Straight to Hell (1987)

Tagline: A story of blood, money, guns, coffee, and sexual tension.

Curiosity: It stars Joe Strummer. ’Nuff said.

Plot: When three hitmen (Strummer, Sy Richardson, and Dick Rude) and their tagalong lady friend (Courtney Love. I know, right?) miss their mark, they dodge their boss’ wrath (Jim Jarmusch) by robbing a bank and fleeing to Mexico. There, they fall in with a band of coffee-loving degenerates (The Pogues… with sombreros?). But with fingers always near triggers, it’s hard for anybody to trust a body.

Thoughts: Given its cast, I wish Straight to Hell was a lot better. Strummer, Love (pre-Hole), Elvis Costello, Dennis Hopper, and The Pogues all turn in performances (Grace Jones too, but we know how I feel about her). But without a coherent script, it’s an awfully painful viewing experience.

Straight to Hell was completed in about four weeks. I mean the entire thing, from conception to post-production, took about a month. That’s not a good sign, and whole chunks of superfluous and/or badly recorded scenes attest to the ramshackle production. This movie could only appeal to devoted fans of Strummer and/or writer/director Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid and Nancy), and even then it’s not a sure thing. Hole fans are going to be let down by a screeaaaaaaacccchhhyyyyyy performance by Love.

Yet I intermittently appreciated the film. When it bothers to be funny, Straight to Hell’s absurdities are actually pretty great, from the ridiculously profanity-free dialogue to the bad guys’ addiction to… coffee. It’s so much sillier than heroine or cocaine, which I suppose was the point. Strummer’s actually not half-bad here, although Richardson is the one who consistently delivers the best takes (That he recalls Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction is a nice plus). The best thing I can say about Straight to Hell is that it made me feel OK with checking out Strummer’s performance in Mystery Train and, just maybe, Cox’s Hell follow-up, Walker.

Reflection: No, seriously, The Pogues are Mexican banditos. Really.