Straight to Hell (1987)

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
Terry Woods	...	Tom McMahon
James Fearnley	...	Jimmy McMahon
Andrew Ranken	...	Lance McMahon
Philip Chevron	...	Ed McMahon
Ed Pansullo	...	Mac McMahon
Martin Turner	...	Stupid McMahon
Paul Verner	...	Repo McMahon
Xander Berkeley	...	Preacher McMahon
Cait O'Riordan	...	Slim McMahon
Juan Torrès	...	Churbo
Sue Kiel	...	Leticia
Kathy Burke	...	Sabrina
Michele Winstanley	...	Louise
Elvis Costello	...	Hives the Butler
Zander Schloss	...	Karl
Fox Harris	...	Kim Blousson
Jem Finer	...	Granpa McMahon
Annie-Marie Ruddock	...	Molly
Sharon Bailey	...	Porter
Turnham Green	...	McGee
Edward Tudor-Pole	...	Rusty Zimmerman
Karl Braun	...	Blacksmith McMahon (as Charlie Braun)
Sean Madigan	...	Jarhead #1
Paul Wood	...	Jarhead #2
Del Zamora	...	Poncho
Luis Contreras	...	Sal
Chalkie Davies	...	Branding Victim
Graham Fletcher-Cook	...	Whitey / Jeeves
Dennis Hopper	...	I.G. Farben
Grace Jones	...	Sonya
Jim Jarmusch	...	Amos Dade
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alex Cox	...	A thug in the Amazulu band (uncredited)

Directed by
Alex Cox

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Alex Cox		writer
Dick Rude		writer

Produced by
Cary Brokaw	....	executive producer
Eric Fellner	....	producer
Scott Millaney	....	executive producer
Paul Raphael	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Pray for Rain

Cinematography by
Tom Richmond

Film Editing by
David Martin

Production Design by
Andrew McAlpine

Art Direction by
Caroline Hanania

Costume Design by
Pam Tait

Makeup Department
Miri Ben-Schlomo	....	hair stylist
Sarah Cherry	....	assistant makeup artist
Morag Ross	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Karl Braun	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Yousaf Bokhari	....	first assistant director
José María Ochoa	....	first assistant director (as Joe Ochoa)
Nancy Platt	....	second assistant director
Bill Rudgard	....	second assistant director
Paul Wood	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Dave Allen	....	construction crew
Nicola Ball	....	property assistant
Francisco Garrido	....	construction crew
Eduardo Gutiérrez	....	prop buyer
Charlie Leon	....	property master
Antonio Manzanares Carrasco	....	construction manager
M. José Pérez Herales	....	construction crew
Diego Ruiz	....	construction crew
Colin Rutter	....	construction crew
Hank Schumacher	....	construction crew
Manolo Torres	....	construction crew

Sound Department
Campbell Askew	....	dialogue editor
Joe Cashman	....	sound assistant
Michael Danks	....	footsteps editor
Mike Dowson	....	assistant dubbing mixer
Justin Krish	....	dubbing editor
Gerard McCann	....	assistant dialogue editor
Andy Nelson	....	dubbing mixer
Ian Voigt	....	sound

Special Effects by
Manuel González Amaya	....	special effects assistant
Juan Ramón Molina	....	special effects
Alberto Nombela Núñez	....	special effects assistant

Camera and Electrical Department
Tom Collins	....	still photographer
Fiona Cunningham-Reid	....	focus puller
Raphael Garcia	....	clapper loader
Derek Goldman	....	second assistant camera
Jose Salgado Hipolito	....	sparks
Shaun Madigan	....	key grip
Eugenio Martínez	....	sparks
José Luis Martínez	....	gaffer
Juan Francisco Miravet	....	sparks
Michael Robins	....	first assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Carol Ayres	....	costume assistant: UK
Careen Hertzog	....	costume assistant
Catherine Sheehan	....	costume trainee

Editorial Department
Steve Evans	....	second assistant editor
Angelica Landry	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
David Bottrill	....	music coordinator

Transportation Department
Claire Davies	....	unit driver
Ramón Díaz	....	unit driver
Rupert Meaden	....	location/transportation manager
Raphael Romero	....	genny driver
Paul Scully	....	unit driver
Juan Uribe	....	unit driver
Mike Wolfe	....	unit driver

Other crew
Tania Blunden	....	liaison: London (as Tania Windsor)
Debbie Diaz	....	production: Los Angeles
Angie Errigo	....	publicist
Jeremy Gawade	....	business bits
Elazar Grinstein	....	unnatural acts researcher
Julien Dante King	....	production office runner: UK
Kay Mander	....	script supervisor
Judith May	....	assistant accountant
Carmen Muller	....	production secretary: Spain
Lorenzo O'Brien	....	production: Los Angeles
Karin Padgham	....	assistant to producer
Joanne Scott	....	long coats
Annabel Turner	....	production office runner: Spain
Dianne Twiddy	....	production accountant
David Whitmore	....	unit runner

Production Companies

• Commies From Mars Corporation
• Initial Pictures

Distributors

• Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• Island Pictures
• J&M Entertainment
• Key Video (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Look Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Starlight

Other Companies

• Acme Construction  construction
• Blowup  stills processing
• Completion Bond Company  completion bond
• Geoff Axtell Associates Ltd.  titles and opticals
• PSA Public Relations Ltd.  publicity
• Samfreight  freight agent
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services

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:

According to the DVD, this movie was made when a proposed concert tour with various punk musicians failed to get funding. Realizing it was easier to get money for a film than for a large scale tour, and with all the musicians having their schedules free, this film was produced instead of a tour.

Quotes:

Chuch: This place is full of bad men who'll kill anyone who crosses their path or even shows their face... know what I mean?
Velma: No. I don't see any bad men.
Chuch: That's 'cause they're all out, but they'll be back...

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Save My Baby

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 WIDE-SCREEN compositions which were lost on video. The cast is uniformly weird and wonderful: Sy Richardson, channeling pure self-righteous macho bad-assness, 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 whiny Nancy Spungen caricature, the Pogues almost manage to say their dialog, 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 greatest Clint 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.