Straight to Hell ~ Something Like Unto a Review

I never did see the theatrical release of Alex Cox's Straight to Hell in the mid-80s. I did, however, pick up the soundtrack on vinyl and I highly recommend tracking down the long-since-oop CD edition on eBay. Spaghetti western music as done by Joe Strummer, Elvis Costello and the Pogues and it's brilliant!

Speaking of Joe Strummer, Elvis Costello and the Pogues, they're in Straight to Hell, too, as actors. So is Courtney Love and a number of people you've probably never heard of before or since.

So I just picked up the dvd edition of Straight to Hell because I'd come across it online and thought to myself "I should actually see that film." Besides the price was cheap and I was ordering Brideshead Revisited and one seemed to go with the other.

I'm not sure what I was expecting. I mean, I didn't expecting Acting and beyond Sy Richardson and Dennis Hopper, no one really makes a pretense of Thespianism. I did, though, expect more of a plot. Well, let me clarify ... I realize Straight to Hell is a parody of the Spaghetti Western genre set in an actual film set for such a film (Leone's Fistful of Dollars, I believe), and while there's a few wonderful moments such as Leone-esque close-ups and send up of Western film cliches, there doesn't seem to be a lot of continuity to the film and, frankly, there's not an awful lot that funny about it. Elvis Costello as the put upon butler seems under used. It's frequently hard to understand what Joe Strummer is saying. Shane McGowan looks utterly befuddled and the few lines he has are unintelligable. I'm not sure what the point of the lounge singer guy was, especially as his rendition of "Delilah" was as dreadful as expected. Courtney Love, though, is right on the money as the screeching harpy.

So, in conclusion, Straight to Hell is not a terribly funny film and doesn't work well as a parody of Spaghetti Westerns. It's still an enjoyable film and you can't beat the sight of The Pogues dressed up in Mexican Vacquero costumes firing off revolvers!