HIGHWAY 61
A film review by George V. Reilly
Copyright 1992 George V. Reilly
HIGHWAY 61 is a film directed by Bruce McDonald from a story by Don McKellar. It stars Don McKellar, Valerie Bulhagiar, Earl Pastko, and Peter Breck. Canadian. Rated R: restricted due to language and nudity.
HIGHWAY 61 is, as the title suggests, a road movie, the tale of a young couple driving from a small town in Ontario down the length of Highway 61 to New Orleans, 1500 miles to the south. With a coffin on the roof.
Pokey Jones, played by McKellar, is the town barber, one of the few young men left in a small, dying town. Orphaned at the age of nine, he has grown up alone, with his father's 1963 Ford Galaxie as a surrogate parent of sorts. Pokey is a naif and a would-be musician who wants to go to the America of his dreams and become a famous trumpeter.
The catalyst comes when he finds a frozen corpse in his backyard. The local newspaper, desperate for news, proclaims him a hero for trying to revive the corpse and catches the attention of a fugitive roadie. A quick-witted opportunist, Jackie Bangs (played by Bulhagiar) claims the corpse as her brother and seizes a few minutes alone in the funeral parlor to stuff the corpse full of drugs.
By force of will, she convinces Pokey to drive her and her brother's corpse to New Orleans for the funeral. With the coffin strapped to the roof, they head south, talking their way past the US Customs, but not without some difficulty.
Although they don't realize it at first, they are being pursued by Mr. Skin (Pastko), who also claims to be Satan. Satan has a contract signed in blood by Jackie's "brother" in which he was sold the young man's soul upon his death. Satan wants to collect and follows them, buying up a few more souls along the way. Most of them come cheap: a bottle of bourbon, $20, or a promise of fame and beauty. He's also uncannily lucky at bingo.
Pokey's initial high spirits are reinforced by the pilgrimages he makes along the way---Bob Dylan's childhood home, St. Louis, Memphis---but are then dampened as he comes to realize Jackie's true character. He is especially shocked when Jackie steals the lifesavings of the Watsons, three untalented little girls and their showbiz father who travel around the country, "bringing pop to the people."
The film is quirky and often funny, treating its characters in a good-natured fashion. Both McKellar and Bulhagiar give strong performances, as do Pastko and Breck (as Watson). The main problem is that the film is too long to sustain itself and begins to plod: the scene with the drugged-out rock stars for whom Jackie was once a roadie could have been cut with little loss.
If you like offbeat films, you'll probably like HIGHWAY 61.
(Of note: I have been told that the jingoistic US Customs guard is played by Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys, who is apparently known in real life for his anti-American views.)
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