Great-ish Performances - Dennis Hopper As Feck In River's Edge
And to think, 'Dennis The Menace' was meant to play fifth banana to Crispin Glover!
Intended as a vehicle for Crispin Glover, Tim Hunter’s tale of a teenager who shows off his murdered girlfriend’s body to his buddies wound up doing more for second lead Keanu Reeves and - courtesy of his to-the-edge performance as the wonderfully-monikered Feck - Dennis Hopper.
Released the same year as Blue Velvet and Hossiers (Hopper was Oscar-nominated for the latter but ought also to have received a nod for the former), Hunter’s thriller proved beyond all doubt that Dennis was back from beyond.
And thanks to this trio of top turns, Hopper also ensured that, whenever Hollywood needed a bad guy in the future, the executives’ first port of call would be Casa Hopper.
Alas, many a poor script choice lay in the great man’s future but spend a couple of hours in Feck’s dubious company and you’ll appreciate that Hopper’s villain-du-jour status was well deserved.