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Straight to Hell (1987) More at IMDbPro »

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49 reviews in total

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15 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Fun, weird ass punk rock western, 14 January 2005

Author: ObDewlla-X from United States

This is a completely weird punk rock western from the director of "Repo Man". If you like Repo Man, you'll probably like this. Don't expect anything normal, though. This is completely out there, probably the weirdest movie I've ever seen.

It's hard to describe the plot, but it's about a bunch of gangsters who hide out in a bizarre ghost town in Mexico (Spain?). A bunch of punk rockers and indie heroes are in this movie, so it's worth watching for that alone, as well as the beautiful photography. If you're not into weird stuff, don't bother, but if you like bizarre comedies, this is the one to see. And if you like Sergio Leone, give it a look. This is the worst review ever written, sorry.

A

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12 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Anarchic fun with a superb cast!, 18 January 2003

Author: smiths-4 from United Kingdom

Picked up the DVD of this for £4.49 and it's worth every penny. Not only is this film a better spoof of westerns than Silverado but it contains enough weird and wonderful characters to give Lynch a run for his money.

Firstly you have got the superb Sy Richardson as Norwood(Tarantinos inspiration for Samuel L's Pulp Fiction character?), Joe Strummer as Simms(RIP), and the 'runt' Dick Rude completing the main trio.

Also popping their heads round Alex Cox's casting room door are: Courtney Love(pregnant Velma), Fox Harris, Kathy Burke, Edward Tudor Pole, Dennis Hopper (IG Farben), Grace Jones, Jim Jarmusch, Miguel Sandoval(Eastwood impression), Xander Berkley(priest), Elvis Costello(butler) and the Pogues(Mcmahon coffee gang)...Superb!!

There is also the great setting of Almeira, the funny costumes, Pray For Rain music and the priceless dialogue(regional dilects etc). So stop criticising and just enjoy yourself in Cox country!!

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8 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
funny as Hell, 7 August 2005

Author: Raegan Butcher from Rain City, Pacific Northwest

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.

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8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Probably lotsa fun for the actors, but not so much for the audience..., 20 August 2001
Author: INFOFREAKO from Perth, Australia

I'd LOVE to be able to say that 'Straight To Hell' is one of the lost classics of the 80s but frankly, it's almost as bad as the mainstream critics make out. I say ALMOST, because it isn't an entire waste of time. Sy Richardson is as cool as ever, and the eclectic supporting cast (Cox semi-regulars like Sandoval, Berkeley, and Yeager, various musos and the king of weird movies, Dennis Hopper) make this worth watching for the "six degrees of separation" game alone.

Now look, I DO like Leone, and I like punk rock and I love Peckinpah, and I can sorta see what the other comments are saying about it almost prefiguring Tarantino, but there's one BIG problem - the lack of a decent script. For every good moment there four dull ones, and some funny lines or interesting characters wouldn't have gone astray.

So basically, if you watch this expecting the worst you'll enjoy it more than if you expect it to be as great as 'Repo Man'. I also would like to point out that Cox's next movie 'Walker' is a 100% improvement on this one, and almost IS a lost classic of the 80s!

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6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
"Lets make that Weiner Kid sing his song....Wanna?", 29 August 2004

Author: lacadaz from San Francisco Bay Area

The price of man's obsessions are a trip Straight to Hell (in a rented red import no less). There is no nuance in this movie, just blood, money, coffee, guns and sexual tension. There is a pregnant demon named Velma and a Christ figure named Karl. All but two of the characters in the movie are hardly characters at all, just expressions of lust and obsession. Conveniently they are all played by non-actors (Musicians that couldn't get the backing to do a concert in Nicaragua in '87). Dennis Hopper plays what is essentially Mephistophilis calling all the players home to hell. Sy Richardson's Norwood is the only character who is not ruled by his obsessions. In this morality play that is what separates his fate from everyone else's. An important commentary on our modern world. Or maybe it was just all that mescaline.

Seriously folks cut Alex some slack. The picture is beautifully filmed. The people who can't act are given one dimensional roles which is highly preferable to giving someone that has no acting ability a role with weight and importance (Daryl Hannah in Wall Street, Keanu Reeves in Much Ado About Nothing). It's got a fantastic soundtrack and Karl doing the Weiner Dog Song is one of the funniest things ever. Really. Ever.

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6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Hellishly boring western...thing!, 12 February 2007

Author: The_Void from Beverley Hills, England

Apparently this film was made because a bunch of musicians realised that it would be more profitable to make a film than to hold a big tour. I'm not a fan of any of the artists in this film; but to be honest, I'd rather them have done the show - because at least then I wouldn't have had to suffer it! Quite what this film is supposed to be is anyone's guess - the humour isn't funny, and the Leone spoofs aren't very well worked. The violence isn't shocking and the story isn't interesting - so what's the point? It's a shame really because the idea of a bunch of punks getting together and making a film has 'cult' written all over it, but unfortunately this lot couldn't deliver something worthy of the name. There's barely anything good I can say about this movie - not even the desert setting looks nice. There's a small role for Dennis Hopper, which is always nice; but the rest of the performers are all pretty dire. It would seem that the cast and crew thought that their mere presence would lead to a good film so the story isn't important. They were wrong, Straight to Hell is a sprawling, boring mess of a film and it's one that I don't recommend sitting through.

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9 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Brilliant, 9 January 2003

Author: sergeproost from Antwerpen

This film is all what Westerns in the eighties was about. Western didn't exist in that period it was taken over by post-punk Western as Straight To Hell, a cult movie, most enjoyable to watch and mostly funny. If You Got Joe Strummer, Elvis Costello, Dennis Hopper and Grace Jones In One Film praise The Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
very random..., 8 July 2003

Author: lozzina from Nottingham, England

Well, i find it difficult to enjoy a film where nothing makes sense! In fact all of it is utter nonsense! I know that there are a lot of films out there which are nonsense and yet are brilliant films, Straight To Hell doesn't quite make it. The film starts abruptly and jumps straight into a complicated sequence of events that lead them to hell. I found it very difficult to understand what was happening, and i resorted to reading the blurb on the back of the DVD box to follow the storyline. While watching you find yourself shouting at the screen "What the hell is going on?!" It is absolutely awful, stupid and makes no sense, and most of the characters are impossible to like and annoying. All in all, it is a terrible film.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
What's wrong with the kid? Sexual Tension., 14 November 2005

Author: Johann from United States

This is a story of three desperadoes and a girl who accidentally go to a small town after screwing up an assassination job and robbing a bank. The town is owned by the McMahon family (the Pogues with a few others thrown in) all of whom are addicted to coffee and enjoy killing and being all in all bastards. There's tension, characters clashing and sexual. The film didn't have a whole lot of a plot, but that doesn't really matter much because it seems to be more of a spoof on spaghetti westerns and even the actors and actresses themselves. It takes repeated viewing to really get down what is going on and how the parties are related to each other, but that doesn't seem to matter quite so much. All in all, I recommend this film to those of you who love weird movies and everyone who remembers the 80's punk scene.

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7 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
It has Joe Strummer and Shane MacGowan !, 25 May 2004

Author: driver_8 from the Greater Southwest

This film has two of the greatest music icons in the history of the world in it. I am talking about Joe Strummer (of the Clash and Mescaleros) and Shane MacGowan (of the Pogues and Popes). So in that regard, you have to give it a 10. However, if you are not a Clash or Pogues fan, you will most likely think this film sucks! Why? Because the film sucks. But wait a minute, you just said that you have to give it a 10? Right (voice in head), I did say that and I did give it a 10. Because Joe Strummer and Shane MacGowan are my two favorite musicians of all-time. So, they earn this thing a 10. Now, you raise a good question (voice in head), what if Strummer and MacGowan were not in this film? Well, I would probably give it a 1. Oh yeah, the story. Some people rob a bank and then go to hide out in this strange and isolated city in the Spanish countryside. There are violent and weird people that live there. So staying alive and holding on to the money will be difficult. Did I mention that this film has Joe Strummer and Shane MacGowan in it? Yeah, I gave it a 10, but, it really wasn't a good....you know what I am getting at?

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