Out of the Blue (1982)

Dennis Hopper knows how to grab the attention of an audience. In the opening minutes of Out of the Blue, Hopper's hard-drinking truck driver jokes with his daughter before losing control and slamming his truck into a busload of screaming children. With the camera recording the excruciating impact from inside the cab, putting the audience helplessly in the driver's seat, the cinematic whiplash jerks the audience out of any preconceived notions of how this drama will play out. Five years later, daughter Cebe (a brilliant, brooding, angry performance by Linda Manz of Days of Heaven) has grown into a rebellious punk in a backwater town barely looked after by her flighty mom (Sharon Farrell), a well-meaning but childish junkie. When Dad is sprung from jail, Cebe's hopes of a whole, healing family poignantly and painfully prove to be doomed when a spontaneous picnic collapses into bickering and blame. Cebe desperately tries to hold everyone together as the suddenly dutiful child, singing the Elvis tune "Teddy Bear" as if her love and passion will infect her hopelessly self-absorbed parents. The film occasionally lapses into pop psychology observations, but Hopper's loose, naturalistic style and sympathetic yet critical attitude inflects the drama with a painful power that finally erupts in a devastating conclusion. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com

A disturbing Dennis Hopper movie? Go figure

Cebe Barnes (Linda Manz), when we first meet her, seems like an average kid with a happy childhood. She is all painted and made up to look like a clown and she is sitting on her daddy's lap while he drives her to school. We begin to see how wrong we are when Dad (Dennis Hopper) hands her his empty beer bottle so he can pop some pills all while driving. This causes him to take his eyes off the road and lose control of the vehicle leading to a devastating crash with a school bus that kills dozens of little children and sends him to jail for eight years leaving Cebe to fend for herself on the streets. She has a home and a mother but mom is more interested in screwing her boss and shooting up in the living room with Dad's old friends who she may also be sleeping with. Not wanting to stay in that environment Cebe hitch hikes all over Vancouver going to punk rock shows and getting into fights and getting high. In one frightening scene she befriends a guy who has picked her up who takes her to some drug crash pad where she passes out and is nearly raped by the man while a stoned woman in lingerie watches. Cebe is obsessed with Elvis and has pictures of the King all over her room right next to pictures of her dad she idolizes the both of them. Dad makes parole and is released and Cebe hopes that her family can come back together again now that the father whom she worships is out. Unfortunately Mom and Dad are too deep into their drugs and drinking and things turn worse for this family. Much worse. The last half hour of the film is so disturbing that I still can't shake it. It is shocking stuff and Hopper does a good job as actor and director in forcing us to watch it and go along with this family as they plunge deeper and deeper. It is not hard to see why this is one of Harmony Korine's favorite films as it is just as raw and full of the sex, drugs and violence of KIDS. Linda Manz gives a very good performance as Cebe and the supporting players include Raymond Burr in a couple of scenes as a guidance counselor who hasn't given up on Cebe, and Don Gordon plays Hopper's best friend who has not only taken care of Hopper's wife while he was in prison but appoints himself as Hopper's protector when he gets out since neither one of them counted on the parents of the killed kids wanting revenge. A very tough film to watch, it is certainly not a feel good film or a pleasant experience but Hopper definitely establishes a mood and has made a film that will make you think and will definitely linger in the memory much like Easy Rider. October 27, 2008

Grim Fare, Not for the Faint of Heart or the Weak of Bowel

The ending is a welcome relief. Brings it up from the ranks of 'gritty b-movie horror-show', to near level of a minor classic. Socio-psychotic thrill ride. It will make our good hearts cringe in it's uncompromising vision of the world of man as a horrid stench bucket. The verdict: One viewing will suffice. November 13, 2007

Hated It

I got Out of the Blue on the strength that I enjoy the acting of Raymond Burr, and his performance was great, but the movie was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I guess that I like something to make me think in a new creative way that is positive or watch something interesting that enlightens me or has a mystery or is entertaining. Instead I found this movie dramatic, yes, stirring, sure, and very emotionally packed, but with WHAT? It was very disturbing and got worse from the beginning to the bitter end and I found no value it it at all as entertaining, but rather felt I had to ENDURE through it. It was a total waste of my money but moreover, it was a waste of my emotions. I DO NOT recommend this movie and thought that every other word being F was surely distracting also. I know it was supposed to portray a disturbed household but it did nothing for me to see this escalating roller coaster of emotion and if I'd have known I'd not have ever purchased it. I hated it and am going to throw it in the garbage and would not even return it. It needs to be out of the hands of anyone. It is gross, senseless and doesn't do a thing for your mind but expose you to discord and emotional upheaval without letup. It was horrible. August 28, 2007

Dennis Hooper is a Hard Drinking Truck Driver who loses...

When I went to the theatre to see this 20 plus years ago (!!!) I did not know what to expect and at first it did not fit the description, but Dennis Hopper's directing and acting is a perfect back drop for Linda Manz's incredibe star performance. Way more "Punk" then most Punk films. And probably Dennis Hopper's most important film, and perhaps his least regarded. September 20, 2003

Unexpectedly wonderful

When I went to the theatre to see this 20 plus years ago (!!!) I did not know what to expect and at first it did not fit the description, but Dennis Hopper's directing and acting is a perfect back drop for Linda Manz's incredibe star performance. Way more "Punk" then most Punk films. And probably Dennis Hopper's most important film, and perhaps his least regarded. February 4, 2003

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