Within the space of a month or so during the summer of 1969, moviegoers got to see Dennis Hopper as a luckless outlaw who dies while reluctantly aiding John Wayne in True Grit
– and a chopper-riding rebel journeying across America alongside Peter Fonda in Easy Rider
. And, mind you, that disparate combo of credits only begins to hint at the variety and versatility that define the resume of the late, great actor, who finally lost his long battle with prostate cancer Saturday at age 74. You can read my 1990 interview with Hopper here, my Houston Culture Map obituary here -- and an essay about Easy Rider I wrote just last April here. And if you would like to see him near the start of a career that spanned six decades, here is Hopper in the 1958 pilot episode -- scripted by Sam Peckinpah! -- of The Rifleman
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, the half-hour Western “chronicles a slice-in-time of protagonist John Marston as he tracks down his former fellow outlaw and friend, Bill Williamson. Along the way, Marston encounters many of Red Dead Redemption's eclectic cast of dreamers, misfits and liars. Using the world of Red Dead Redemption as a virtual film studio and created entirely with in-game assets and technology, Hillcoat re-imagines Marston’s pursuit of justice and salvation.”
movie. And one of the better ones. Maybe it'll be excerpted if there's ever a sequel to 
. But, hey, I have cats, so I can just imagine the whole thing was something like 
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.) And if he can save my home state of Louisiana (among other places) from this disaster, I will gladly buy him dinner at the New Orleans restaurant of his choosing. No kidding.
meets 
, and you'll have some idea what to expect when it opens at a theater or drive-in near you.
with Charles Bronson in the Lee Marvin role and Burt Reynolds taking over for Burt Lancaster!" Or "Now here's a sure-fire hit: A new version of 
with Eddie Murphy and Gene Hackman!" What's happened? Has Hollywood truly run out of original ideas? Or were the '80s actually a better era for cinema than I recall?
at 7 p.m. Friday at MFA. As I noted in 
and 
how to snatch a moral victory from the immoral overlords of The Establishment. Tucker is at heart an ode to American ingenuity, displaying a patriotism more unabashedly exhilarating than all the flag-waving at a dozen political conventions."
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and 
– is scheduled to appear at no fewer than six different area theaters for post-screening Q&A sessions. Look for him after the closing credits at these La Mission showings: 1 p.m. at the AMC Willowbrook 24; 2 p.m. at the AMC Deerbrook 24; 3:30 p.m. at the AMC First Colony 24; 7 p.m. at the AMC Studio 30; 8 p.m. at the Angelika Film Center; and 9 p.m. at the AMC Gulf Pointe 30. 
, for which she received an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress) and unjustly neglected (
, in which she and Rita Tushingham played small-town lasses who took Swinging London by storm), she earned rave reviews and attained international stardom by playing conspicuously unglamorous and often rough-hewn characters with enough unaffected vivacity to make their extremes of joy and heartbreak instantly and easily relatable. Gangly and gregarious, she wasn’t conventionally attractive – not an ugly duckling, mind you, but not exactly a graceful swan, either. Yet that didn’t matter. In fact, her plumpishness was a major part of her well-nigh irresistible charm. 
, a dark and brooding 1966 spy thriller based on a John Le Carr̩ novel, starring James Mason, Simone Signoret and Maximilian Schell. But after the film flopped in N.Y. and L.A. during its initial U.S. theatrical release, it was sent out to many smaller markets with a drastically revamped ad campaign designed to make it look like a breezy spy-spoofy romp starring Рyes, you guessed it -- "Lynn Redgrave of Georgy Girl."
, 
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) to the ridiculous (
, Morgan Stewart’s Coming Home) to the stupefyingly bizarre (
, Sidney Lumet’s legendarily ill-conceived but guilty-pleasurably campy 1970 adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ The Seven Descents of Myrtle). And much like siblings Vanessa and Corin Redgrave, she established ties with Houston’s Alley Theatre: In 1994, she graced the Alley stage in Shakespeare for My Father, the one-woman show she performed as a tribute to her actor dad, 
, and guest-starred in episodes of Ugly Betty and Law and Order: Criminal Intent. 
, 
) made 
, a 1989 dream project he crafted as his valentine to movies of the Swinging London era, he eagerly cast Lynn Redgrave as a sultry “older woman,” a trendy socialite who seduces the virginal young hero with all the intense, nimble-witted enthusiasm of someone pursuing a stimulating after-dinner conversation. It should be noted that Redgrave had a nude scene in the lightly delightful romantic comedy. It should also be noted that she looked pretty smokin’ hot. She had come a long way from Georgy Girl. But she remained, as ever, a formidable screen presence.
, one of my favorite films, Ned Beatty – playing a parks and recreation worker on the verge of retirement – marvels to a younger colleague played by Liv Schrieber that, somehow, when he wasn’t looking, several years slipped away: “Time goes by, and it seems like a little time. You turn around, and it was a big time.” How true.
, a melodrama about drug-dealing surfers starring a very young George Clooney. (For the record: the other two were 
, a spoofy sci-fi B-movie that showcased a very young Billy Bob Thornton in a supporting role. And two weeks after that, I reviewed yet another WorldFest feature: 
, a dysfunctional family drama co-starring a very, very young Brad Pitt.