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:

At the very end after the credits a title comes up that says "COMING SOON: BACK TO HELL", yet they never made this sequel.

Quotes:

Willy: Women, man.
Simms: Sometimes you gotta kill 'em.
Norwood: Who, the women?
Simms: No, their husbands.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Insipid Sausage

"Lets make that Weiner Kid sing his song....Wanna?"

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.