Highway 61

A very quirky road movie that treads the edge of self-conscious weirdness. Fortunately, it treads the right side of that edge, particularly due to the performances of McKellar and Buhagiar, who succeed beautifully in the tricky task of making their eccentric characters human and likeable. A funny and fun movie. And as a bonus, in my eyes Jackie Bangs (Valerie Buhagiar) is one of the most appealing women I've ever had the pleasure of encountering in a film...not classically beautiful, but rather a feisty and uniquely attractive woman I'd really enjoy hangin' with.

What can be said about this bizarre little gem of a movie? As a Canadian I have a soft spot for truly good homegrown film, and Bruce McDonald really delivered with this one. The "rock 'n' roll road movie" seems like a cliched category to put this in, for yes, it does involve a journey (physical and spiritual of course), and great musical atmosphere, and yet there's just something completely different. Maybe it's Valerie Buhagiar's ethereal yet calculating performance as Jackie, the roadie whose friends are far weirder than yours. It might be Don McKellar's small-town trumpet-playing barber who finds a dead man behind his shop one morning. Maybe it's the Devil chasing them in his pickup truck, claiming souls with his Polaroid camera. Oops, perhaps I've given away too much already...

At any rate, I loved this movie. It was unconventional without being consciously "arty", and was just fun to watch. Your corner video store probably won't have it (especially in the States) but if you're lucky one of the big chains will have a copy.

more campy than roadkill (if that was possibly) and much lighter than dance me outside and hardcore logo, highway 61 is a great, fun film that fits perfectly on a snowy Saturday afternoon. the random plot twists as well as the off beat characters make this film truly unique and oddly Canadian. don mckellar proves here why he is Canada's most important actor - not because of any extensive talent, but because of his knack for playing the nervous, shy, eccentric who doesn't really fit in. this is one of those Canadian movies that totally could have gotten a bigger following if it had better distribution. now where's the DVD?

I have to disagree with the other review on this movie... the Satan character MADE the movie, in my opinion. Two of his scenes stick out in my mind - the one where he convinces the little girl to sign over her soul for fame and the end scene where he explains when he discovered he was "the dark one." This movie is a little known gem and it's a bit off the beaten path, being a Canadian film and all, but if you have a strange, wry sense of humor like my friends and me, you'll definitely love it. I would recommend this movie for anyone that's open-minded to the indie-type flicks.

I actually know the township where this movie was filmed the first 15 minutes or so. The place is called Virginiatown and it is in Ontario, they also filmed in Larder Lake, Ontario.

I decided to watch the movie(we have it on display where I work) and it is surprising how the place has changed. We also even have the barber chair and all his equipment that was owned by the actual owner of the barber shop, who appeared as a customer in the movie.

Even though this movie fits the typical "weird" movie, I actually liked it, but then again, I am a fan of those old 80's style movies. The only thing I have to say negative about it is that I don't recommend it to kids, this movie still contains things that should not be seen at a younger age.