Straight to Hell

This movie is not a cookie-cutter Hollywood picture. The plot wanders through a cast of characters who slightly resemble stereotypes you've seen in other Westerns and gangster movies, but the resemblance is like that seen by someone with a very high fever. Don't worry about the plot, just let the movie flow. If you are upset and confused by the strange and unusual, you won't like this movie. If, however, you long for something different, something funny, something just plain bizarre, this is it. Your jaw will be hanging open as you're mesmerized by this film. If you don't laugh out loud at this movie, you're taking life (and movies) way, way too seriously. It will not move you to tears or inspire you to change your life, but it will probably alter the way you look at coffee and hot dogs forever.

This movie has at least one enjoyable scene, but it comes 45% of the way through the movie. By that time, you've invested significant time and attention, but you're still not close enough to the end to just grit your teeth and keep on slogging. While a few of the actors turn in very good performances (particularly Sy Richardson, Sandoval, Hopper), the majority of them are about like you'd expect...musicians forced to perform in an unfamiliar genre. If you're looking for good parody, this isn't it. Spaghetti westerns and Leone are beyond parody. Several reviewers have stated that this film will be of interest to those who enjoy "Repo Man". Where this idea came from, I have no idea. A few of the themes are somewhat similar, but the scripts, acting, plot, intelligence, and humor are light-years apart. Finally, could someone explain to me how this film was R-rated? The special effects (gunshots, violence, etc.) are not only amateurish, they are not at all graphic or explicit. There are a few sexual situations, but I don't remember a bit of actual nudity. There's not even any significant profanity. Overall, this film is a big disappointment and, frankly, a waste of time. On the other hand, after watching and listening to Courtney Love, I have a bit more sympathy for Kurt Cobain.

This is, as the British might say, taking a p*ss. It's Alex Cox, a usually talented writer/director, taking a cast of rag-tag punk rockers and a capable crew to the Spanish location of an obscure 1973 Charles Bronson film, and going wild. I wish I could say it's an homage, but it might be an insult to the likes of Quentin Tarantino's far more lucid interpretations compared to this. This isn't homage, it's rip-off, like when a 2nd rate punk rock band covers the Who's Substitute for no reason except that it's the Who. And the sad thing is that there are glimmers of really funny, whacked-out humor. I'm sure there even was thought put into this circle-of-hell environment that the characters are in, but in the end it doesn't all gel. Plot? Um... I guess all it is is a few criminals donned up in black suits and skinny ties take a suitcase of cash into the desert to hide out and await orders from their boss Mr. Dade. But the car breaks down, and they wind up in the weirdest town. When I mean weird, this is an understatement: there is no order to anything, not even to the group of gunslingers who ride into town every so often, get drunk off their asses and do sing-alongs to "Delilah" and "Danny Boy", or they shoot one another for the hell of it, or pick on the poor hot dog vendor. I guess that's it, and then uh, someone else dies, there's a funeral that's not real since the guy isn't dead, and uh, Dennis Hopper shows up too giving advice of "there's no two bosses, only one boss". Did I mention Jim Jarmusch shows up in the one truly funny cameo as Mr. Dade? What is Straight to Hell? It certainly has nothing to do with the song by the Clash (I imagine that's not the only reason Joe Strummer was here- he lived in Spain for a while so maybe it was a free trip and time to hang out with the Pogues). It's more akin to Rob Zombie's the Devil's Rejects, where the purpose isn't so much to follow outlaws and killers in a plot but rather to hang out with them: this is their world, we're guests, and all be damned if we get caught up in the anarchy. And Cox like Zombie, or visa-versa, displays some true moments of brilliance in terms of outrageous button-pushing. Some of this is very funny. But it takes so long to get to some of these scenes; we see characters talk complete bulls*** in odd-for-the-sake-of-odd framing, and we see dynamics that have no reason or development. It's sad to see it as such as it is, which is what happens when writing is rushed such as this. I don't even blame the cast so much since they fill in their not-all-there roles to the best of their abilities. It's an oddity that is not total fiasco or a surreal masterpiece none of us "get". It's a pretentious bummer with some fantastic photography sprinkled here and there and a few clever lines.

I can't believe that this movie came AFTER Sid and Nancy. I can't believe that it is from the same director. You know, Chloe Webb wailed a lot as Nancy in Sid and Nancy- but it was a great role, in an even greater movie. Here- a chubby Courtney Love, screams and wails her every line- sounding freakishly like Nancy on Acid. Very grating. Horrible movie- was there a plot? Awful editing. Just all around bad.

I hadn't watched any of Cox's films prior to this one, but had always appreciated his knowledgeable input on the DVD of many a cult item (most recently several "Masters Of Cinema" titles). Well, this turned out to be a major disappointment – considering its Spaghetti Western references (of which Cox is a devotee and, indeed, the end credits include a special mention to, among others, Giulio Questi – director of DJANGO, KILL! [1967]) and the cast made up of several rock performers (who, apparently, had been convened together for a concert which never materialized!); though I knew beforehand that Leonard Maltin had rated it a BOMB in his Film Guide, so I guess I only have myself to blame! Anyway, the film is a test to anyone's patience with its gallery of utterly dislikeable characters (a rather plump Courtney Love being especially irritating – a far cry from her subsequent appearance, in both senses of the word, in Milos Forman's THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT [1996]!), hopelessly amateurish presentation and the inane attempts at genre spoofing…though, to its credit, the soundtrack is pretty good (which was to be expected, after all). Also featured in the cast are Dennis Hopper, whose one scene barely registers, and director Jim Jarmusch (turning up in front of the camera towards the end) as a baddie!

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.

Or: How to get the movie company to pay you and a bunch of your buds to go and have a huge party in Spain. My ex- and i watched this, and, as soon as we got over the idea that it ought to make even as much sense as "Repo Man", we found ourselves enjoying it greatly. It helps to be up on your spaghetti Westerns (and not just Leone's masterpieces), including things like "The Stranger Returns", "Any Gun Can Play", the "Trinity" films, "God Forgives, I Don't", "Django Shoots Fast" and so on... It also helps if you're a New Wave/punk fan.

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.

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.

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.