Straight to Hell: Alex Cox’s Anarchic Spaghetti Western
Straight to Hell is a 1987 British independent black comedy film directed by Alex Cox.
Conceived as a surreal spaghetti western parody, the film brings together a unique ensemble of musicians and actors including Joe Strummer (of The Clash), The Pogues, Elvis Costello, Grace Jones, Dennis Hopper, and Courtney Love.
Set in a sun-scorched Spanish desert, the plot follows a group of inept hitmen who stumble into the lawless town of El Blanco, where they confront bizarre outlaws, relentless coffee addiction, and anarchic violence.
The film is noted for its chaotic energy, absurd humor, and a storyline that gleefully upends western tropes. The movie is as famous for its behind-the-scenes chaos and punk ethos as for its on-screen content.
Shot in Almería, Spain, over a matter of weeks, Straight to Hell was developed quickly to fill a gap left when a planned benefit concert fell through.
The cast and crew reportedly enjoyed a party-like atmosphere during filming, which contributed to the film’s rough, anarchic style.
A Spontaneous Project in the Desert
Strummer portrayed Simms, one of three hitmen who, after a botched job, find themselves stranded in a surreal desert town inhabited by eccentric, coffee-obsessed outlaws.
The film, a parody of Spaghetti Westerns, was conceived spontaneously when a planned concert tour in Nicaragua was canceled.
Cox, along with co-writer Dick Rude, wrote the script in just three days, utilizing the assembled musicians and actors. As Strummer himself put it: "It was like being in a dream, being there in the middle of Almería with all these lunatics and rock and roll guys. The whole thing was wild." (Wikipedia, 366 Weird Movies).
Strummer's Dual Role: Actor and Musician
Strummer's involvement extended beyond acting; he also contributed to the film's soundtrack, collaborating with other musicians featured in the cast, such as members of The Pogues and Elvis Costello.
The soundtrack, released in 1987, showcased original compositions that complemented the film's eclectic and anarchic tone.
On the experience, Strummer later remarked: "We did it all on the fly-nobody really knew what was going to happen next. But that was the magic of it. It was all about capturing a certain spirit."
Upon its release on June 26, 1987, Straight to Hell received mixed reviews. Critics were divided: some saw it as a disjointed and indulgent project, while others appreciated its satirical edge and punk ethos.
Renowned critic Roger Ebert described the film as "a record of aimless behavior," suggesting that it lacked coherence and purpose.
Despite this, the film's audacious style and Strummer's charismatic performance have contributed to its enduring cult legacy.
As Strummer succinctly put it: "You just had to go for it. If you tried to make sense of it all, you'd miss what made it fun." (Joe Strummer Official - Facebook, Roger Ebert)
A Lasting Punk Legacy
While Straight to Hell was not a mainstream success, its status has grown over the years as a cult favorite, particularly among punk and alternative music fans.
The film stands as a testament to the collaborative and adventurous spirit of its cast and crew, especially Joe Strummer, whose presence anchors the film's anarchic energy. "Straight to Hell wasn't about making a blockbuster. It was about making a memory," Strummer reflected in later interviews.
Despite its cult following, critical reception was largely negative, with reviewers describing it as messy, indulgent, and more fun for those making it than for audiences.
Nonetheless, Straight to Hell endures as a distinctive curiosity—part music video, part western parody, and part punk rock artifact.
Straight to Hell was first released in the United Kingdom on 3 July 1987.
The film was also released in the United States later that year, in autumn 1987.
UK Release Date: 3 July 1987 US Release Date: October 1987
These interviews (with Dennis Hopper, Joe Strummer and others) were part of the publicity and press around the Straight to Hell movie, which had its premiere in the US on October 9, 1987. The Cannes story referenced in the transcript refers to events in May 1987.
Dennis Hopper, Joe Strummer and 3 others
Straight to Hell began with a spontaneous trip to Cannes by Joe Strummer, Dennis Hopper, and friends, sparking the film’s creative direction.
The original idea was a solidarity rock tour for the Sandinistas, featuring Strummer, The Pogues, and Elvis Costello, but plans shifted to filming in Spain.
The film was shot in a desert town built for the spaghetti western Savage Cowboy, which Strummer still wants to find.
Hopper and Strummer recall the tough but fun shoot—wild set, little pay, and real unscripted moments like Elvis Costello getting slapped.
Both look back fondly on the project and wish lost footage could be restored to show its full spirit
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Dennis Hopper recounts his involvement in the cult film Straight to Hell, where he played the role of IG Farben-a character overlooked by critics despite the dark historical significance of the name. He explains that IG Farben was the corporation behind the gas used in Nazi gas chambers, a chilling reference often missed. Hopper's journey to the film began during a casual trip to the Cannes Film Festival with musicians Joe Strummer and Dick Rude, visiting Alex Cox, director of Sid and Nancy. This laid the creative foundation for Straight to Hell.
The film's genesis involved Hopper arranging a solidarity rock and roll tour with prominent musicians such as Joe Strummer, The Pogues, and Elvis Costello, with plans to support the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. However, plans shifted, and the focus moved to Spain, particularly to a desert town built originally for a 1972 spaghetti western, Savage Cowboy starring Charles Bronson-a film Hopper has been keen to track down ever since. He reflects on the set as a "pile of bricks in the desert" that nonetheless inspired affection, suggesting that some lost footage, including intense scenes like one with Elvis Costello getting physically slapped, should be restored. Despite the hard work and low pay for all involved, Hopper regards Straight to Hell as the most fun he's had being a director of photography, imagining a platinum edition of the film with extended footage that would enrich the viewing experience.
The return of Joe Strummer.
These interviews (with Dennis Hopper and Joe Strummer) were part of the publicity and press around the Straight to Hell movie, which had its premiere in the US on October 9, 1987. The Cannes story referenced in the transcript refers to events in May 1987.
—
Dennis Hopper: My name is Dennis Hopper and I play IG Farben in Straight to Hell.
Joe Strummer: Nobody picked up on IG Farben, none of the critics. Who's IG Farben? IG Farben was the man that invented the gas they used in the gas chambers in Auschwitz and other locations.
Unknown American (1): My recollection of getting involved in Straight to Hell was a little trip to the Cannes Film Festival that involved myself and Joe Strummer and Dick Rude visiting Alex, who had a movie, Sid and Nancy, in the festival. And we all crashed in his hotel room and stayed up until like 5 or 6 in the morning and then came out and hung out by a swimming pool, all dressed in black suits and covered in sweat. And I feel somehow that was the genesis of the film.
Unknown Brit: Straight to Hell happened because I had arranged with the producer Eric Fellner and various musical groups, Joe Strummer, The Pogues, Elvis Costello, to go on a rock and roll tour of Nicaragua in solidarity with the Sandinistas.
Unknown American (2): There was this moment where we were all set to go to Nicaragua, but Idle Hands of the Devil's Workshop was the next sign I remember. We're off to Spain.
Joe Strummer: There's a film called Savage Cowboy starring Charles Bronson, and this was the film that that town was constructed for in the middle of the desert. So I've been trying to track this film down ever since, but I want to see that film. Because even though it's a pile of bricks in the desert and it's just a measly set, a prop to a 1972 spaghetti western, somehow we got to love that pile of old mud and stuff, you know?
There is hidden footage in that film that should be retrieved and put back into it, you know? There's a scene where Carter Ryden has got Elvis Costello tied to a chair, and they're slapping his face by the light of the full moon. Let me tell you, she was really slapping his face. There wasn't no Hollywood ball. She was whacking the... There are scenes like that that aren't in the film that should be.
And they just sleep in the gullies all night, and we'd find them the next day. And it's a pretty wild set, but... People worked really hard, and for scale pay, nobody got any money or pay off that film.
Interviewer: What's the most fun you've ever had being a DP?
Unknown American (1): Straight to Hell.
Dennis Hopper: Back to hell.
Joe Strummer: I see it already, and it's got a cardboard box with a silvery color, like, to give it the platinum vibe, you know? At least an hour longer would sort everyone out, I think.
Marylebone and Paddington Mercury, 18 September 1986, p.24
'Straight to Hell' in sunny Spain
'Straight to Hell' in sunny Spain
IN what could be record time for a major film production, photography on Alex Cox's latest work, a wacky modern "spaghetti thriller" called Straight to Hell, has begun in Spain and is on schedule to complete shooting early this month.
The "Straight to Hell" unit is on location outside Almeria in Southern Spain, using the desert sets constructed by Sergio Leone 20 years ago for his classic spaghetti westerns.
The cast, which includes musicians Joe Strummer, The Pogues, Elvis Costello, members of Amazulu and Dick Rude have been embroiled in a comic running battle for space in the dusty ghost town, where four separate crews are filming.
Elvis Costello seems to be cropping up under more names than I can count. The Costello Show. The Coward Brothers. The Impostor. and now The Macmanus Gang.
Anyone who saw Elvis' recent shows will recognise A Town Called Big Nothing as the spaghetti sounding intro music.
It also crops up in a different form on Alex Cox's deranged B-movie answer to 'The Good, the Bad and The Ugly' Straight To Hell, which stars Joe Strummer and The Pogues and features Elvis as a rather creepy, dishevelled and downright unpleasant Butler called Hives.
The film also stars Sy Richardson and he provides the speaking voice of the single which is featured in the film at all.
And if that hasn't confused you enough, The Macmanus Gang also includes Mrs Costello Kate O'Riordan and Elvis' dad Ross Macmanus on trumpet.
It says on the credits that Elvis, or rather Declan Macmanus, provides vocals but perhaps it was that desert son affecting me, but I couldn't hear them anyway!
ALEX "SID and Nancy" Cox's new film Straight To Hell promises to be a funny, chaotic, cowboy spoof.
It stars Big Audio Dynamite's Joe Strummer, The Pogues as a lunatic outlaw gang, and Elvis Costello as Hives, the family retainer. Some of the song titles are as crazy as the line-up: Salsa Y Ketchup, Insipid Sausage and Widdle Binky Boo.
FIERY Grace Jones meets her match when she plays the companion of tough-guy Dennis Hopper in STRAIGHT TO HELL (Cert 15: WE), a modern Western set in Spain.
Pop stars Joe Strummer and Elvis Costello are among the cameo players in the tale of hired guns and desperados. Great sound track.
Although The Pogues won't win any awards for acting in the quite dreadful spoof spaghetti western "Straight to Hell" in which they star with Elvis Costello and Joe Strummer, it seems they're gathering an impressive following in the acting world.
I hear that when Tom Waits was last in London he had orders to buy copies of The Pogues albums to take back to America for, would you believe, Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson!
The two Oscar-winning stars are teaming up for another movie, so perhaps this means they need to brush up on their drunken Irish accents.
Graham Fletcher Cook, Jim Jarmusch and Courtney Love hide and fight in Straight To Hell, which aspires to be a punk spaghetti Western. They are part of a vast cast stuffed with Eighties trendies (The Pogues, Elvis Costello, Grace Jones, Edward Tudor-Pole), all goofing around a Spanish pueblo.
In explanation, Alex Cox, previously the director of Repo Man and Sid and Nancy, has said, 'I left my motorcycle in Spain at the end of filming Joe Strummer's Love Kills promo, and wanted to get it.' It is not a good reason at all to make a movie.
The screenplay for this $2 million slice of self-indulgence was written in three days. Although the credits include a Sex And Cruelty consultant and an Unnatural Acts researcher, the net result is rather less diverting than this might lead one to expect. At the Scala and the Metro — but not for long. S.J.
STRAIGHT TO HELL (Hell Records): The soundtrack of the spoof Western. It features The Pogues, Joe Strummer and Pray For Rain. We are treated to a Pogues version of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (quite restrained for them) and they bring out the best track on the LP, the John Barryesque Rabinga. Someone called Declan McManus also crops up.
Sy Richardson, Joe Strummer: sex-and-drugs-and-rock-and-roll-and-coffee parody of the spaghetti western from rude boy Alex Cox featuring a motley crew of musicians, roadies and groupies.
As the tequila sank slowly in the sunset, Straight To Hell must have seemed like a masterpiece; on film, it's a hangover. The Pogues play a caffeine-crazed gang, Joe Strummer exudes a certain macho cool, but anything conceived as a cross between Once Upon A Time In The West and Finian's Rainbow has to be a mistake.
The Merthyr Express Aberdare and East Glamorgan Herald Tredegar and West Monmouth Times, 28 January 1988, p.5
Video: Straight To Hell (Nelson)
Video: Straight To Hell (Nelson)
STRAIGHT TO HELL (Nelson) A gang of four wild and wanted outlaws stumble across a small town where the scene is set for blood-thirsty confrontation.
Blood, guns and sexual tension is promised from such stalwarts as Dennis Hopper and Courtney Love. Also on hand, a posse of pop stars including Joe Strummer, Elvis Costello, Grace Jones and The Pogues. Director Alex Cox who made Repo Man.
Photo: DEVIL FIGHTER: Xander Berkeley as Preacher McMahon in Straight To Hell
The fiendish, the weird and a film called Hell
by SIMON SPINKS
PICTURE the scene — a one-horse town, the heat, the flies and a molotov cocktail mix of rebel pop stars and actors.
The result is a frantic new film called Straight To Hell, from the legendary Wirral-born Alex Cox, of Repo Man and Sid and Nancy fame.
It stars Joe Strummer of the Clash, Elvis Costello, Grace Jones, The Pogues and the laid-back dude who seems to be in everything these days, Dennis Hopper.
Filmed on location in Almeria, Spain, the tone of the film can be gauged from the credits, which include a sex and cruelty consultant and an unnatural acts researcher.
The picture, which is due to open in Manchester soon, comes over as a cross between Repo Man and Sergio Leone's famous spaghetti western, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
Three hired guns do a runner after bungling a "hit." A chaotic trail leads them to the tacky town of El Blanco and a familiar blend of sex, drugs, and rock and death rolls in the sand.
It was Joe Strummer's first leading part in a feature film and he took it very seriously. He spent hours attracting flies with sugar water applied to the skin, so he could practice not flinching. Joe also spent three weeks learning to twirl his pistol.
The Turkish-born, ex-boarding schoolboy and punk hero, who plays Simms, admits: "Some of my real-life adventures were included. I've got a lot of experience to draw on. There isn't any town in the world I haven't run amok in. I've had a really intense life.
"I was pretty nervous, but I found just to concentrate would get me by. The biggest shock was acting alongside real professionals like Dennis Hopper."
Elvis Costello dreaded filming in the desert. He says: "I thought it was going to be the snakes, the scorpions and the sun that would get me. The first night I went out to the bar and they were all doing everything in character. I thought I was going to be driven crazy.
"I thought everybody was out of their minds, talking in character and saying 'well, why do I do this?' You think acting is like a disease, you sort of catch it. It's like the Alien — it runs across the set, goes down your throat and that's the end of you.
"All those people I thought were completely out of their minds turned out to be really good. They were just putting a lot into it, and that's what it's about."
Alex Cox, who is currently preparing Walker, a major historical drama, says: "After Sid and Nancy, I wanted to make a film that was emotionally easy to make. One that might mean shouting and shouting rather than listening and listening.
"The casting meant persuading people who are as anarchic as me to concentrate — and they all came through. Even though everybody went pretty mad and I began to wonder at one point if the film was too insane."
He warns: "Everyone is up to coming back next summer for Back to Hell — The Story of the Foreign Legion."
Photo: ELVIS COSTELLO: Dreaded filming in case there were snakes and scorpions in the desert.
Blake, John. “White Hot Love Hurts.” Daily Mirror, 7 May 1987, p. 13.
WHITE HOT LOVE HURTS
John Blake's WHITE HOTCLUB
LOVE HURTS
ACTRESSCourtney Love became so furious with Clash singer Joe Strummer during the filming of her new movie, Straight To Hell, that she threw him straight out of the window.
"We were filming a drunk scene and we'd been at it from 1 om to 7 am," says Courtney, 21. "The trouble was, Joe got so into the character that he actually got drunk. I was so angry at being kept up all night I literally up threw him out of the window."
“Straight to Hell.” Evening Herald (Dublin), 12 June 1987, p. 17.
Straight to Hell, Alex Cox
Straight to Hell (Carlton): Golden boy director Alex Cox comes badly un-stuck in this boring latter-day spaghetti western which stars the Pogues, Elvis Costello and Joe Strummer of The Clash.
“A helluva sloppy mess.” Evening Herald (Dublin), 12 June 1987, p. 19.
A helluva sloppy mess
Straight To Hell is a chaotic, star-studded spaghetti western directed by Alex Cox, featuring The Pogues, Dennis Hopper, Elvis Costello, and Grace Jones. Despite its promising cast and premise, the film is described as a messy, indulgent, and ultimately disappointing watch.
STRAIGHT TO HELL Carlton 16s
A helluva sloppy mess
STRAIGHT TO Hell - is proof, if any isneeded, that some people only have a limited amount of talent. It may be of the best quality while it lasts but once it'sd gone it's well and truly gone.
DirectorAlex Cox is one of those people. His debut film Repo Man saw him hailed as the next really big director. Since then, it's all been down-hill. He's finally hit the very hottom with Straight To Hell, his third film.
Straight To Hell has everything and everyone going for it. Everyone ex-pected great things. Piex Cox directing. .The Pogues. Dennis Hopper, Jim Jarmusch, Elvis Costello and Grace Jones acting in it. The result however. is not a little painful to watch.
Rock stars always want to act. But because most of them cannot act, they need to be directed and directed and directed. Something about this Spagetti Western set in modern day Spain gives the impression that the director was not even in the same country as the cast while the film was being shot.
Straight To Hell is a totally messed-up, sloppy, hare-brained film, on which, no doubt, everyone had a great time working. But it's unfortunately not an awful lot of fun to watch.
There are some marvel-lous momento There are The Pogues and their cabaret singing friend as coffee addicts and western style bandits. Elvis Costello as the insane Hives, butler to the McMahon gang (The Pogues), is charming. There are a few other points of interest. Some of the script is funny. Oce casionally some of the acting is good. Joe Strum-mer (ex of the Clash) looks good.
But all this is not enough to make a two-hour film watchable. Much as I enjoyed the small details it really is necessary to say that Straight To Hell is an in-dulgent and basically boring film, of Interest only to those whose life's ambition is to see every film Grace Jones ever made.
PHOTO: KILBURN COMRADES: The McMahon Gang (alias The Pogues) on holiday In Andalusia.
Spinks, Simon. “The fiendish, the weird and a film called Hell.” Manchester Evening News, 30 June 1987, p. 22.
The fiendish, the weird and a film called Hell
A surreal and chaotic spaghetti western, Straight To Hell brings together rebel pop stars and actors in Almeria, Spain, under the direction of Alex Cox. The film stars Joe Strummer,Elvis Costello, Grace Jones, The Pogues, and Dennis Hopper in a tale of botched hits and rock ’n’ roll mayhem.
by SIMON SPINKS DEVIL FIGHTER: Xander Berkeley as Preacher McMahon in Straight To Hell
The fiendish, the weird and a film called Hell
PICTURE the scene a one-horse town, the heat, the flies and a molotov cocktail mix of rebel pop stars and actors.
The result is a frantic new film called Straight To Hell, from the legendary Wirral-born Alex Cox, of Repo Man and Sid and Nancy fame.
It stars Joe Strummer of the Clash, Elvis Costello, Grace Jones, The Pogues and the laid-back dude who seems to be in everything these days, Dennis Hopper.
Filmed on location in Almeria, Spain, the tone of the film can be gauged from the credits, which include a sex and cruelty con-sultant and an unnatural acts researcher.
The picture, which is due to open in Manchester soon, comes over as a cross between Repo Man and Sergio Leone's famous spaghetti western, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
Three hired guns do runner after bungling a "hit." A chaotic trail leads them to the tacky town of El Blanco and a familiar blend of sex, drugs, and rock and death rolls in the sand.
It was Joe Strummer's first lead-ing part in a feature film and he took it very seriously. He spent hours attracting flies with sugar water applied to the skin, so he could practice not flinching. Joe also spent three weeks learning to twirl his pistol.
The Turkish-born, ex-boarding schoolboy and punk hero, who plays Simms, admits: "Some of my real-life adven adventures were included. I've got a lot of experience to draw on. There isn't any town in the world I haven't run amok in. I've had a really intense life."
"I was pretty nervous, but I found just to concentrate would get me by. The biggest shock was act-ing alongside real professionals like Dennis Ho Hopper."
Elvis Costello dreaded filming in the desert. He says: "I thought it was going to be the snakes, the scorpions and the sun that would"
ELVIS COSTELLO: Dreaded filming snakes and in case there were snak scorpions in the desert. "get me. The first night I went out to the bar and they were all doing everything in character. I thought I was going to be driven crazy."
"I thought everybody was com-pletely and utterly out of their minds, talking in character and saying 'well, why do I do this?" I think acting is like a disease, you sort of catch it. It's like the Alien - it runs across the set, goes down your throat and that's the end of you."
"All those people I thought were completely out of their minds turned out to be really good. They were just putting a lot into it, and that's what it's about."
Alex Cox, who is currently pre-paring Walker, a major historical drama, says: "After Sid and Nancy, I wanted to make a film that was emotionally easy to make. One that might mean shouting and shouting rather than listening and listening."
"The casting meant persuading people who are as anarchic as me to concentrate and they all came through. Even though everybody went pretty mad and I began to wonder at one point if the film was too insane."
He warns: "Everyone is up to coming back next summer for Back to Hell The Story of the Foreign Legion."
Uttoxeter Newsletter - Friday 15 January 1988 page 18; Also in Belfast News-Letter - Monday 04 January 1988 page 14; Staffordshire Newsletter - Friday 15 January 1988 Page 18
Straight to Hell Review
A long vacation at Norman Bates' hotel for director Alex Cox will be prescribed by many who sit through Straight to Hell (15, 90 minutes.
It's a shame because he's been responsible for Sid and Nancy, and Repo Man in the past and the idea of a Spaghetti Western spoof is a good one. It's a negligible tale of three bank robbers who stumble upon the weird town of El Blanco but those with a taste for weird and cult movies may well want to check it out.
There's the Clash's Joe Strummer as one of the robbers, and almost everyone from the trendy London scene - from the Pogues and Elvis Costello through to Grace Jones and Dennis Hopper making cameos. File under miscellaneous.
DIRECTOR Alex Cox can't win 'em all. His lucrative "Repo Man" and an excellent "Sid and Nancy" deservedly made his name and a small fortune for his subsequent "Straight to Hell." Made in 1986, it did strictly limited business when it was released for the cinema last summer and now it's trying its luck as a video (Nelson Entertainment International) - where it will appeal to a specialist but again limited audience.
Cox's send-up Western gets off to a spluttering start when four bumbling outlaws, who have filled their getaway Fiat Panda with diesel in an abortive bank job, stumble into a shanty town run by the MacMahons, played by folk/punk band The Pogues, and the whole wacky idea soon grinds to a halt with its dearth of effective gags.
The amateurism of the cast might have got away with it in the total craziness of Cox's script but doesn't, so what this altogether unfortunate film is left with is curiosity value.
The director clung to his old mates, the outlaws including Dick Rude (one of the punks in "Repo Man") Sy Richardson (The Man in the Methodone Clinic "Sid and Nancy") and Clash lead singer Joe Strummer. Dennis Hopper, Grace Jones and Elvis Costello flit in and out of it, contributing to the mayhem.
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