Out of the Blue

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Wayne K 08/27/2024 While he’s certainly more famous as an actor, Dennis Hopper made quite the name for himself behind the camera with films like Easy Rider, The Last Movie, Colours and the one I watched last night, Out Of The Blue. He wasn’t the original director, but when he took over he evidently turned the film into something completely different, and gave us a drama for the ages. A bleak but not entirely downbeat story of a dysfunctional family wracked by substance abuse and personal demons, it follows CeBe, played by the late Linda Manz, a peppy and rebellious teenager whose brash and outgoing attitude masks the damaged and insecure person deep inside. Manz gives one of the great on screen adolescent performances, managing to be combative without being annoying and fragile without being maudlin. We get the kind of intense family conflicts you’d expect, but what makes them unsettling is Cebe’s reaction. Usually in a film like this she’d be screaming at her bedroom door or weeping into her pillow, but here she appears completely clam and unaffected, like this is second nature to her and not even worthy of getting upset about. The film takes the time to explore the broken family dynamic, acknowledging that both parents are in the wrong but for different reasons, and Hopper proves to be as much of a force in front of the camera as he is behind it. It’s not an easy sit and, spoiler alert, doesn’t end on the most positive of notes, but it’s an intense and challenging exploration of a torn household that doesn’t resort to cheap tactics to get its messages across. Not a pleasant watch, but an important one. See more 11/20/2021 Why would any one watch this See more 11/11/2021 According to Roger Ebert, when Out of the Blue "premiered at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival, it caused a considerable sensation, and Linda Manz was mentioned as a front-runner for the best actress award. But back in North America, the film's Canadian backers had difficulties in making a distribution deal, and the film slipped through the cracks." What a shame. One of only seven movies directed by Hopper — there's also Colors, Chasers, Catchfire, The Hot Spot, Easy Rider and The Last Movie — this time in the director's chair wasn't planned. Originally hired just to act, the film nearly was canceled when he asked for the opportunity to rewrite it over a weekend. What a joy. Out of the Blue isn't about Hopper's character — an alcoholic truck driver who kills a bus full of children in an accident that's repeated numerous times, growing more violent with each remembrance — but it's about his daughter, played by Manz, who is full of bile toward everyone and everything, loving only Elvis, her father and punk rock. Hopper considered this movie a follow-up to Easy Rider and tells what would have likely happened to the characters from that film ten years later. And it really is ten years (actually eleven) later, a time past the New Hollywood, as Hopper was just struggling to re-enter the world of acting after getting noticed all over again in Apocalypse Now. After this movie, Hopper would pull off one of his most out there moments — and that's saying something — blowing himself up in a coffin using 17 sticks of dynamite during an "art happening" at the Rice University Media Center before disappearing into the Mexican desert and finally entering drug rehabilitation. After Rumble Fish, The Osterman Weekend and Blue Velvet, Hopper finally was accepted back. At this point, he was still lost in the wilderness but making astounding art while there. Linda Manz is all punk rock swagger, even if she isn't sure what it all means. And the ending is violent and pointless and exactly how it should all end. Along the way, you get great performances from Sharon Farrell and Raymond Burr to compliment Manz and Hopper. Man, this movie. Working from the original 35mm negative restored by Discovery in 2010, John Alan Simon and Elizabeth Karr's Discovery Productions undertook the digital scan and mastering of Out of the Blue to premiere as an official selection at the Venice Film Festival in 2019, preserving Hopper's landmark film to make it available to new audiences. Not that many saw it in the past. Luckily, John Alan Simon, then a film critic/journalist, rescued the film from the shelf, secured distribution rights and took it on the road with Dennis Hopper back in 1982 to art house theaters across the U.S. including a 17-week record-breaking run at the Coolidge Corner Cinema in Boston and then NYC and Los Angeles theatrical releases. "It's incredibly important to us that Out of the Blue be preserved for future generations to experience its emotional impact and as the artistic achievement that helped re-establish Dennis Hopper as an important American director," commented Elizabeth Karr on behalf of Discovery Productions. "For me, this restoration project was pay-back for all I learned from Dennis Hopper when we originally took Out of the Blue on the road in 1982 after I rescued it from the shelf. He was an amazing artist and friend and Out of the Blue remains as unforgettable as he was and serves as an indelible tribute to the talents of Linda Manz," John Alan Simon from Discovery Productions concluded. See more delysid d 03/24/2019 an OK film from dennis hopper about a punk girl who takes revenge on her crappy family sort of an indie vibe See more 04/27/2015 'Out of the Blue' is a powerful story that portraits the tribulations of small town and family life through the eyes of a confused teenager. In my opinion, 'confusion' is what Denis Hopper wants to highlight - the confusion of finding an identity in a small town (the main character is a punk rocker who listens to Elvis), the confusion and insecurity of the 'future of the world holds' on the height of a post modern decadence and, of course, the confusion of the main character's sexuality. The film is clearly influenced by its historical period, which had yet to establish a defined subculture, as well as depicting the use of heroine almost as a recreational drug, rather than a life-style (the impact of heroine on society had yet to be fully assessed, one supposes). All its component make 'Out of the Blue' an interesting document of its time; it creates a gloomy, almost apocalyptic mood which takes nothing for granted. The morality of the characters is fluid leaving the viewers to find their own 'bad' and 'good' guys. Neil Young's 'Rust Never Sleeps' used as soundtrack, given its stand alone significance, enhances the film hugely. The scene of the Rubbish Dump, where Hopper is operating a digger surrounding by seagles, with the song 'Thrashers' by Young is the background is an eloquent representation of the apprehensions for the (then) new decade (the 80's) by the common man. See more 10/12/2014 Dennis Hopper is a master. See more Read all reviews

Out of the Blue

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