Straight to Hell

Original post date: 5 June 1987
Rating: ✭✭✰✰

You might think of this film as Repo Man goes West. It is directed by Alex Cox, who did the wonderful Repo Man, not to mention Sid and Nancy. This time he is lampooning Sergio Leone’s westerns and is using the same set in southern Spain that Leone used in his spaghetti westerns. You can probably identify some kind of plot to all this, but there really isn’t much point. It all seems kind of improvised and appears to be full of “in” jokes. There are some wonderfully funny bits and parodies as well as weird images that stay with you. Everyone in this town is hooked on coffee and is after money. Many of the parts are taken by members of the Irish band The Pogues, and apparently the film is based on some of their songs. Previous familiarity with this music seems to help one appreciate the movie. The main thing missing here is some central character, preferably a real film icon, to do the same thing for this movie as Harry Dean Stanton did for Repo Man. Dennis Hopper might have filled that role, but he is on screen for only a few minutes and then he is cast against type. (He doesn’t smoke a joint or hit a woman or anything.) This is the first movie I have seen where the credits list a Sex and Cruelty Consultant. Also, the acknowledgements express thanks to “every bar in southern Spain (too numerous to mention).”

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