Along for the Ride (2016)

I don't watch a lot of documentaries, but that might change after seeing this one. I knew going in that it was about Dennis Hopper, and didn't know anything other than that. I thought that was all I needed to know. But it's not a typical interview documentary where they talk to some people, have some narration, then repeat it all over again. This is engaging and entertaining. It tells a story and uses techniques that I have not previously seen in documentaries, but which seem obvious in retrospect. I appreciated what I saw, and I recommend this film to anyone who even has a mild interest in Dennis Hopper, or even if you just have a couple hours to kill.

A beautifully shot and moving exploration into the artistic enigma that was Dennis Hopper. I didn't know that much about his followup to Easy Rider called The Last Movie before seeing this film and found myself simultaneously inspired and stunned. Great insight and stories here from Hopper's buddies particularly Dean Stockwell, David Lynch, Wim Wenders and Hopper's "Right-Hand Man" Satya.

Great insight and stories of the amazing Dennis Hopper from his wing-man, Satya De La Manitou A must see for any Hopper fan. He's missed beyond words. Well done, Satya!

The prime of Hollywood icon and iconoclast Dennis Hopper finally gets the examination it deserves with this documentary, narrated by Hopper's longtime friend Satya De La Manitou. I had the honor of seeing the film at a screening at the Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe with Mr. Manitou and Dennis' brother in attendance. Focusing primarily on the period of his post-Easy Rider success as he attempted to direct his avant-garde film The Last Movie in Peru, the doc. offers wonderful circa-1970 footage of Peru and its people as well as of Taos, New Mexico, where Hopper lived and edited the footage. The film also explores his post-drug burnout/Hollywood exile and resurgence years with interesting, often hilarious tales from shoots in Australia, on Apocalypse Now and Wim Wender's The American Friend. While the film sometimes gets a little overdone in the self-congratulatory reminisces of Hollywood bigwigs and the footage of Satya himself gets over-elevated to mythic proportions, the footage of Hopper himself as a man and actor, combating his demons while trying to make authentic art , is what makes this film fascinate and well worth seeing.