Nothing prompts compliments like dying, although they are not always precisely directed. So it is that Dennis Hopper's last exit on Saturday, at the age of 74, has brought forth a slew of pieces about the "Easy Rider" man. True, that film – which he co-wrote, directed and starred in – made Hopper's name. But that declaration of generational intent was not his best work – not by a long ride on a Harley. Better was his photojournalist in Apocalypse Now – where his declamation of "I'm a little man! I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas!" would have been the standout performance in a less brilliant movie. And best of all there was Blue Velvet. Strictly speaking, Kyle MacLachlan was the star of this, director David Lynch's greatest film – but it is Hopper who sweeps all before him as Frank Booth, the most memorable psycho ever shown at a multiplex. The story goes (and Hopper attracted stories like stones gather moss) that when the actor saw the script he buttonholed Lynch exclaiming: "I've got to be Frank! I am Frank!" If true, that was an application not for a job, but for a restraining order: Frank Booth inhales nitrous oxide, sobs over schmaltzy songs and beats his lover after calling her Mommy. Yet for the full two hours, Hopper really is that demented man-child. The performance was a milestone for Hopper, who had just emerged from drug addiction and was still fighting being typecast as a screwy 60s throwback. Blue Velvet proved he was so much more than that.