Preview: A Tribute to Dennis Hopper at Cinefamily

From "Easy Rider"

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From "Easy Rider"
By Jon Peters, Special to LAist

Cinefamily is presenting a retrospective of the late film and art legend Dennis Hopper at the Silent Movie Theatre this July. A series of screenings will pay tribute to both Hopper’s work as actor and director. Such rare gems like “The Last Movie” (showing July 31), Hopper’s underappreciated follow-up to “Easy Rider” (July 9), and “Mad Dog Morgan” (July 16), a seldom seen Australian cowboy flick from the seventies will be on display.

The series came about before Hopper’s death in May. As MOCA planned a retrospective of Hopper’s art set for July, representatives contacted Hadrian Belove, head programmer of the Cinefamily to put together a cinematic companion piece. It wasn’t a hard decision to include both the film and art. As MOCA Director of Education Suzanne Isken put it, “I think that Hopper’s career was one seamless flow between art making and filmmaking and his life.”

Some of Hopper’s more experimental films like “The Last Movie” are balanced by better-known appearances in hits like “Hoosiers,” “River’s Edge,” and “Blue Velvet” (part of a triple-feature July 25). There will also be special appearances by people who worked with Hopper. This includes Philippe Mora, the Australian director who featured Hopper in “Mad Dog Morgan;” who will host a question and answer session post-show. As Belove explains, “Mora is truly an art filmmaker, and “Mad Dog Morgan” was his first feature narrative, so you can tell he really poured everything he had into it.” Other guests during the series include directors Henry Jaglom and L.M. Kit Carson.

Ticket prices vary. Full schedule here.

Cinefamily is located at:
611 N. Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90036