When I heard that Dennis Hopper had died, my first thought was, “We won’t see his likes again.”

 Much has been written about Dennis (meet him for five minutes and he insists on first names), but what hasn’t been said is how genuine and kind he was.

 It was early 2004 and we had met, unexpectedly, at Ago, the trendy restaurant on L.A.’s Melrose Avenue.  The restaurant was crowded, noisy, and vibrating with energy of the celebrities, who were at home in the place owned by a consortium which included Robert DeNiro.

 Suddenly, I recognized a familiar voice. I turned and there was Dennis Hopper at the next table, close enough to touch. “Hey Dennis,” I said. “How’s it going?” I had spoken to him at many Hollywood events and he always greeted me as if he remembered every time.

Photo of Mr. Hopper by: Alice O’Neill

 “Great,” he said. “How about you?”

“Same here,” I said and reminded him that I was still Alice O’Neill, and still writing the syndicated column, Hollywood Behind-The-Scenes. 

 Dennis smiled, saying, “I know. I’ve read it. You’re good!”

  I was with a man and his wife, who’d bought the Hollywood trip I annually donated as a fundraiser for Chicago institutions, DePaul University’s Theatre School and The Joffrey Ballet. We ordered drinks and toasted an exciting day in Hollywood. We talked about the Joffrey, the couple’s work in supporting the Chicago dance company, and my work interviewing and writing about the stars. I had married a Chicago businessman and moved from L.A. to live in Winnetka, IL. The marriage meant I had to do a good bit of traveling to keep up with happenings in the movie industry.

 I introduced the couple, explaining their “angels in the industry” status, a designation of people who pay money to support the arts.

 Dennis’ eyes lit up as he stood and shook hands and introduced his adult daughter Marin (a full-figured woman with an American accent), and his wife, Victoria (very fine-boned and slender, despite being seven months pregnant). Victoria, who had a distinct British accent, seemed too young      to be the mother of Marin. I made a note but never got around to asking who was Marin’s mother. I later learned it was Brooke Hayward, Dennis’ first wife.

 I ordered a round of drinks and Dennis led an animated discussion about the Joffrey, internationally known for its excellent dancers, superb choreography, and innovative programs. “I love Chicago,” Dennis said. “What a city, and what great people.” He spread his arms to indicate the couple as if they were royalty. They beamed. You could tell that they were in a moment they’d keep as a special memory all their lives.

 And it didn’t stop there. Dennis and Victoria both thanked me for also supporting the arts. “So, you donated a Hollywood trip?” Dennis said, appreciation evident as his eyes twinkled and he stroked his white goatee.  “You’re good, Alice!”

 “What are you working on?” I asked, remembering that actors need publicity to get out information to fans, to sell movie tickets, and to give columnists new material.

 “Well, The Last Ride is ready for release in a few months,” he said, adding that it wasn’t very good but that he enjoyed some parts of it.  “I play an ex-con who recruits his grandson to help get revenge on the cop who sent him off to prison.”

 “Sounds interesting,” I said.

 “Yeah,” he agreed. “I figured that would be interesting to explore. It was, but not enough to save the picture.” His shrug said he couldn’t win ’em all.

 “Hey,” he added, “I’m working on another film that promises to be better, Land of the Dead, written and directed by George Romero. “It’s a horror flick, science fiction, probably be out next year (2005),” he explained, adding that costars were John Leguizamo and Simon Baker.

 “Why do you think it’s good?” I asked, thinking it sounded like a war movie.

 “It’s a really good zombie movie, about the living dead taking over the world,” he said.

 At my raised brow he quickly added, “No, no. Really. It’s got a lot of heavy psychology entwined with the action.” His trademark smirky smile gave no hint of whether he was serious or not.  I scribbled a note, nonetheless.

 Well, as it turned out, he was not exaggerating. The film has since gained cult status as one of the best horror/sci-fi films of all time. His Easy Rider with Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson stands as the dominant film that defines a generation. And his brilliant portrayal of a drugged-out photographer in Appocalypse Now stands as a defining character in a film that is part of Hollywood history. His work in those films as well as his early work opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and Giant solidify his place in the story of Hollywood filmmaking at its best.

Rest in peace, Dennis Hopper. Your total honesty, kind heart and prodigious talent make you unforgettable.

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Fans have waited a long time to buy a boxed set of Clint Eastwood’s early spaghetti westerns by Sergio Leone. featuring Clint as the iconic loner with no name. The wait is over. The boxed set, officially titled Clint, available June 1, 2010, Eastwood in The Man With No Name Trilogy hits a bullseye.

This collection belongs in every home film library. Leone’s trilogy of lowbudget, high-impact films, set in the American West (but filmed in Spain and directed by an Italian), made Eastwood a major movie star with a following that forced Hollywood to sit up and take notice. Up until that time he was known only for his roles on TV, most notably as Rowdy Yates in the series, Rawhide.

I interviewed Eastwood before the Academy Awards in 2005 when he had been nominated for Best Director and Best Picture for Million Dollar.  I asked how important to his films was the music in each. “Very Baby important,” he told me, holding me with that famous Eastwood gaze that says, “Nothing matters right now except our conversation.” He went on to explain that he wrote the music himself. “I was very careful not to allow the music to overwhelm the visuals but to support them,” he said, adding, “I learned that from Ennio Morricone.”

When I recalled that Eastwood had made a name for himself with the Sergio Leone films, Eastwood brightened. “It was Morricone who wrote the music for the three spaghetti westerns,” Eastwood said. “If you’ve seen them you know the music.”

The first in the series, A Fistful of Dollars, hit U.S. movie houses in 1964. The stage was set for the former television actor to become an international sensation as the rough-hewn, silent Man with No Name.

The footloose renegade with a wacky sense of humor, a cheroot clenched in his teeth, and a squint that made villains squirm, caught the fancy of moviegoers and they became his fans for life. Those fans are now graybeards, and they’re still loyal. They, and anybody else who likes movies with Clint Eastwood, are in for a treat.

writer/director Akiro Kurosawa’s film, Yojimbo.” That cynical samurai tale, in the hands of Sergio Leone, gets a different setting, the American West. The tale, which maintains the inner stuff of legend and iconic characters, works on a visceral level.

The follow-up film, For a Few Dollars More, teams Eastwood with Lee, who played the villain opposite Gary Cooper in High Noon.

In Dollars, Leone’s classic tale of revenge, Van Cleef again plays the villain to perfection.

The third film, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, is set in the American Civil War where violence is a given. Added to that conflict is buried gold, and classic criminals in a conspiracy that involves double-crosses and trayals that play out in a tension-filled finale with enough gun fights to satisfy any action fan.

(Catalog # M121526)

● The Christopher Frayling Archives: A Fistful of Dollars

● Commentary by Film Historian Christopher Frayling

● A New Kind of Hero

● A Few Weeks in Spain: Clint Eastwood on the Experience of Making the Film ● Tre Voci: A Fistful of Dollars

● Not Ready for Primetime: Renowned Filmmaker Monte Hellman discusses the Television Broadcast ● The Network Prologue with Actor Harry Dean Stanton

● Location Comparisons: Then to Now ● 10 Radio Spots ● Double Bill Trailer ● Theatrical Trailer

(Catalog # M121528)

● The Christopher Frayling Archives: For A Few Dollars More

● Commentary by Film Historian Christopher Frayling

● A New Standard: Frayling on For A Few Dollars More

● Back for More: Clint Eastwood Remembers For A Few Dollars More

● Tre Voci: For A Few Dollars More

● For A Few Dollars More: The Original American Release Version

● Location Comparisons

● 12 Radio Spots

● Theatrical Trailer 1

● Theatrical Trailer 2

(Catalog # M121527)

● Commentary by Film Historian Richard Schickel

● Commentary by Film Historian Christopher Frayling

● Leone’s West

● The Leone Style

● The Man Who Lost the Civil War

● Reconstructing The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

● IL Maestro: Ennio Morricone and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly – Part One

● IL Maestro: Part Two

● Deleted Scenes

â—‹ Extended Tuco Torture Scene

â—‹ The Socorro Sequence: A Reconstruction

● Easter Egg #1 Uno, Due, Tre

● Easter Egg #2 Italian Lunch

● Easter Egg #3 New York Actor

● Easter Egg #4 Gun in Holster

● Theatrical Trailer

● French Trailer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., through its operating subsidiaries, is actively

engaged in the worldwide production and distribution of motion pictures,

television programming, home video, interactive media, music and

licensed merchandise. The company owns the world’s largest library of

modern films, comprising around 4,100 titles. Operating units include

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc.,

United Artists Films Inc., MGM Television Entertainment Inc., MGM

Networks Inc., MGM Domestic Networks LLC, MGM Distribution Co, MGM

International Television Distribution Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home

Entertainment LLC, MGM ON STAGE, MGM Music, MGM Worldwide Digital

Media, MGM Consumer Products and MGM Interactive. In addition, MGM

has ownership interests in international TV channels reaching nearly 120

countries. MGM ownership is as follows: Providence Equity Partners (29%),

TPG (21%), Sony Corporation of America (20%), Comcast (20%), DLJ

Merchant Banking Partners (7%) and Quadrangle Group (3%). For more

information, visit www.mgm.com.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC (TCFHE) is a recognized global industry leader and a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, a News Corporation company. Representing 75 years of innovative and award-winning filmmaking from Twentieth Century Fox, TCFHE is the worldwide marketing, sales and distribution company for all Fox film and television programming, acquisitions and original productions on DVD, Blu-ray Disc Digital Copy, Video On Demand and Digital Download. The company also releases all products globaly for MGM Home Entertainment. Each year TCFHE introduces hundreds of new and newly enhanced products, which it services to retail outlets from mass merchants and warehouse clubs to specialty stores and ecommerce throughout the world.

Van Cleef

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Fans from all over the U.S., and even Europe and Asia, are jumping at the chance to see their favorite country performer, Kenny Rogers, tape a show at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Ledyard, CT. April 10.

The stars are coming out for Kenny as well. Smokey Robinson, Tim McGraw, Chris Isaak, Darius Rucker, Billy Currington, and Sheena Easton have signed on to perform on the television special Kenny Rogers: The First 50 Years, joining previously announced guests Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Alison Krauss, Wynonna Judd, and The Oak Ridge Boys. The array of all-star artists will perform, along with Kenny,and a few will host different segments of the show traveling through his six decades of hits at the special taping. Parton, Richie, Krauss, Robinson, Isaak, Judd, The Oak Ridge Boys, Easton, original members of The First Edition and Rogers will perform live at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods. McGraw, Rucker and Currington will be performing for the show from remote locations.

Far more than just a music special, Kenny Rogers: The First 50 Years, will celebrate the career of a beloved, universally-known icon of American entertainment and 50 years of making music. The event will be as starstudded as any award show, filled with music and comedy from some of the biggest stars in the entertainment world performing, appearing and sharing stories about Kenny Rogers and his music.

Kenny Rogers: The First 50 Years will be produced by Dreamcatcher Artist Management and Locomotive Entertainment Group. Shot in pristine hidefinition, this multi-camera, up-close-and-personal special will find the viewer “visually surrounded and fully immersed” in the concert. Mark Lucas, who recently directed the concert films for Dave Matthews and Kings of Leon, will direct, and Monty Powell, 2009 SESAC Songwriter of the Year and producer, will serve as Musical Director.

Tickets are on sale now online at www.mgmatfoxwoods.com, by calling the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Box Office at 1-866-646-0609, by calling Ticketmaster, or in person at the MGM Grand Box Office.

“When this was first proposed to me as a 50-year celebration, something about that sounded final, and I didn’t want that, so I suggested we call it ‘The First 50 Years,'” Rogers said. “I will tell you this, the first 50 years TV show is gonna be awesome  – the next 50 years TV show is gonna be a bitch.”

The red carpet for this event will certainly have to roll for a long way, as there are so many superstars from music, movies, and sports that Kenny has touched over the course of his 50 years in entertainment. It will certainly be an unforgettable night for everyone involved.

Kenny is one of a handful of artists to sell over 125 million albums. He also holds the very rare distinction of having a hit single in each of the last six decades. His television movie “The Gambler” is one of the highest rated TV movies of all time. His duet with Dolly Parton, “Islands In The Stream,” is the #1-selling duet of all time. His extensive history of success also includes 20 platinum, 27 gold records and a Diamondcertified Greatest Hits album that has sold more than 24 million copies worldwide. He has won three Grammy Awards, five Country Music Association Awards, 18 American Music Awards, eight Academy of Country Music Awards and 11 People’s Choice Awards. He has recorded 65 albums and is ranked #8 on the R.I.A.A.’s list of Top Selling Male Artists of all time.

With his unique storytelling ability and soulful voice, Kenny has continued his amazing run into the 21st century with a critically acclaimed album (Water and Bridges) and a recent gold certification (21 Number Ones).

Whether it’s his classic or current hits, or his recent appearance on “American Idol,” his relevance in the world of music and pop culture has never been stronger.

Kenny Rogers is the singer, the photographer, the producer, the actor, the songwriter, and of course… the Gambler.

Details on the network airing the special, even more guest stars and other surprises will be announced leading up to the event.

About Foxwoods Resort Casino North America’s largest casino, Foxwoods Resort Casino®, is located in the rolling hills of southeastern Connecticut and is easily accessible from Boston, New York, Hartfordand Providence. Owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, Foxwoods features six casinos with 7,200 slots, 380 table games, the only WPT World Poker Room in New England, High

Stakes Bingo and Ultimate Race Book. There are 1,416 guest rooms  and suites in three hotels, more than 30 restaurants, a luxurious spa, more than 50,000 square feet of premium meeting and event space, 24 retail shops and five entertainment venues, including the 1,400-seat Fox Theatre. Conveniently located adjacent to Foxwoods is Lake of Isles, featuring two, 18-hole championship golf courses designed by Rees Jones and a state-of-the-art Golf Academy. In spring 2008, the highly anticipated MGM Grand at Foxwoods® opened, adding 825 luxurious guest rooms, 115,000 square feet of meeting space, a 4,000-seat Performing Arts Theater, 21,000-square-foot spa as well as more dining, retail and gaming facilities, bolstering Foxwoods’ preeminence as the East oast’s ultimate casino resort destination.

Foxwoods supports responsible gaming, and plays a leadership role in the Connecticut Council of Problem Gambling, of which it was a founding entity.

For more information, call 1-800-FOXWOODS or visit www.foxwoods.com.

The post “Hollywood Behind-The-Scenes” first appeared on River View Observer.