K as in Knife

1971’s THE AMERICAN DREAMER, co-directed by former Life photographer Lawrence Schiller and the great L.M. Kit Carson (writer of PARIS, TEXAS, star of DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY, producer of BOTTLE ROCKET) is, like, COCKSUCKER BLUES a legendary verite portrait of artists in their prime behaving badly. DREAMER follows Dennis Hopper during the making of his epochal LAST MOVIE — meaning it just watches as Hopper fires guns at crosses, smokes dope, engages in group sex, and discusses how he’s really a lesbian, hates film editing, and doesn’t read. It’s a terrifying portrait of artistry and madness and drugs and America at the dawn of a new age. And as a friend said, it’s one of the only “making-of” documentaries that captures the actual spirit of the movie it’s documenting.