144 The Last Movie
Moderator: MichaelB
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
We did get to see the London Film Festival screening and it was great to view it on the big screen. The plot was incoherent as you might expect but the little details, like the wicker equipment that the locals carry around, were delightful.
Two screenings on UK TV in the 80s then nothing until this restoration and blu-ray release. I think Out of the Blue is even rarer (one screening on Channel 4 and some appearances on the premium version of FilmFour).
Two screenings on UK TV in the 80s then nothing until this restoration and blu-ray release. I think Out of the Blue is even rarer (one screening on Channel 4 and some appearances on the premium version of FilmFour).
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Out of the Blue has at least been available on DVD at some point though, which wasn't the case for The Last Movie until now.
- Wes Moynihan
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
In the pre-Internet days, the Time Out Film Guide was a treasure trove of obscure film - I dined on the TO review of The Last Movie for years before finding the copy on surrealmoviez...
Dennis Hopper's second film as director: dazzling, chaotic, indulgent. Movie stunt-man Kansas (Hopper), filming a Western in the Andes and staying on with a mini-skirted Peruvian prostitute after gruff father-figure Fuller and his crew return to Hollywood, is inextricably drawn into the peasants' own film-making ritual with wickerwork cameras but real violence (and himself as sacrificial victim). Caught within his own movie myths - prospecting for gold with only The Treasure of the Sierra Madre for guidance - Hopper's Romantic hero obstinately refuses to come to terms with the harsh exoticism of South American peasant culture. The film, too, never quite sure how the last movie should end, persistently sabotages its own resolution. But as it disintegrates, it shoots out enough ideas to fill a dozen movies.
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
So now I'm curious - will there ever be a european Blu-Ray release? It would only be logical.
EDIT: Oh, I am an idiot, just now saw this is even a thread on the UK release.
I absolutely adore this film. I'm so happy to see how much work was put into this restoration and release.
EDIT: Oh, I am an idiot, just now saw this is even a thread on the UK release.
I absolutely adore this film. I'm so happy to see how much work was put into this restoration and release.
- MichaelB
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Final specs:
- tenia
- Ask Me About My Bassoon
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
This seems like a definitive release, content-wise, that will largely surpass the US and French releases. I'm however curious as to why the "full film credits" would be advertised as special features (I don't know much about the movie).
- MichaelB
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
In this specific instance, "full film credits" means "considerably more detailed credits than are included in the actual film". We're not just talking about numerous uncredited contributors like Alejandro Jodorowsky but we've also fleshed out the cast list so that it includes the specific roles that the actors are playing (not always identifiable, but we've covered the vast majority) - the film credits themselves merely list the performers by name only.
Although in fact most Powerhouse releases include "film credits" as part of the booklet description, and with pre-1970s films in particular they often include info that's been omitted from the actual film. One of my favourite examples is It Happened in Hollywood (in the Sam Fuller box) where we managed to identify virtually everyone who played a star's double - the film itself didn't credit any of them, and even the IMDB only amassed about two-thirds of what we were able to dig up.
Although in fact most Powerhouse releases include "film credits" as part of the booklet description, and with pre-1970s films in particular they often include info that's been omitted from the actual film. One of my favourite examples is It Happened in Hollywood (in the Sam Fuller box) where we managed to identify virtually everyone who played a star's double - the film itself didn't credit any of them, and even the IMDB only amassed about two-thirds of what we were able to dig up.
- Wes Moynihan
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Speaking of credits, The Last Movie must surely have the longest delayed title card in cinema - if my memory serves me right (and it's been a few years), it turns up around 30mins into the picture...
- MichaelB
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
"A film by Dennis Hopper" turns up at 12:49, with the main title not appearing until 26:00. Nobody else is credited until the end, and even then the credits are pretty skimpy, with the actors listed in strict alphabetical order (so Hopper's somewhere in the middle).Wes Moynihan wrote: ↑Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:30 amSpeaking of credits, The Last Movie must surely have the longest delayed title card in cinema - if my memory serves me right (and it's been a few years), it turns up around 30mins into the picture...
- tenia
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
I thought about something like this, but since I don't know much about the movie, I thought I could just ask how much was usually missing.MichaelB wrote: ↑Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:22 amIn this specific instance, "full film credits" means "considerably more detailed credits than are included in the actual film". We're not just talking about numerous uncredited contributors like Alejandro Jodorowsky but we've also fleshed out the cast list so that it includes the specific roles that the actors are playing (not always identifiable, but we've covered the vast majority) - the film credits themselves merely list the performers by name only.
Long Day’s Journey Into Night has its opening title card popping up 70 minutes in. Blissfully Yours about 45 minutes in.Wes Moynihan wrote: ↑Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:30 amSpeaking of credits, The Last Movie must surely have the longest delayed title card in cinema - if my memory serves me right (and it's been a few years), it turns up around 30mins into the picture...
- Wes Moynihan
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Thanks Michael for that. And clearly I need to dig out my Second Run copy of Blissfully Yours ! Thanks Tenia
- knives
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Lots of movies do that. Even the new Ant-man film waited until after the movie finished.Wes Moynihan wrote: ↑Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:30 amSpeaking of credits, The Last Movie must surely have the longest delayed title card in cinema - if my memory serves me right (and it's been a few years), it turns up around 30mins into the picture...
- tenia
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Yes, but I think what Wes was talking about are titles card that are late but still not as closing title cards (like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but unlike many Nolan's movies).
- MichaelB
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Yes, it's much more startling when it pops up partway through, long after what would normally be considered an appropriately pre-credits length of time.
And The Last Movie is particularly unusual in this respect because "a film by Dennis Hopper" and "THE LAST MOVIE" are themselves so distantly separated.
And The Last Movie is particularly unusual in this respect because "a film by Dennis Hopper" and "THE LAST MOVIE" are themselves so distantly separated.
- Adam X
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
If anyone’s still interested in Vinegar Syndrome’s The American Dreamer, they had their Etiquette Pictures titles ‘reduced to clear’ during last weekend’s sale, so it likely won’t be around for much longer.
- PfR73
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Last Life In The Universe has always stuck out in my mind as the most delayed one I've ever seen, somewhere around the halfway point.tenia wrote: ↑Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:42 amI thought about something like this, but since I don't know much about the movie, I thought I could just ask how much was usually missing.MichaelB wrote: ↑Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:22 amIn this specific instance, "full film credits" means "considerably more detailed credits than are included in the actual film". We're not just talking about numerous uncredited contributors like Alejandro Jodorowsky but we've also fleshed out the cast list so that it includes the specific roles that the actors are playing (not always identifiable, but we've covered the vast majority) - the film credits themselves merely list the performers by name only.
Long Day’s Journey Into Night has its opening title card popping up 70 minutes in. Blissfully Yours about 45 minutes in.Wes Moynihan wrote: ↑Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:30 amSpeaking of credits, The Last Movie must surely have the longest delayed title card in cinema - if my memory serves me right (and it's been a few years), it turns up around 30mins into the picture...
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Thank you! I knew I knew one that came midway, but couldn't remember what it was
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Last Life in the Universe is such a masterpiece...
But back to The Last Movie: I always wondered how much of the "editing style" can be attributed to Jodorowsky. He said that he himself never watched the version that saw the eventual release, but from all he mentioned, the "theatrical cut" seems suspiciously similar to Jodo's intentions while cutting (he said - if I am not wrong - that he removed all the clear cut film-in-film plot to focus on more metaphysical and artistic moments... which is pretty much what the movie is). I would have to dig around, but I even recall that he described his ending similar to what we get.
But back to The Last Movie: I always wondered how much of the "editing style" can be attributed to Jodorowsky. He said that he himself never watched the version that saw the eventual release, but from all he mentioned, the "theatrical cut" seems suspiciously similar to Jodo's intentions while cutting (he said - if I am not wrong - that he removed all the clear cut film-in-film plot to focus on more metaphysical and artistic moments... which is pretty much what the movie is). I would have to dig around, but I even recall that he described his ending similar to what we get.
- colinr0380
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
My favourite recent delayed title drop was in Raging Sun, Raging Sky which does it 2 hours and 13 minutes into a 3 hour and 10 minutes film in association with a shift from black and white to colour and as the characters get recontextualised from reality into the mythological. That is such a visually stunning film (NSFW) that it is almost a crime that it has only been released on DVD so far!
- Boosmahn
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
This, this, this. A hundred times this. Last Life in the Universe needs a Blu-ray release; it's one of my dream Criterion releases, alongside Freaks, Come and See, and Peppermint Candy.
Back to The Last Movie, I bit the bullet and finally ordered Indicator's edition. Arbelos' release is good but lacks two of the supplements included here; as long as another company doesn't outdo them with Sátántangó, I'll have the opportunity to support them then.
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Mine arrived yesterday - lovely package and the extras look good (I can live easily without the American Dreamer thing, which I found to be a dull feast of Hopper being encouraged to flaunt his most buffoon-ish tendencies).
On rewatching, I still think this is a superb film and is actually a lot more linear and penetrable than 1. I found previously and 2. everyone else seems to be making out. Maybe it's because I've seen it several times already (from a VHS tape of the old UK Channel 4 broadcast!), or maybe because I've seen a whole lot more experimental head-scratchers in the interim. There are certainly plenty of mysterious scenes in it and oddball hallucinatory-cum-religious references. But Hopper's basic themes are quite obvious and I found the whole film a whole lot less disorderly than its legend insists.
On rewatching, I still think this is a superb film and is actually a lot more linear and penetrable than 1. I found previously and 2. everyone else seems to be making out. Maybe it's because I've seen it several times already (from a VHS tape of the old UK Channel 4 broadcast!), or maybe because I've seen a whole lot more experimental head-scratchers in the interim. There are certainly plenty of mysterious scenes in it and oddball hallucinatory-cum-religious references. But Hopper's basic themes are quite obvious and I found the whole film a whole lot less disorderly than its legend insists.
- MichaelB
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Alex Cox puts the case for the film being a lot more coherent in considerable detail in the essay that takes up most of the book. As he emphasises at the start, a lot of the legend of The Last Movie has grown up around its long-term unavailability, and some of the myths stubbornly refuse to die.
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Interesting, I haven't looked at the book yet. I suspect he's right.
- MichaelB
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- Boosmahn
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Re: 144 The Last Movie
Got my copy of The Last Movie the other day and it's a lovely package; I hope Indicator continues to release these limited-edition "singles." It looks like I was right in ordering this version instead of the Arbelos one -- as shown by the DVDBeaver review above, the grain is rendered better and there are a couple of additional bonus features.
(Also, Amazon UK cancelled my other package just a day before it was set to arrive. They won't tell me why.)
(Also, Amazon UK cancelled my other package just a day before it was set to arrive. They won't tell me why.)