Straight to Hell (1987)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Alex Cox

Writers:

Alex Cox (writer)
Dick Rude (writer)

Release Date:

26 June 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Western

Tagline:

A story of blood, money, guns, coffee, and sexual tension.

Plot:

A gang of bank robbers with a suitcase full of money go to the desert to hide out. After burying the loot...

Plot Keywords:

Coffee | Rock | Drugs | Hanging | Spoof

Cast

Dick Rude	...	Willy
Sy Richardson	...	Norwood
Courtney Love	...	Velma
Joe Strummer	...	Simms
Gloria Miralles Ruiz	...	Maid
Juan Uribe	...	Policeman
Joe Cashman	...	Dead Man in Car
Jose Pomedio Monedero	...	Gomez
Sara Sugarman	...	Chuch
Miguel Sandoval	...	George
Jennifer Balgobin	...	Fabienne
Biff Yeager	...	Frank McMahon
Shane MacGowan	...	Bruno McMahon
Spider Stacy	...	Angel Eyes McMahon
Frank Murray	...	Biff McMahon

Runtime:

USA:86 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 | Australia:M | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Commies From Mars Corporation

Trivia:

Shot in the same location on a set that was constructed for the Charles Bronson's movie Valdez, il mezzosangue (1973).

Quotes:

Amos Dade: [before getting shot] Watch the suit, Norwood.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007)

Soundtrack:

Mercy Killing

funny as Hell

I saw this twice during its too brief(one week!)run in Seattle in 1987 and i was always showing it to people later on video who thought i was INSANE, which may or may not be beside the point, but this is one of THOSE movies, like BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, that can inform you about someones personal sense of humor and taste. Either you get it or you don't. I think this movie is some kind of psychopathic classic that perfectly sends up the extreme amorality of the spaghetti westerns and prefigures the homicidal men in black suits later to turn up in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. And few films can top it for sheer nihilistic rip-it-apart glee. I am glad it is finally being seen on DVD in its original aspect ratio, because in the theaters it had very carefully staged WIDESCREEN compositions which were lost on video. The cast is uniformly weird and wonderful: Sy Richardson, channeling pure self-righteous macho bad-ass blackness, Joe Strummer, showing a surprisingly light touch for comedy, Dick Rude,hilariously channeling a psycho-punk James Cagney,Courtney Love gives a truly committed performance as a shrill whining NANCY SPUNGEN MONSTER, the POGUES almost manage to say their dialouge, Elvis Costello doesn't have much dialog but acquits himself well. I could go on and on about the rest of the cast, and there's plenty of them still to mention, including and especially MIGUEL SANDOVER, who does the greatestClint Eastwood send-up i have ever had the pleasure of watching.

Watch this film ...you'll either get it...or you won't. I laughed like hell.