Hopper was able to sustain his lifestyle and a measure of celebrity by acting in numerous low budget and European films throughout the 1970s as the archetypal "tormented maniac", including "Mad Dog Morgan" (1976), "Tracks" (1976), and "The American Friend" (1977). With Francis Ford Coppola's blockbuster "Apocalypse Now" (1979), Hopper returned to prominence as a hyper-manic Vietnam-era photojournalist. Stepping in for an overwhelmed director, Hopper won praise in 1980 for his directing and acting in "Out of the Blue". Immediately thereafter, Hopper starred as an addled short-order cook "Cracker" in the Neil Young/Dean Stockwell low-budget collaboration "Human Highway". Production was reportedly often delayed by his unreliable behavior. Peter Biskind states in the New Hollywood history "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" that Hopper's cocaine intake had reached three grams a day by this time, complemented by 30 beers, and some marijuana and Cuba libres.