The Best of Dennis Hopper

03 June 2010

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Dennis Hopper was an original when is came to acting as he worked in front of the camera as well as behind it in a career that spanned over fifty years.

His first taste of the big screen came in the classic rebel Without A Cause in 1955 and he went on to work on some of cinema's most memorable movies and created some unforgettable characters.

The actor lost his battle with cancer at the weekend so here at FemaleFirst we take a look at some of his best work.

Easy Rider

Hopper may have had supporting roles in the likes of Gunfight at the O.K. Corrall and Cool Hand Luke but it was Easy Rider in 1969 that really caught everyone's attention.

As well as starring in the movie Hopper also directed and penned the script with Peter Fonda and Terry Southern.

Fonda starred as Wyatt and Hopper as Billy, it traces the hippie duo's adventures as they mount their seriously chopped hogs on a journey to find the real America en route to Mardi Gras.

In Arizona, they visit a commune whose members are having a tough time, and in a small Texas town they're jailed for joining a parade.

But they're quickly sprung by an ACLU lawyer, the quirky, hard-drinking George Hanson (Jack Nicholson), who accepts their offer to join them on the trip to New Orleans, eager to visit the best whorehouse in the South.

Easy Rider remains a cult movie even now over forty years later. It was a landmark movie upon release as it paved the way for studios to support new and young filmmakers.

Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now is widely regarded as one of the best war movies that has ever been committed to film as Francis Ford Coppola brought Vietnam to the big screen.

The movie follows Captain Willard (Martin Sheen), a special agent sent into Cambodia to assassinate an errant American colonel (Marlon Brando).

Willard is assigned a navy patrol boat operated by Chief (Albert Hall) and three hapless soldiers (Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, and Larry Fishburne).

They are escorted on part of their journey by an air cavalry unit led by Lt. Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), a gung-ho commander with a love of Wagner, surfing, and napalm.

After witnessing a surreal USO show featuring Playboy playmates and an anarchic battle with the Viet Cong at a bridge, Willard reaches Colonel Kurtz's compound.

A crazed photo journalist and Kurtz groupie (Dennis Hopper) welcomes the crew, and Willard begins to question his orders to "terminate the colonel's command."

While the shoot became famous for budget overruns, Brando turning up overweight and Martin Sheen having a heart attack Hopper created one of his most famous characters.

Hoosiers

In 1986 an Oscar nomination came the way of Hopper, Best Supporting Actor, for his role in Hoosiers.

Directed by David Anspaugh the movie is based on the incredible true story of how a small-town high school's basketball team became Indiana State Champs in 1954.

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