Say It Isn't So

Don't be a good neighbor anymore to her. I'll have to send you a love letter! Straight from my heart, fucker! You know what a love letter is? It's a bullet from a fucking gun, fucker! You receive a love letter from me, and you're fucked forever! You understand, fuck? I'll send you straight to hell, fucker!... In dreams... I walk with you. In dreams... I talk to you. In dreams, you're mine... all the time. Forever.

Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth in Blue Velvet

Dennis Hopper has always seemed to embody the spirit of the Sixties. It started with his his role as Billy in Easy Rider, and it was cemented when he played the mad and bizarre Frank Booth in Blue Velvet. Frank was the drugged-out Sixties come to an end in over-the-edge insanities. Hopper apparently worked at cultivating this image, as evidenced by appearances like his gigs as the guest host on Saturday Night Live. The truth is somewhat different. Hopper has been in dozens and dozens of films, mostly in thoroughly conventional roles. Hell, he's even done voiceovers in animated children's films. Still, he's Dennis, wild and crazy Dennis.

So there I was, sitting down to watch a little mindless TV, nodding off at the banality of it all when the commercials came on. All of sudden, there's Hopper shilling for Ameriprise Financial, a division of American Express. Jesus Christ, what is this Hopper, the onset of Alzheimer's? What would Billy say? And Frank Booth? Hell, he'd send you one of those love letters straight from the heart. I know that they've coopted every possible aspect of the Sixties in the effort to sell crap to the Baby Boomers, but this was Dennis Hopper. This was Frank Booth. I picked up the remote, turned off the TV and stared at the empty screen. Oh, well, Bob Dylan did a commercial for Victoria Secret a while back, but at least he had the excuse of tits and ass.