Dennis Hopper (1936-2010)

When I heard that Laura Moya, the Executive Director of photo lucida, was raised in Northern New Mexico, I reached out to see if she might want to contribute to Finite Foto. She graciously agreed, and has included a terrific interview piece in this issue. Laura’s interview subject, Lisa Law, spent time at the New Buffalo Commune, which was located just up the road from where my wife, Jessie, grew up in Arroyo Hondo.

My In-laws moved out to Taos in the Early 70’s, caught up in the wave of youth that flowed towards the Rio Grande after “Easy Rider” came out in 1969. You know, Dennis Hopper’s anti-establishment masterpiece that made the Muttonchop into a cultural icon. And Hopper stayed around, living in Taos on and off ever since.

Sadly, Mr. Hopper succumbed to cancer at the end of May. Though I saw him around town once or twice, I never met the man. And I’m ashamed to admit, I’ve never seen “Easy Rider” either. I’ll slap it up on my Netflix queue tomorrow, but I suspect there will be a wait involved.

That said, when I think of Dennis Hopper, I think of a night in New York City when I was 12 years old. Though I grew up in suburban New Jersey, just outside the City, I didn’t spend a lot of time there so any trip into Manhattan was a big deal. One night, in 1986, my family and I went to see “Hoosiers” in a big, old theater. It was a venue from an earlier era, complete with a mezzanine and opera boxes. It looked a bit like an indoor arena, actually.

So as the movie progressed, and the underdogs from Hickory made their way towards the Indiana State Championship, the audience began to cheer as if we were watching an actual basketball tournament. The room got louder with each win, and every time Dennis Hopper’s “Shooter” winced or grimaced at his alcoholic weakness, I could hear my neighbors inhale deeply in empathy. His flawed, human, American performance was riveting. And don’t get me started about his showdown with Chris Walken in the Tarantino penned “True Romance”. (Click here to see it, but be forewarned.)

I’m sure another writer would focus on “Easy Rider,” of course, or “Blue Velvet,” or “Apocalypse Now,” or any of the countless films that Dennis Hopper made, or perhaps his paintings, or photographs, or early support of Andy Warhol. Regardless, Hopper was a New Mexico legend, and he will surely be missed.

— Jonathan Blaustein, July, 2010

Towards New Buffalo, Arroyo Hondo, NM, 2010