Human Highway

I'm watching this movie in anticipation of catching my two favorite actors, Dean Stockwell & Dennis Hopper, in a couple of offbeat roles....but wait, is that Devo? And who is the weird character in the doll's mask? And why is the art direction so...arty? And Neil Young, with buck teeth and thick glasses, acting like a kid brother of Jerry Lewis....hold on, this ain't no offbeat movie - this movie is so OFF the beat, it's incredibly hip! I couldn't stop watching the damn thing....yep, Neil is really singing "Tonight" from West Side Story while wiping the windshield, 'cause, you see, Russ Tamblyn is his buddy, and, oh forget it.....Then, to find out Dean Stockwell and Russ Tamblyn helped write this production...and, what, you say Stockwell directed it? I'm in love. And I will never put down Neil Young, either.

HUMAN HIGHWAY is not for everybody and some parts don't work. Still, I love the flick. I think if in the writing they fleshed out the wonderful bizarre characters a little more, this thing could have been a masterpiece. As it stands, it has a wild surreal bent, with Neil Young and company not being afraid to fall on their collective face.

When the cast does the final WORRIED MAN number, it is rousing and strangely moving.. Everyones HUMANITY (as in HUMAN HIGHWAY) shines through. It is as if the company is both themselves and the characters they play.

This is one of those movies that there is no in between on. You'll either love it or hate it. The thing is, those who hate it will hate for the very same reasons the others love it. Let's make no bones- This is a BAD MOVIE. And that's what makes it so great. The performances range from surprisingly decent (in the case of Devo) to ridiculously over the top (Neil Young) to barely coherent (Russ Tamblyn and the ever bizzare Dennis Hopper). The script is scattered and confusing, but contains flashes of inspired hilarity. And it somehow manages to be about something in the end! The highlights are a song-and-dance finale reminicent of Monty Python's Life of Brian and a brilliant deconstruction of Young's classic Out Of The Blue (performed by Devo and Young) which starts as a fairly straight ahead rendition and quickly devolves (so to speak) into a frenzied, chaotic "Screw You" to the fans of Young's sixties and seventies hits. So don't be a spud. Seek the movie out and savour it's delicious stench for yourself.

Those aren't spaceships, those are nuclear missiles ...

A treat for Devo fans, as well. This came out at the time that Neil Young was experimenting with the New Wave musical style himself with his album "Trans", several tracks of which can be heard in the film.

This film displays a very unselfconscious Punk/New Wave aesthetic. Sure, it's disjointed and nonsensical, but everyone's obviously having a lot of fun, and the set design is quite effective, and some of the special effects are interesting as artifacts of the time it was filmed.

Can you identify the four cast members who have also appeared in David Lynch films?

When hearing about Human Highway I had some doubts about a film made by a musician. Then I saw it. Had I died and gone to heaven? The experiance of watching this film was almost biblical. I have seen this film literary 50 times, each time it got even better then the last. If my life has a purpose, it is to watch Human Highway 1000 times. The film is extrordinarily well written, by the end of the film I was in tears. It has superb wit and sentimentality. The directing is prehaps the best to grace our screens bar none. When seen at face value the film looks like an absolute piece of crap, but when seen in context with the subtext and style it is one of the most powerful movies in existance. In this reviewers opinion it is the greatest of all anti war movies. The acting is top notch, the greatest surprise was the versitilty of Dennis Hopper playing 4 characters each played with masterful skill. Neil Young's acting displays the trials and hardships of the little man, never is it patronising. My life is complete. 1/10