The Last Movie (1971)

A film shoot in Peru goes badly wrong when an actor is killed in a stunt, and the unit wrangler, Kansas, decides to give up film-making and stay on in the village, shacking up with local ... See full summary »

Director:

Dennis Hopper

Writers:

Dennis Hopper (story), Stewart Stern

Stars:

Dennis Hopper, Stella Garcia, Julie Adams

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dennis Hopper	...	Kansas
Stella Garcia	...	Maria
Julie Adams	...	Mrs. Anderson
Tomas Milian	...	Priest
Don Gordon	...	Neville Robey
Roy Engel	...	Harry Anderson
Donna Baccala	...	Miss Anderson
Samuel Fuller	...	Himself
Poupée Bocar	...	Nightclub singer
Sylvia Miles	...	Script clerk
Daniel Ades	...	Thomas Mercado
John Alderman	...	Jonathan
Michael Anderson Jr.	...	Mayor's son
Richmond L. Aguilar	...	Gaffer
Toni Basil	...	Rose

Storyline

A film shoot in Peru goes badly wrong when an actor is killed in a stunt, and the unit wrangler, Kansas, decides to give up film-making and stay on in the village, shacking up with local prostitute Maria. But his dreams of an unspoiled existence are interrupted when the local priest asks him to help stop the villagers killing each other by re-enacting scenes from the film for real because they don't understand movie fakery...

---

Plot Keywords:

prostitute | killing | priest | peru | village | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 October 1988 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Chinchero

Filming Locations:

Peru

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alta-Light

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

The films original title was "Chinchero", which is where it was filmed. The title was only changed after Universal studio execs protested.

---

Quotes

Mrs. Anderson: You know, I had fantasies like that, about being beat up. Did you ever have a fantasy about women beating you up? Or don't cowboys have fantasies?

---

Crazy Credits

The movie runs for a full half-hour before the credits roll.

---

Connections

Featured in The American Dreamer (1971)

---

Soundtracks

"Me and Bobby McGee"
Written and Performed by Kris Kristofferson

User Reviews

A vastly underrated film.

I watched this film twice. The second time I watched it I was simply trying to figure out why I liked it the first time---but like it I did. Usually I don't like this kind of film, because I think they're pretentious. (NORTHFORK, as an example.) I think if ten people watched this film, those ten people would take ten different journeys and wind up at ten different destinations--so I can only describe what I felt---and it really was, for me, strangely enough, only a feeling.

For me it boils down to this: I'm from Oklahoma. During the early years, growing up in the great American heartland, the moral compass is very clear for most people. But the feeling, as you grow older (and migrate away from your roots), that with each season something precious is slowly draining away, and that things you care deeply about become like sand dunes that change shape and form with every rising sun---and there seem to be a progressive sense of loss---loss of the north star, reference points, meaningful trails in your life, until one day you are forced to stop and ask yourself, "Where am I, and what the hell do I care about anymore?" That's when you go to the pound and adopt a dog. I'm sure that my response to the film had absolutely nothing to do with what the authors intended, but I liked the film very much, and can't help but feel that this film is vastly underrated and was never given a fair chance.