Review of Straight to Hell (1987) by Ian S — 11 Apr 2008

When the original plan for joe strummer, elvis costello, and the pogues to tour nicaragua in support of the sandinistas falls through, plan B is to shoot a spaghetti western spoof in the spanish desert.

makes sense so far right? so joe, courtney love, sy richardson and dick rude become a pathetic gang of outlaws who escape to a desert town of weirdos: the pogues as a gang of coffee-addicted thieves whose prize steal is a coffee machine, elvis costello as their butler-guitarist, miguel sandoval doing his best clint eastwood, zander schloss singing the Disco Weiner song, plus dennis hopper, jim jarmusch and more.

the dvd version includes commentary with alex cox and dick rude, and a 'documentary' where alex cox interviews most of the stars, including strummer, in 2000. at first viewing this move is pretty boring, but after investing a little more time, I kind of really like it.