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Memorial Day 2010; RIP Dennis Hopper   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Monday, May 31, 2010 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

MEMORIAL DAY has become -- in the minds of some -- a day devoted to uncovering their swimming pools and barbeques. So take a moment (preferably at 3 p.m. local time) to remember what it's really about.  Read about Joyce Johnson and the "Arlington Ladies" who attend every funeral in Arlington National Cemetery, to ensure no soldier is buried alone.  While I'm not a big believer in the hackneyed journalism of "grim milestones," it's an appropriate moment to mark the 1000th death of a US serviceman in Afghanistan.  And to re-read "A Death in the Family," as powerful as it was when Christopher Hitchens wrote it in 2007.  Revisit the Mudville Gazette for items like William Wyler's footage of the last mission of the Memphis Belle and Alfred Hitchcock's footage of the liberation of the Belsen concentration camp.  The Wikipedia entry for Memorial Day notes a race track connection unrelated to the Indy 500.  It's a good day -- as good as we are liekly to get -- for Sgt. Barry Sadler's No. 1 smash, "Ballad of the Green Beret."  or the movie adaptation of Gen. George S. Patton's "Speech to the Third Army."  As "Greyhawk" writes at the Mudville Gazette, "This is Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy it. Celebrate it - the people who died to give you that right would appreciate it. But they didn't die peaceably in their beds, these dogs who fell protecting sheep from wolves."

DENNIS HOPPER, who debuted in "Rebel Without a Cause," changed the face of Hollywood by directing and acting in "Easy Rider," spun completely out of control with substance abuse, and made a stunning comeback in 1986 with both "Hoosiers" and "Blue Velvet," died Saturday after a long battle with prostate cancer.  Hopper was 74, though that's just the years, not the mileage.  Though that "Blue Velvet" clip would be my tribute, Elizabeth Banks is right that Hopper's scene with Chistopher Walken in "True Romance" is a "cinematic Ali v. Frazier.''  Of course, both clips warrant a content warning, so consider yourself warned.

 Back tomorrow with the usual helping of tripe.

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