At last count, the tally stood at eighteen dead cops and seven dead civilians. McGraw is on the hunt for the Gecko brothers, a pair of vicious criminals currently speeding toward Mexico with a fortune in stolen cash and a captive bank teller, leaving a lengthening trail of bodies behind them. At Benny’s World of Liquor, someplace in southern Texas, US Marshal Earl McGraw (Michael Parks, from Red State and The Savage Bees) is shooting the shit with counter-monkey Pete Bottoms (John Hawkes, of Congo and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) about his current business. We start off with a fairly artful exposition dump. The transformation is incredibly disorienting, but for the most part it’s also enjoyably so. The undead come bursting out of absolutely fucking nowhere during the second act of what up to then is a heist movie in a vein more typical of writer Quentin Tarantino and director Robert Rodriguez. Even in the mid-1990’s, it was unmistakable that this was only half of a vampire film. In the case of From Dusk Till Dawn (and before anybody gives me shit about calling From Dusk Till Dawn “old,” remember that kids who were born in 1996 will be starting their senior year of high school this September), what struck me upon watching it last night was its retrospective obviousness as an unheralded influence on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Indeed, From Dusk Till Dawn makes a more plausible prototype for that show with regard to tone, attitude, and visual style than does the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie! Or at any rate, the second half of From Dusk Till Dawn does. The kidnappers and their victims go inside to await a rendezvous for a money drop, and that's when the vampire plot begins.One of the fun things about revisiting old movies that I haven’t seen since their initial runs in theaters is the chance to spot connections to later works that had eluded me for whatever reason. The doorman is played by Cheech Marin, who also plays two other roles, popping up to often he doesn't need the vampire plot to qualify as undead. In Mexico, the mobile home wheels up to the Titty Twister, a scroungy strip joint with a bizarre decor (this goes next door to Jack Rabbit Slim's in the Tarantino Mall). Rodriguez doesn't make it very real, though, wisely handling the death of a harmless bank teller in flashes too quick to be seen, since more detail would sink the macabre mix of violence and humor. His son thinks he knows better: "Dad - I watch the reality shows!" The charm of the dialog in these scenes has a lot of competition from the state-of-the-art mayhem, which leaves blood and brains spattered everywhere. The minister is inclined to cooperate with the desperadoes. Now the minister and his kids are heading south in a mobile home the Gekkos hope to hide in while crossing the border. The minister has left the church after the death of his wife, leaving an opening for another of Tarantino's passages of theological dialog. Holed up in a sleazebag motel, they take hostages: a former Baptist minister ( Harvey Keitel) and his children ( Juliette Lewis and Ernest Liu). Richard has helped Seth break out of prison, and now they're heading for the Mexican border with the bank loot, and Richard, who is a rabid loony, is blasting everyone in sight, including innocent bystanders. They've robbed a bank and left a trail of dead and wounded (all toted up by a TV news reporter's digital carnage readout). After the title sequence, we get to know the central characters, Seth and Richard Gekko ( George Clooney and Tarantino). Those who liked the shoot-outs in Rodriguez's " El Mariachi" and " Desperado" will like the second half, which is non-stop mayhem in a scuzzy bikers' and truckers' strip joint, with lots of vampires, exploding eyeballs, cascading guts, and a weapon made out of a powered wooden stake (I guess you could call it a Pneumatic Vampire Drill). Those who loved the invention of Tarantino's dialog in " Pulp Fiction" will like the first half, especially a brilliant pre-title sequence featuring Michael Parks as a Texas Ranger who creates a whole world out of a little dialogue. Actually, a lot of people will hate half of the movie and like the other half.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |