Late Night Double Feature: Punk Goes West

For tonight's double bill, I pick a meshing of two different genres that shouldn't work well together but do, The punk movie and the modern western.

Dudes (1987) is about three NYC punks, Jon Cryer, Daniel Roebuck, and Flea, who are tired of the New York lifestyle and decide to head west to California. En route, they run into a vicious gang of rednecks, led by Lee Ving, that leads to tragedy. Cryer and Roebuck decide to get revenge. In doing so, they realize that they must adapt to a more cowboy mentality. A kind local, Catherine Mary Stuart, teaches the guys just how to accomplish it.

Penelope Spheeris, who is no stranger to the punk scene which her films Decline Of the Western Civilization and Suburbia have proven, helms this terrific action comedy.

Straight To Hell (1987) tells the tale of four bank robbers, Joe Strummer, Sy Richardson, Dick Rude, and Courtney Love, who's car break downs in the middle of nowhere as they are fleeing from their latest robbery. They stumble upon a bizarre town with an old west feel where the citizens are gun crazy coffee fiends.

This one is a bit more surreal than the first pick, but it's a lot of fun as well. Directed by another iconic punk director, Alex Cox, who also made Repo Man and Sid And Nancy. The cast wreaks of hipness. It includes everybody from Dennis Hopper to Elvis Costello to Grace Jones to Jim Jarmusch.

This is a perfect double bill for those who are sporting a mohawk under their ten gallon hat.