Dust to Dust

This movie is probably more than most will bear to sit through, as a first impression the afflicted work gives is that it must have been hastily cobbled together from footage removed from the cutting room floor, since it is virtually unintelligible. Its initial frames are composed of text that provides background for what follows, i.e., a group of former Northern (Union) troops make their way back to their homes in Texas immediately following the War Between The States under leadership of a former sergeant, Sampson Moses, played by Robert Vaughn, slaughtering erstwhile Confederate soldiers along with their families, wherever they find them. Settling in a ghost town called Brambles, the former Unionists restore the town by day, while continuing their marauding during the evenings, Moses having declared himself mayor of the hamlet and building a combination jail/insane asylum to confine ex-Rebels and their kin who have been taken prisoner rather than butchered. The actual filmed action begins twenty years later, in 1885, and it is consistently challenging to locate a semblance of sense within any of it; among the many disparate plot elements are included: a group of Confederate offspring in their twenties, who refer to themselves as the Waterhole Gang, are clashing with Moses and his companions, including their offspring, the two groups gaily and ineffectively flinging rocks at each other; one of the Gang, an illiterate, courts Sampson's daughter Delilah (Lisa Cangelosi) by learning how to read (his primer is Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet from which he is soon quoting entire passages); murders frequently occur, the victims not only having a large "WH" (Water Hole) branded upon their foreheads, but also being somehow completely and immediately desiccant, as well; many of the female characters are seen with bared breasts to little narrative purpose; a mob of escaped "insane" prisoners lurch evenly through the town holding torches, their demeanour being evocatory of the flagellants in Bergman's SEVENTH SEAL in combination with Romero's zombies in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD; et alia. Scene after scene chaotically passes during this choppily edited affair, leaving behind a stream of unanswered questions, and if there is a climax to this thing, a viewer probably will not be able to identify it or, indeed, to comprehend relationships among the characters, most of whom as depicted are seemingly as confused as will be an audience. Anachronisms are rife within the dialogue, and costumes as well, for this mess shot with video tape (often hand-held!), yet it is the general incompetence of those responsible for this production that will cause viewers to watch numbly as each sequence beggars its predecessor for folly, with only the lush natural landscape where the film was shot in the hill country of south central Texas being of worth. Post production efforts are substandard, as well, in particularly in relation to sound quality but, above all else, a bizarre script leaves little with which to work, and casting choices are often grotesque, with few of the actors capable of playing into their roles, only Cangelosi being impressive here. Willie Nelson, billed second, appears briefly in but two scenes, with few lines, shot mainly in closeup, and generally with an owlish stare, most likely reflecting his wonderment as to why in the world he became involved with this tripe.

I really now wish there was a 'zero' in the vote box.

I thought that thing with ice T about the drunken Russian cosmonauts was bad but this thing plays out like a junior high school production where the audience consists of only relatives and resentful teen siblings.

really. that bad. the abnormal tad-too-fast and strictly monotone delivery, topped off with that touch-octave-higher style like they are struggling to remember their lines.

this thing doesn't even deserve to be turned into a cold drink coaster for fear someone will attempt to watch it.

I really really have to check IMDb in future when browsing the used DVDs at the pawn shop.

as explained to me, this pic was filmed for marketing the script to studio execs and was never intended to be taken seriously on it's own merit. the actors were not only - for the most part - non professionals, most had little acting creditialing. they were random joes willing to risk credibility for the opportunity to be part of an undertaking that would immortalize them for posterity. in that regard, the film accomplishes exactly what it set out to accomplish: tell a story on a practically non-existent budget with characatures of real actors so the resultant 'movie' could pitch the script and hopefully be picked up by at least a B movie studio.

Vicious carpetbagger/mayor Robert Vaughn sets his sights on a politically correct group of young people, living a communal lifestyle in the old west. He wants to take the land they live on and it's abundant water supply in order to secure a railroad line for his town. Complicating things is a Romeo And Juliet style romance between Vaughn's daughter and one of the youths.

Here, Vaughn gives the pirates of the Caribbean a run for their money in the eyeliner department, while guest-star Willie Nelson sits around looking very embarrassed. Meanwhile, the youth commune is into ritualistic branding and is led by a mystical albino who may or may not be a ghost!

There's also excessive, corny use of voice-over thought by one of the characters and at least three skinny dipping scenes that appear to exist solely to get some bare breasts into the picture.

The whole absurd mess is capped by an painfully pretentious end scene that attempts to turn this silly junk into a message movie. Hey Mister B-movie director, save your lectures for class!

I say skip it.

I am giving this film two stars because it is earnest, and also because it had some backing behind it. Otherwise, it's pretty much an amateurish exercise similar to shorts seen on Youtube.

The cinematography is fair for direct-to-video, and the editing is acceptable. The story is confused, the dialog inane, the acting below par for everyone except Mr. Vaughn (although second-billed, Willie Nelson merely walks on and off). There's also an anti-violence message at the end which makes no sense in the context of the rest of the film. Anachronisms abound which are very annoying.

Look, when you have an idea for a film, check it out with others. Also check it against history - if you're making a Western, but it doesn't look anything like a classic Western, then you're not making any kind of Western, don't do it. The classics exist to learn from. They endure. We don't need El Topo style allegories anymore - we didn't even need it back then.