The Film (3.5/5)

    I remember seeing Straight to Hell for the first time when I was much younger, and not liking it. I watched a decade later, and it still did not click. Well, apparently the third time is the charm with this Alex Cox directed punk rock spaghetti western homage. The film which was made when Cox accidentally had a group of his punk rock friends like the Clash and The Pogues booked for a tour that went under, and nothing else for them to do, so he took them out to the desert and made a western.

    There isn't much of a story for Straight to Hell, mostly setup, and then violent strangeness. The film opens with 3 hitmen played by Dick Rude, Sy Richardson, and Joe Strummer (THE CLASH). They mess up a hit, piss off their boss, and while trying to escape (with a pregnant girlfriend in tow played by Hole's Courtney Love), they rob a bank. The trio end up in deserted town populated by a groups of strange people who are mostly addicted to coffee.

    OK, so this one is quite a bit odd, and I feel like anyone expecting anything remotely normal will be disappointed. It is a comedy that is populated by punk rock musicians, and on that level it works. It's also quite a bit violent, as a good western should be. However, this is a film that requires the viewer basically get on it's wavelength I think to really enjoy it. It does effectively show Cox' love and admiration for the spaghetti western genre through the use of certain plot points and tropes of the genre, and the execution is wear is gets bizarre and often times fun.

Audio/Video (4/5)

    Kino Lorber's restoration of Straight to Hell looks absolutely marvelous. Presented 2:35:1 there is excellent detail, colors are natural and well reproduced, and blacks levels are nice and deep. I could not detect much in the way of issues here.

    Audio is handled with a DTS-HD MA track in English. Everything here sounds quite good and without any noticeable issues.

Extras (3/5)

     There is a commentary with Dick Rude and Cox. A tour of the locations, a making of doc, and a trailer.

Overall

    Alex Cox' Straight to Hell feels like a step down from the one-two punch of Repo Man and Sid and Nancy, but it's still a lot of fun. The Blu-ray looks and sounds amazing, and has some decent extras. RECOMMENDED.