Human Highway

When you've got movies like this to watch! This is one of the oddest things you'll ever see. Seems like Young, Stockwell and co. had ideas for several movies but decided to put them all into this one. Part musical, part comedy, part fantasy, part anti-nuke message film, all filmed on a stylised set somewhere between Pee Wee's Playhouse, One From The Heart and The Wizard Of Oz. You've got Neil Young with goofy teeth, and a supporting cast of solid cult types like Stockwell, Hopper, Kirkland and Tamblyn, plus Mary from Eraserhead and DEVO! Can you dig it? If you can pick up a copy of Neil's unfairly maligned album Trans too. The guy isn't just a folksy singer-songwriter and the Godfather of Grunge, he's a freakin' VISIONARY people. Well if not a visionary, a wacko with a loony sense of humour.

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.

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.

No doubt about it, most of these posts are on the money in describing this movie. When I slipped it into the VCR, I had no idea DEVO were in on the proceedings, but I was pleasantly surprised. These guys are so aggressively strange, anything they are in is worth watching at least once and this is no exception. The movie does ramble on and on with not much holding it together, and there are some weak romantic subplots, but I was looking forward enough to what came next so I kept watching. I loved "Booji Boy" and although the dream sequence with Young and DEVO seemed tacked on to give them an excuse to "Rok Out", Rok they do. And am I the only one to think Neil looks like he's on drugs? Plus, Dean Stockwell and Russ Tamblyn together at last and writing screenplays. Might David Lynch have given some advice on this one? It wouldn't be hard to believe, but he would have had better miniatures... This movie is easily whack enough to be worth seeing, especially if you are a DEVO or Young fan.