Out of the Blue (2021 4K Restoration Release of a 1980 Movie Film Review)
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
Eleven years after his acclaimed directorial debut with Easy Rider (1969) and nine years after his sophomore turn at the helm with The Last Movie (1971), Dennis Hopper rewrote the screenplay in one weekend and took over the reins of a film he was originally hired to only act in. The result was his third directorial effort, Out of the Blue (Canada, 1980), which is receiving renewed attention thanks to a 4K restoration release timed for the film’s 40th anniversary. It’s a bleak, mesmerizing work that captures the “no future” desperation of that time period’s punk rock influence.
Linda Manz stars as Cebe, a teen girl who was riding shotgun with her father Don (Hopper) when he was drinking and driving, and drove his truck into the side of a school bus, killing many children. Cebe is enamored with Elvis Presley and punk rock, and goes around shouting things like “Kill all hippies!” and “Subvert normality!” She awaits Don’s release from prison, while her junkie mother Kathy (Sharon Farrell) has an affair with the owner of the restaurant where she waitresses.
Part tone poem, part character study, part family drama, and much more, Out of the Blue focuses on Cebe as she wanders the streets, hangs out at a punk club and a bowling alley, speaks with a therapist (Raymond Burr), and deals with her dysfunctional parents. It’s Manz’s film, and she owns it, giving a force-of-nature performance. She’s not an easy protagonist for whom to root, but you can’t help but hope that she finds out what she would like to do with her life, or at least a cause for her rebellion . . . And then comes the third act, which is an outright jaw-dropper.
With music from Neil Young (from whose song “Hey, Hey, My, My” the film takes its title) and punk bands including The Pointed Sticks, Out of the Blue takes a nihilistic view of North American life in the year 1980, with some truly harrowing scenes and gripping performances. It’s true counterculture Hopper both in front of and behind the camera, recalling his work with Easy Rider and, at one point in his portrayal of Don, even telegraphing his future role as uber-villain Frank Booth in Blue Velvet (1986).
Out of the Blue is by no means an easy watch, but it is a fascinating, if gut-wrenching, one. Prepare yourself for being in a pensive mood after viewing it.
Discovery Productions’ 4K restoration of Out of the Blue will be released theatrically for the first time in New York City at the Metrograph on November 17, 2021. More release dates and information to follow.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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