237 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:16,760 Speaker 1: his grip tightening on Dean's collar. I was the best 238 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 1: damn actor, and then you came along, and somehow you're better. Man. 239 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:23,120 Speaker 1: Dean laughed, and his eyes did that thing where they 240 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:26,360 Speaker 1: squinted and shut when he found something humorous. But Hopper 241 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:29,800 Speaker 1: was serious. He wasn't laughing. He better showed me everything 242 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 1: you know about acting or else, he said. He threw 243 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: in that or else park to drive home how serious 244 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: he was. James Dean knew he was serious. He told 245 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: Hobbs to play a cool, lay back dig it. Dean 246 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 1: told Hobbs. When the camera rolls, drink the coffee. Don't 247 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:47,400 Speaker 1: act like you're drinking the coffee. Dean told Hopps from 248 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: the camera rolls smoked the cigarette, don't act like you're 249 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,840 Speaker 1: smoking the cigarette. But most importantly, Deane said, play it cool, 250 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:56,200 Speaker 1: lay back, dig it? Can he dig it? Was what 251 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: Marlon Brando did. Dean idolized Brando, but Dean was also 252 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 1: so a serious student and had honed his chops. At 253 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 1: the Actors Studio in New York City, the Actor's Studios 254 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 1: founding artistic director Lee Strausberg developed an energy technique called 255 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 1: the Method, where actors would use their own real life 256 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 1: experiences to inform their choices on stage and on screen. 257 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 1: The results were real, raw performances unlike anything movie going 258 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:24,240 Speaker 1: audience had ever seen. Secondhand Method acting advice wasn't the 259 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:28,400 Speaker 1: only thing James Dean and Dennis Hopper bonded over. Inside 260 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 1: Dean's Warner Brothers dressing room, the duo would smoke marijuana 261 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:34,400 Speaker 1: in secret. They'd put paper bags over their heads when 262 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: they exhaled, so that the suits at Warner Brothers would 263 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: never suspect anything. No smoke, no smell, no foul, no harm, 264 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:46,360 Speaker 1: Play it cool. Dean and Hopper's experimentation and improvisation didn't 265 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:50,000 Speaker 1: end there. One afternoon, James Dean had Hopper meet him 266 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:52,240 Speaker 1: in the kitchen of a guesthouse in the Hollywood Hills 267 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:54,880 Speaker 1: that he was renting his mission. If he chose to 268 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,400 Speaker 1: accept it, get extra high. Dean told him to come 269 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:01,320 Speaker 1: on an empty stomach. The hunger you were, the higher 270 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 1: you get. James Dean pulled a chunk of payote cactus 271 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,880 Speaker 1: from the pocket of his cherry red jacket. Was dull, green, 272 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 1: looked like a fat caterpillar in the fetal position. The 273 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:14,040 Speaker 1: best way to eat this, Dean told Hopps, is raw. 274 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:16,840 Speaker 1: But this shit tastes so nasty and so bitter that 275 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: most people puked their guts out when they eat it. 276 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 1: Dean solution was to boil the green, fat cactus on 277 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:24,960 Speaker 1: the stovetop for about an hour, or until they were 278 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,840 Speaker 1: tired of watching it boil, and Dean took a pare 279 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: of plyers and yanked out the spines like he was 280 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: deboning a salmon filet. Hops cut the cactus into slices 281 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: with a steak knife, and then he and Hops took 282 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: turns taking hits from a thin marijuana cigarette while the 283 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: payote bounced around a soup pan full of water on 284 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 1: a rolling boil. When the hour was up, Dean strained 285 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 1: the sludgy green peote tea through one of his old 286 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:52,360 Speaker 1: white T shirts into two porcelain mugs. Bottoms up. Hops 287 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: felt like he'd stepped into a dream. The walls fluttered 288 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 1: like they were alive. The floor sparkled like a starry 289 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:01,000 Speaker 1: night sky. He looked over Dean and it was like 290 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:04,200 Speaker 1: he was looking in a mirror. No, maybe he's no fractions. 291 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:07,920 Speaker 1: No supposes Hopps was there, man, He was there. Whether 292 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: it was grass, paota or half a bottle of whiskey 293 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:14,520 Speaker 1: that got him there. When he took his girlfriend and 294 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:18,119 Speaker 1: rebel Cassivade Natalie Wood up Maholland Drive one night, it 295 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,280 Speaker 1: was pitch black. The only light came from the headlights 296 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:24,679 Speaker 1: of Hopper's brand new Austin Healey convertible. It was raining. 297 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:27,600 Speaker 1: Natalie had just told Dennis Hopper that she was also 298 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:30,919 Speaker 1: having an affair with Rebels director Nicholas Ray. When she 299 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,560 Speaker 1: laid that trip on him, Hopper's foot sank into the 300 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:37,719 Speaker 1: gas pedal. Natalie was only sixteen, Hopper was two years older, 301 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 1: but Ray, Nicholas Ray was forty three, old enough to 302 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:43,760 Speaker 1: be Natalie's father, and he was sleeping with the films 303 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:47,520 Speaker 1: under Rage and Chanoux Hopper saw Red and they were 304 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:50,359 Speaker 1: making their way downhill, the convertible swerving and curving on 305 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:52,400 Speaker 1: the road like a snake trying to eat its own tail. 306 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:54,960 Speaker 1: Hopper hugged the curve and then pushed his foot as 307 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:57,000 Speaker 1: far as he could into the gas pedal and the 308 00:17:57,119 --> 00:17:59,640 Speaker 1: rain on the windshield was an abstract art, and the car 309 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 1: flowed into the opposite lane as it rounded another corner. 310 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:06,200 Speaker 1: Hopper didn't even see the oncoming car as it hit 311 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 1: the head off. Natalie was thrown through the windshield and 312 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 1: wound up on the pavement. And at the hospital, Ray 313 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 1: burst through the door he wanted Hopper found him pacing 314 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,400 Speaker 1: the lobby and waiting for word from the doctor. Ray 315 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 1: grabbed Hopper by the collar of his shirt, just like 316 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:26,879 Speaker 1: Hopps had grabbed Dean that night on the bluff, and 317 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,920 Speaker 1: threw him up against the wall. Cool it. Ray spot 318 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,840 Speaker 1: through his gritted teeth, his eyes watering with fear and anger. 319 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:36,280 Speaker 1: Hopper sat in the darkness of his Doheny Drive apartment 320 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 1: that night, wishing he'd had a chunk of peyote cactus 321 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:41,720 Speaker 1: to boil in water. He had a stray thought that 322 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,000 Speaker 1: he would end the love triangle once and for all, 323 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 1: he'd get a pistol and walk himself right over to 324 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: Nicholas Ray's house. Knock on the door, fire one shot 325 00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: into Ray's chest when he opened up, cool it, He'd 326 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:55,439 Speaker 1: show him cool man. Nobody told Dennis Hopper what to 327 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:58,680 Speaker 1: do now, Hobbs thought he'd better not. He could face 328 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:00,520 Speaker 1: a lot at eighteen, but going to the can for 329 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:05,720 Speaker 1: premeditated murder was too much. Instead, for his revenge, he'd 330 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: fuck with Ray. On the set of Rebel, while they 331 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 1: were filming the field trip scene at the Griffith Observatory, 332 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,320 Speaker 1: Hopper took off to go score a hot dog and 333 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:16,920 Speaker 1: caused a major production delay, and when Hopper finally returned, 334 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:20,160 Speaker 1: Ray told him he was fired. But Ray couldn't fire 335 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,920 Speaker 1: Hopper because the kid was under contract untouchable. So Ray 336 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:26,040 Speaker 1: did the next best thing and took away all of 337 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 1: Hopper's lines, and no one would hear a word come 338 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:32,639 Speaker 1: out of Goon Hopper's character's mom for the entire movie. 339 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 1: Henry Hathaway was the next director who tried to tell 340 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: Dennis Hopper what to do. In nineteen fifty eight on 341 00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:44,159 Speaker 1: the set of From Hell to Texas. Hopper did it 342 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 1: his way for seventy nine takes, multiple days of shooting. Finally, 343 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,400 Speaker 1: on the eightieth take, Hopper broken down and, once again 344 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:54,879 Speaker 1: on the fringe of his last nerve, did the scene 345 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 1: Hathaway's way. As Hopps left the set in search of 346 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:02,000 Speaker 1: his next job, Hathaway's holding to not bother looking. He 347 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 1: was going to personally see to it that Dennis Hopper 348 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 1: would never work another goddamn day in Hollywood again. We'll 349 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:12,200 Speaker 1: be right back after this. 350 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:13,640 Speaker 2: We're We're where. 351 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,040 Speaker 1: Brook Hayward recoiled in fear when the first foot came 352 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: down on the windshield. She fumbled the car keys in 353 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 1: her hands. Another foot stomp on the windshield, and the 354 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:32,200 Speaker 1: glass cracked. Hopper was wearing those big shit kicker boots, 355 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,680 Speaker 1: steel toed, heavy treads. He jumped up and down on 356 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:39,280 Speaker 1: the yellow hood and rattled the entire car. She reached 357 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:41,080 Speaker 1: for the floor and got the keys back in her 358 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:44,200 Speaker 1: hands just in time for Hopper's boot to go right 359 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:47,720 Speaker 1: through the windshield. Brook screamed as the glass shattered and 360 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,960 Speaker 1: fell into the car's interior. Hopper was on the hood 361 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: panting and why all because Brooke felt like going home 362 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:58,359 Speaker 1: alone after being subjected to watching her husband Dennis Hopper 363 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,520 Speaker 1: playing Billy the Kid in My McClure's obscene play The 364 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,520 Speaker 1: Beard ripped the panties off his coat, star and go 365 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:07,520 Speaker 1: down on her. If Brooke was looking for a sign, 366 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: this was it. It wasn't the first time Hopper had 367 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:13,360 Speaker 1: gone violent. It was a Jekyll and Hide thing with him. 368 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:17,080 Speaker 1: Peter Fonda, brother of her best friend Jane Fonda, called 369 00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:19,600 Speaker 1: her once back in nineteen sixty eight to Warner that 370 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 1: something was up with Hops. He was acting strange. He 371 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:25,719 Speaker 1: may have gone off the rails, and their kids were 372 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: still at home when Hopper walked through the door, his 373 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 1: wily long hair held at bay by a thin Paisley headband, 374 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:34,400 Speaker 1: and said to Brook get me food or I will 375 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 1: kill you. It wasn't long after that that the lapde 376 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:41,280 Speaker 1: pulled Hopper over. They told him he threw a roach 377 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 1: from the window. He begged to differ and proved it 378 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 1: by showing him that he still held a roach in 379 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:49,119 Speaker 1: his hand. And while they booked him downtown, Brooks seized 380 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: the opportunity to get a restraining order and start the 381 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 1: divorce process. Michelle Phillips could relate the former singer for 382 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: The Mamas and the Papas became Hopper's second wife on 383 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:02,560 Speaker 1: Halloween Knight that I feteen seventy in a candlelit ceremony 384 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 1: in the courtyard of the Mud Palace in Taos. Eight 385 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 1: days later, Hopper drove his truck under the tarmac of 386 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,200 Speaker 1: the Santa Fe Airport to physically block her from leaving 387 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 1: on a jet plane, and their one week of marriage 388 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 1: was far from blissful. Hopper was paranoid. He was mister Hyde. 389 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:22,920 Speaker 1: He shot his guns off in the house. He was 390 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,680 Speaker 1: convinced that Michelle was a witch. He handcuffed her so 391 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:28,399 Speaker 1: that she couldn't escape. As soon as she got Hopper 392 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:30,800 Speaker 1: to take the cuffs off, Michelle was out the door 393 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:36,600 Speaker 1: that the Santa Fe Airport security soon had Hopper surrounded. 394 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,119 Speaker 1: They moved him off the runway, and then the plane 395 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,880 Speaker 1: was gone, Michelle along with it. He called her that night. 396 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,480 Speaker 1: I love you, he pleaded, I need you. Have you 397 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:50,520 Speaker 1: ever thought about suicide? She responded. Hopper went back to 398 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:52,720 Speaker 1: the Mud Palace and back to working on what was 399 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:56,440 Speaker 1: quickly becoming his own version of career suicide. He was 400 00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,119 Speaker 1: piecing together the upteenth edit of his new film, The 401 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:02,879 Speaker 1: Last Movie, which was his quixotic attempt making the film 402 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,160 Speaker 1: to end all films. The success of Easy Rider offered 403 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,800 Speaker 1: him carte blanche. With his next directorial effort, he decided 404 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,560 Speaker 1: to realize a pet project of his, a meta movie 405 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:15,320 Speaker 1: about a stunt man who goes into self imposed exile 406 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,679 Speaker 1: in Peru. In his head, he was better than Allman 407 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,960 Speaker 1: in Cassavetta's hand, peckinpah All put together, he was the 408 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,159 Speaker 1: American Felini. I'm a genius and I can do anything, 409 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:28,480 Speaker 1: Hopper shouted at the mountains. He was emboldened by whatever 410 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:32,119 Speaker 1: combination of payo, to lsd grass and cocaine were tooling 411 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,520 Speaker 1: around the inside of his body. Cocaine, in particular, was 412 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: everywhere in Peru, which is where Hopper chose to shoot 413 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:42,160 Speaker 1: the last movie, Cookeead's in La clamored for a chance 414 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 1: to get a job on the crew, simply for the 415 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:46,920 Speaker 1: chance to peep some of the purest shit known to man, 416 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: which they could then smuggle back home to the States 417 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:53,040 Speaker 1: and film canisters to make a mint. But the reality 418 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,320 Speaker 1: of a Dennis Hopper film shoot in Peru was an 419 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 1: entirely different reality, an alternate reality. The crew had a 420 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:02,960 Speaker 1: hall fifteen thousand pounds of camera and lighting equipment, three 421 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,000 Speaker 1: hours up the side of a mountain in treacherous conditions. 422 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,680 Speaker 1: Actors suffering from altitude sickness puked all over the beautiful countryside. 423 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,720 Speaker 1: One of the production members forced the stewardess to smoke 424 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,560 Speaker 1: a joint on the flood into Cusco. When the Peruvian 425 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:18,879 Speaker 1: cops thought for a hot minute about locking up the 426 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:22,960 Speaker 1: entire crew and throwing away the key, another production member 427 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,639 Speaker 1: attempted to take his own life. Hopper knew that if 428 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:28,240 Speaker 1: the guy had been successful, the movie and Hopper would 429 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: be held responsible by the government. The insanity of an unstable, 430 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:36,120 Speaker 1: oxygen deprived, cocaine saturated shoot in a foreign country drove 431 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 1: Dennis Hopper to further paranoias. He was convinced that the 432 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:43,399 Speaker 1: Peruvian government had the whole set under surveillance, that they 433 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,080 Speaker 1: were in communication with the United States government, and that 434 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:48,359 Speaker 1: he'd be arrested the minute they stepped off the plane 435 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:52,520 Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. When production wrapped and they touched down 436 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:55,159 Speaker 1: in the States, there were no Feds waiting for him. 437 00:24:55,400 --> 00:25:01,280 Speaker 1: There was just Hopper's rampant paranoia. Back in Tiles, Hopper 438 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 1: spent the better part of a year editing the last 439 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,400 Speaker 1: movie he screened, cut after cut in the town's movie 440 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,880 Speaker 1: theater for anyone who cared. One cut was eight hours long, 441 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: eight hours long. When it was finally released in the 442 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: fall of nineteen seventy one, it was a lean ninety 443 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 1: minutes long. It won the Critics Prize at the Venice 444 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,359 Speaker 1: Film Festival, and then it promptly bombed at the box office. 445 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: It was too artie for the studio, it was delivered 446 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:29,920 Speaker 1: too late, was all but forgotten. Months later. Dennis Hopper 447 00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:34,119 Speaker 1: wouldn't direct another movie for a decade. Instead, he struggled 448 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 1: while his old friend Jack Nicholson made Chinatown and won 449 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:40,439 Speaker 1: an oscar for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Hopper 450 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:43,919 Speaker 1: grasped for scraps and was occasionally rewarded with small films 451 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: in countries like Germany and Australia. He was so desperate 452 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:50,879 Speaker 1: for something new, is something that would rekindle left feeling 453 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:53,440 Speaker 1: of leading the march on the fringe frontier, that he 454 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 1: even answered Charles Manson's call. Manson was on trial for 455 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,439 Speaker 1: the Tate La Bianca murders, some of the most savage 456 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: and nightmarish crimes Los Angeles had ever seen. The aftermath 457 00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:06,600 Speaker 1: rumbled through the city like a late night after shock, 458 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:09,359 Speaker 1: and many musicians and artists had gotten mixed up with 459 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,680 Speaker 1: Manson's self proclaimed creative endeavors. But that was before the killings, 460 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 1: before Manson sent a group of blood hungry cronies of 461 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:21,400 Speaker 1: Cello Drive with explicit instructions to kill them all. It's 462 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,280 Speaker 1: worth repeating Dennis Hopper was different from Dennis Wilson or 463 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 1: Terry Melcher or Jim Morrison, and that he was the 464 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:30,280 Speaker 1: only one crazy enough to get involved with Manson. After 465 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:34,000 Speaker 1: the murders, Manson wanted to make a biopic of his 466 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:37,280 Speaker 1: life story. Hopper would direct. He could even star in 467 00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:40,399 Speaker 1: it if you wanted. Ppper thought of Terrence Malick's bad Lands. 468 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,359 Speaker 1: He thought of Don Siegel's Dirty Harry, Leonard Castle's The 469 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,600 Speaker 1: Honeymoon Killers. A film on Manson could be the defining 470 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 1: work in an emerging genre on American cinema that looked 471 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:53,040 Speaker 1: to get into the heads of cold blooded killers. Hopper 472 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:57,639 Speaker 1: took the bait. He took the meeting from across the table. 473 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,040 Speaker 1: Hopper looked into Manson's eyes as he spoke. His eyes 474 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:05,400 Speaker 1: were everywhere. It bounced around like two pinballs, Happer looked 475 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,800 Speaker 1: beyond the bouncing eyeballs to go deeper. Manson rambled on 476 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: about how he was a movie star. He'd always been 477 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:13,520 Speaker 1: a movie star, only the cameras had never been rolling. 478 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: He needed Hopper to turn the cameras on and start rolling. 479 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:22,040 Speaker 1: Happer looked deeper. Behind the bouncing eyeballs was blackness. Happer 480 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 1: wanted to find a familiar French poet behind those eyes, 481 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:28,359 Speaker 1: the sludgy counterculture oozing on the edge of sanity. Something 482 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,240 Speaker 1: that could make good commentary, a good story, a good movie, 483 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:35,080 Speaker 1: maybe something Hopper could relate to. But all he found 484 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: was blackness, so dark and so black that Happer worried 485 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:41,679 Speaker 1: if he looked any longer, he gets sucked right out 486 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,600 Speaker 1: of the room and never find his way back. He 487 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:49,600 Speaker 1: left the Manson tail on the table. Hopper was left 488 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:52,480 Speaker 1: to contemplate a failed career in the mid seventies, a 489 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:55,960 Speaker 1: career derailed by his own stubbornness, and maybe he'd never 490 00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:58,680 Speaker 1: worked again. He decided to put it out of his mind. 491 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:03,480 Speaker 1: He took more drops. By the end of the nineteen seventies, 492 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,680 Speaker 1: Dennis Hopper's daily intake, by his own admission, involved a 493 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,080 Speaker 1: case of rum with a fifth of rum on the side, 494 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:13,000 Speaker 1: twenty eight beers in three grams of coke came. He 495 00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: eventually graduated from snorting the coke to shooting it. It 496 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 1: was honestly a miracle that he ever made it back 497 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:22,040 Speaker 1: to the director's chair alive in the early eighties, especially 498 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,480 Speaker 1: considering the other chairs he tried on for size, including 499 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:28,920 Speaker 1: one that had the potential to blow them to Kingdom come. 500 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: The trick of the Russian dynamite death chair act is 501 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:57,120 Speaker 1: to get the four sticks of dynamite to all explode 502 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,400 Speaker 1: at the same time. That way, the explosion creates a 503 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 1: vacuum which saves you from bodily harm. You do that, 504 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: and you escape death. You don't do that, and you're fucked. 505 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,160 Speaker 1: Dennis Hopper had seen the trick performed by a stuntman 506 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:15,000 Speaker 1: when he was a teenager. For years he thought about 507 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,840 Speaker 1: trying it himself. In May nineteen eighty three, he decided 508 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,720 Speaker 1: to give it a shot. Why the hell not. The 509 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:24,920 Speaker 1: cocktail of drugs in his system gave him courage, The 510 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:28,080 Speaker 1: paranoia in his brain gave him purpose. He worried the 511 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 1: Feds of the Peruvians were still after him, maybe the 512 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:34,480 Speaker 1: mafia too. Again why the hell not. These are the 513 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,160 Speaker 1: things you worry about when you are literally not thinking straight, 514 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 1: And obviously he was far from thinking straight when he 515 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: sat down in a chair in the middle of the 516 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:45,680 Speaker 1: Big Age Speedway in North Houston and the house lights 517 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: went down and the spotlight went up on Dennis Hopper. 518 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:52,360 Speaker 1: The rednecks and film students in the audience had never 519 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:54,600 Speaker 1: heard of the trick before, and they were there simply 520 00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:57,760 Speaker 1: out of morbid curiosity. The film students were busted over 521 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:00,920 Speaker 1: from Rice University, where Hopper had just his new film, 522 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,560 Speaker 1: Out of the Blue. The fuses were lit, the spotlight 523 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 1: went dim, and all the audience saw was the sparkling 524 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:10,120 Speaker 1: fuses as they snaked their way to the chair's feet. 525 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:17,880 Speaker 1: The explosion sent a boom through the speedway. Smoke enveloped 526 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:20,480 Speaker 1: Hopper in the chair. It was like a Houdini act. 527 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:23,320 Speaker 1: People in the stands were covering their eyes with their hands. 528 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:27,920 Speaker 1: Others were screaming and gasping. As the smoke cleared, Hopper 529 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,600 Speaker 1: stood up and walked away from the chair. The chest 530 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:35,200 Speaker 1: puffed out adrenaline on eleven, not a scratch. Dennis Hopper 531 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 1: left Houston feeling invincible. He headed for Mexico and the 532 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 1: set of the German film Jungle Warriors, a low rent 533 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:47,960 Speaker 1: exploitation flick. When it came to work, Hops took what 534 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: he could get. Wasn't long into the chute before the 535 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,360 Speaker 1: crew lost sight of him, and Dennis Hopper wandered into 536 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:57,360 Speaker 1: the jungle in his pajamas, deep in the trees, head 537 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 1: full of orange sunshine and the White Lady. Back to 538 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:04,240 Speaker 1: another jungle of his recent past, the Philippines, where he 539 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:07,280 Speaker 1: had the opportunity to work with director Francis Ford Coppola, 540 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:10,400 Speaker 1: a Titan of New Hollywood. It was on the set 541 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,520 Speaker 1: of Apocalypse Now that he got to do scenes with 542 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:16,080 Speaker 1: Marlon Brando, the hero of his hero, James Dean. But 543 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 1: Brando had hated James Dean, he thought he was a wannabe, 544 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:23,400 Speaker 1: and so by proxy, Marilyn Brando hated Dennis Hopper. He 545 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:25,800 Speaker 1: threw bananas at Hopper in the scenes that they did 546 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:29,520 Speaker 1: together and called him Mutt. Was it method or madness? 547 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:33,040 Speaker 1: Maybe a little bit of both. Either way, it's fucking hysterical. 548 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:37,120 Speaker 1: The jungle in Mexico, though, was definitely madness. The cops 549 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:39,640 Speaker 1: found Hopper walking down a dirt road he had been 550 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:42,960 Speaker 1: following flashes in the sky. He was receiving transmissions from 551 00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:45,280 Speaker 1: the clouds and they told him World War three was 552 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:48,120 Speaker 1: on the brink. Oh and he had shed his pajamas 553 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,840 Speaker 1: along the way, and Dennis Hopper was buck naked. The 554 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 1: insanity reached a fever pitch where Hopper escaped from the 555 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:57,480 Speaker 1: plane that was bringing him back to the States, still 556 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,200 Speaker 1: higher than James Dean on a half gallon of peyotee. 557 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,320 Speaker 1: Hopper thought the plane was on fire and climbed out 558 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:06,160 Speaker 1: onto the wing through an emergency exit, and there he 559 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,440 Speaker 1: stood on the edge of the wing, knees bent slightly 560 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: to help maintain his balance, waving out the people who 561 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 1: were attempting to coax him back inside, and his shirt 562 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:16,440 Speaker 1: rippling wildly from the suction of the nearby turbine as 563 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,320 Speaker 1: the plane powered up for takeoff. And this image of 564 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,320 Speaker 1: Dennis Hopper standing on the wing of a plane in 565 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:23,440 Speaker 1: Mexico and waiting for World War three to hit his 566 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:27,040 Speaker 1: fucking bonkers, even by Dennis Hopper's standards, and it was 567 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: his last truly gonzo move back home, He entered rehab 568 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,920 Speaker 1: in Century City to kick his cocaine habit, and there 569 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:38,080 Speaker 1: would be no more naked runs to the jungle or 570 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:41,200 Speaker 1: a three fifty seven magnum cowboy showdowns with trees that 571 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:44,000 Speaker 1: looked like bears. No more tantrums on the hoods of 572 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:48,719 Speaker 1: cars or strange fruit boiled up on a stovetop. However, 573 00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:52,680 Speaker 1: there would still be plenty of strange. Dennis Hopper's third 574 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 1: act arguably was his best known and most culturally beloved, 575 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 1: Even more so than his Easy Rider origins. He was 576 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:04,280 Speaker 1: reborn in a kinder, gentler role, still plenty eccentric, like 577 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:07,280 Speaker 1: an uncle who had his cage rattled one too many times, 578 00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:09,880 Speaker 1: but he reserved his flashes of crazy for the roles 579 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 1: he played. He played the wacko who inhaled nitrous oxide 580 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,560 Speaker 1: in Blue Velvet. He played the town drunk in Hoosier's. 581 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:18,840 Speaker 1: He played the maniac who rigs a bomb on the 582 00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:21,920 Speaker 1: bus and Speed. He played the leader of post apocalyptic 583 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,640 Speaker 1: pirates in water World. He directed Robert Duval and Sean 584 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,920 Speaker 1: Penn in Colors, and later, toward the end of his life, 585 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:33,240 Speaker 1: even ended up playing himself in the protastic television show Entourage. 586 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:38,280 Speaker 1: But before that, Dennis Hopper settled down in a fringe 587 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:41,840 Speaker 1: section of LA's Venice Beach called the Ghetto, where he 588 00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:46,040 Speaker 1: bought a funky condo designed by architect Frank Geary. Inside 589 00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:49,520 Speaker 1: video monitors played on constant loop footage from the premises. 590 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:52,560 Speaker 1: Hopper kept a small gun stuffed in his sock and 591 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:55,959 Speaker 1: a loaded shotgun inside, not because he was fending off 592 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:58,800 Speaker 1: a horde of pissed off locals, but because he still 593 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:01,800 Speaker 1: had that edge to him, and he still stood guard 594 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:05,480 Speaker 1: for the fringe. He was there in his futuristic Venice 595 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:09,359 Speaker 1: compound until May twenty ninth, twenty ten, when he died 596 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:13,160 Speaker 1: at the age of seventy four from prostate cancer. From 597 00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:15,759 Speaker 1: out there in the future, he went straight back to 598 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:19,680 Speaker 1: a simpler past, buried in a plain pine box and Taos. 599 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:22,440 Speaker 1: And what did they say when he died. He was 600 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,080 Speaker 1: a kind man, he was a wise man, he had plans, 601 00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:28,320 Speaker 1: he had wisdom. Bullshit. They said he was king freak, 602 00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:32,440 Speaker 1: a powder keg, and a liability, the most cosmic cowboy 603 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:35,160 Speaker 1: hippie and one of the craziest fuckers to ever walk 604 00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:38,719 Speaker 1: a Hollywood back lot. But also that he was a 605 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:42,120 Speaker 1: visionary and a prophet for a new age, and one 606 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:44,560 Speaker 1: of the very few who wandered off the edge of 607 00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,960 Speaker 1: the fringe. And lived to tell the tale. A tale 608 00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:52,000 Speaker 1: not quite a disgrace, but so wild it needed to 609 00:34:52,080 --> 00:35:12,839 Speaker 1: be told. I'm Jake Brennan and this this Disgraceland, all right. 610 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:15,560 Speaker 1: I hope you doug this episode on Dennis Hopper. Hey, 611 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:17,520 Speaker 1: Apple podcast listeners, you know the drill. Make sure you 612 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:20,960 Speaker 1: have automatic downloads turned on so you don't miss any episodes. 613 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:23,879 Speaker 1: All right. This week's question of the week is which 614 00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:27,919 Speaker 1: actor or actress from Hollywood history is the most rock 615 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:30,640 Speaker 1: and roll in your estimation? Is it Dennis Hopper? Is 616 00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:33,480 Speaker 1: it someone else? Is someone like Johnny Depp or Marlon Brando, 617 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 1: Marilyn Monroe? And that reminds me. 618 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:37,080 Speaker 2: We also want to know if you think the Kennedy's 619 00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,960 Speaker 2: had anything to do with Maryland's death six one seven 620 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:41,880 Speaker 2: nine oh six six six three eight. With your answers, 621 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:43,799 Speaker 2: you can leave me a voicemail or text. You can 622 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:46,279 Speaker 2: also hit me at disgrace slamdpod at gmail dot com. 623 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:48,759 Speaker 1: You let me know you at Instagram, Facebook, or x 624 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:50,879 Speaker 1: as well, and you will be able to hear your 625 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 1: answers on the next after party bonus episode that's coming 626 00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:56,560 Speaker 1: up right after this one. 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Members can listen to every episode of disgracelan 636 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:29,960 Speaker 1: ad free, Plus you'll get one brand new exclusive episode 637 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:34,279 Speaker 1: every month, weekly unscripted bonus episodes, special audio collections, and 638 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:39,080 Speaker 1: early access to merchandise and events. Visit disgracelampod dot com 639 00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:42,360 Speaker 1: slash membership for details, Rate and review the show, and 640 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:46,280 Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook at disgracelampod 641 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:50,480 Speaker 1: and on YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at disgracelandpod 642 00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:57,399 Speaker 1: Rock Arolla he Man