Though Dennis Hopper has been pretty prolific since his stunning comeback in Blue Velvet, his "lost years" were indeed a loss; mired in a severe drug-and-alcohol habit, Hopper gained a reputation as difficult, and thus for a good decade was too rarely seen.

Troma has rereleased Mad Dog Morgan (1976), one of the films Hopper made in his lean years. Here the anti-hero revels in playing the Australian mythic folk hero, who locked horns with the British colonists in the 1860s, effectively challenging their powerful grip on the natives. After being wrongly jailed for a crime he didn't commit, Hopper delights in embarking on a massive crime spree across the Aussie outback. A dark, violent and unsettling film.

Also from the Hopper file: Out of the Blue is probably his best film as director, in which he also stars as an ex-convict who returns home after prison to try to make amends with his damaged family. This is a truly apocalyptic film, a devastating examination of a nuclear family in the midst of a meltdown. Look for Canada's Raymond Burr (Ironside), who made a cameo so the filmmakers could claim Cancon status and make the tax break (the film was shot in Vancouver).

--Matthew Hays