Sonhos e Vingança

Film-maker Penelope Spheeris's 80s absurdist road-tripping slacker black comedy sees three punk rockers leaving New York on their way to a better life in California, but on their way there they become targets of a ruthless hillbilly gang (led by an impressive Lee Ving) with one of them ending up dead. For the remaining two, instead of heading to California they decide go after the gang. This is one very odd, slapdash journey narrative with broad humour, but an even brutal tone and cross-cultural conflict as the modern punk scene meets old west philosophy as actors Jon Cryer, Daniel Roebuck and Flea find themselves along for the ride. I'm not that much of a fan of Cryer, but this is definitely the best thing I've seen him in. Also showing up in the cast is Catherine Mary Stuart. For a road movie, scenery is important and here the Arizona backdrop provides many picturesque sequences. Director Spheeris crafts out some surreal dynamics from the visuals and sets up some good stunt pieces. Pumping soundtrack, edgy script and kooky characters only added to this cult film's spontaneous and jarring charm.

"I'm so sick of waiting for the world to end."

Fun offbeat 80s puck rock comedy/drama about two New York punks, Jon Cryer and Daniel Roebuck, who travel out west and run afoul various rednecks, bikers, and lawmen in a southwest desert community on their way to LA. "Dudes" was directed by Penelope Spheeris, who made the seminal punk rock documentary "Decline of the Western Civilization," but this film isn't as much a document of punk culture as it is an oddball 1980s counterculture time capsule. Despite the two lead actors being decidedly un-punk rock, the film does feature legitimate musicians Lee Ving (FEAR) as a biker, John Densmore (The Doors) as a cop, Flea (The Red Hot Chili Peppers, FEAR) as a punk buddy of the two leads, and also an appearance by The Vandals during the film's opening. Ving is a particular standout as a nasty loudmouth biker. Seeing him this film really made me want to see him in more, although his filmography is sadly pretty short and primarily supporting roles (though I really do want to find a copy of his appearance on "Who's the Boss"). "Dudes" also gets time capsule value with the casting of Catherine Mary Stewart ("Night of the Comet" and "The Last Starfighter") as a local wrecking service owner who helps the dudes when their Volkswagen Beetle needs fixed. Also of note is that this was the fourth feature film shot by cinematography by Robert Richardson, who'd later go on to be the regular director of photography for the likes of Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese, and Quentin Tarantino. Overall, "Dudes" is not as gritty as Spheeris' "Suburbia" nor is it as entertaining of a counter culture comedy/drama as "Something Wild," but the end result is an interesting time capsule that held my interest. There's also a decent soundtrack that features everything from Jane's Addiction to Carl Perkins.

'Dudes' (1987) is a delightfully rowdy black road comedy that for some inexplicable reason remains relatively unheralded. And it is a cultural travesty that, Penelope Spheeris's endearingly ludicrous cow punk road comedy is still unavailable on a UK-friendly Blu? Jon Cryer, Daniel Roebuck and Flea decide that the life of a big apple punker is a stone-cold snooze, and in a prescient moment of drunken inspiration they decide that a road trip to California might demonstratively improve their dour, metropolitan ennui. A righteous bummer for them, but fortunately for the viewer, their riotously ramshackle exodus is amusingly fraught with all manner of improbable calamity. An especially memorable interlude is a violent encounter with some low-down desert skeezoids, headed by the murderous red neck, Missoula, vividly played with gleeful mania by ex-Fear vocalist, Lee 'Black Moon Rising' Ving.

'Dudes' is a thoroughly engaging, roughshod road-movie oddity that begs for rediscovery, due largely to the endearingly daft twin lead performances from Roebuck & Cryer, the exhilarating RAWK soundtrack, and playfully eccentric mise-en-scene by maestro, Penelope Spheeris. For me, the REAL clincher is when the divinely bickering punkers over-imbibe a bottle of lysergic snake juice, procured from amiable renaissance man, Daredelvis (Pete Wilcox) and suddenly Spheeris plunges us deep into squirrelly, Alex Cox territory wherein all manner of gonzoid western archetypes are purloined for our midnight movie edification! It's the film's flaws, mad energy, and joyful incongruities that make it such a winning VHS-era cult gem! And my vinyl soundtrack album featuring Keel's boisterous 'Rock N' Roll Outlaw' cover is something I shall, hopefully, never have to part with!

This is not a serious film. It tries to be in a couple of places but doesnt make it. Some of the dream sequences are just a tad laboured but only a tad. Apart from this small points it is full of good humour and I certainly enjoyed it. I do not watch films for messages, for me that just escapes the point. Film is escapism, that is why it exists, to take us out of ourselves, to make us laugh,cry and smile. This is what DUDES does. We follow 3 punks cross country and their encounters with different people. They are products of the multi-cultural mix that is New York, the scene of all three bored in the VW driving thru the desert is truly hilarious. The second half of this film is bit more bleaker with dream sequences et al but still this is remains a joy. I was left with a good feeling after the end of this film and do so every time I revisit it.

I love this film. Mostly for nostalgic reasons and seeing this in 1987 but with Cryer, Roebuck and a great badguy in Lee Ving. Not Spheeris best and plays like a Decline film entry. I had a good time revisiting it.