In mid-1986, a dusty crew of musicians gathered at an old film location in Almeria, Spain, to don Mariachi uniforms, shoot guns and rub shoulders with Dennis Hopper, Jim Jarmusch and a pre-fame Courtney Love for a million-dollar piss-up in the Spanish desert.
The resultant film, Straight To Hell – a surreal spaghetti western – had a rocky ride from the critics. Chaotic and demented doesn’t even begin to describe the film . . .
Opening with a bungled assassination, it follows three renegade hitmen (Joe Strummer, Sy Richardson and Dick Rude) and a pregnant woman (Courtney Love), who end up stranded in a strange desert town after robbing a bank and trying to escape their boss.
In the town, they encounter a series of unusual coffee-addicted killers – the savage McMahon gang (played in an inspired piece of casting by punk-folk roughnecks The Pogues).
The two groups establish an uneasy truce, but simmering sexual tension and interference by an American oil tycoon (Hopper) eventually ignite an orgy of carnage that wipes out most of the cast.
Along the way, there are homages to Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, plus moments of Buñuel-esque surrealism, all laced with random torture and cruelty.
Did we mention it’s a comedy?
Joe Strummer’s Evil Darling is worth the ticket price alone, as indeed is Cait O’Riordan’s beautiful a cappella rendition of Danny Boy.
Norwood
Sy Richardson Willy
Dick Rude
Velma
Courtney Love
Simms
Joe Strummer
Karl
Zander Schloss
Poncho
Del Zamora
Sal
Luis Contreras
Mr Amos Dade
Jim Jarmusch
George
Miguel Sandoval
Fabienne
Jennifer Balgobin
Frank
Biff Yeager
Leticia
Sue Kiel
Louise
Michele Winstanley
Preacher
Xander Berkeley
Kim Blousson
Fox Harris
I G Farben
Dennis Hopper
Sonya
Grace Jones
Sabrina
Kathy Burke
Hives
Elvis Costello
The MacMahons
The Pogues
Director Alex Cox
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In the town, they encounter a series of unusual coffee-addicted killers – the savage McMahon gang (played in an inspired piece of casting by punk-folk roughnecks The Pogues).
