Films: 1990s
(1996) From Dusk Till Dawn
Saturday, July 07, 2007
From Dusk Till Dawn
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Release: 1996
All right everybody, just hear me out on this one; I may be about to tax the limits of credulity.
I hereby allege writer Quentin Tarantino's fecund subconscious of shameless pilferage of the premise of "From Dusk Till Dawn" from 1989's sinfully cheesy "Roadhouse."
Implausible, you say? Certainly.
Unlikely? Perhaps.
Possible? Let's find out.
Let me start by offering a disclaimer that the whole of director Robert Rodriguez's "From Dusk Till Dawn" has not been filched from "Roadhouse"; just the back end. The front side is a wild ride of violence, taut performances and sustained character development; and Rodriguez employes a deft hand in making the whole thing highly stylized and watchable.
The murderous Gecko brothers (played by Tarantino and George Clooney) are paying their fare to Mexico one corpse at a time. Concurrently, Harvey Keitel's vacationing brood books a room at the same hotel and has the misfortune of being docile prey; they quickly end up as hostages and uneasy traveling companions to the nattily attired siblings.
Once they arrive in Mexico without incident, Clooney's character tells them, everyone will happily separate without grievous injury; but Cheech Marin has dominion over an army of vampire bats there that require sustenance, so grievous injury is inevitable.
Keitel's foppish, "faithless preacher" is a welcome relief from the typecast badass he usually plays. His portrayal is excellent as the hapless patron trying to keep everyone alive and away from the business end of Clooney's gun.
Tarantino and Clooney are similarly skilled as the id and superego halves of the Geckos respectively. Tarantino's portrayal of the lecherous sex offender with a wiggly trigger finger is superb. He and Clooney put in some fairly intense performances, especially at the beginning of the movie.
The homage to "Roadhouse," however, doesn't clearly evince itself until the band of misfit boys arrives at their destination: a dodgy saloon named The Titty Twister, blooming from a desolate landing strip of real estate.
The alliterative moniker should immediately have your synapses recalling the good old Double Deuce from "Roadhouse." If you reached even further, you might even draw some sort of anatomical allusion between the two names; but that may be taking my conspiracy theory too far.
Once inside, the rowdy clientele and wanton debauchery should continue the connection of the two films. Rodriguez's vision of the décor of the bar and the way it's filmed is significantly more interesting than the muted, earthy interior of the Double Deuce. I suspect that the direction there, however, was designed to spotlight Patrick Swayze and keep his surroundings in neutral tones.
The menacing bartender in "From Dusk Till Dawn" has the same slovenly, untrustworthy appearance as John Doe's character in "Roadhouse." The greasy hair, questionable moustache and unkempt appearance all indicate that these two are clearly up to no good while pouring drinks for the licentious patrons.
For a facile comparison of the female characters, let's just say that the preternaturally perky Juliette Lewis in "From Dusk Till Dawn" has her "Roadhouse" counterpart in the preternaturally perky Kelly Lynch. They're both delightfully perky and that's probably satisfactory for my thesis.
Also, in the midst of the vampiric chaos, there's a brief karate sequence that includes some fanciful pool cue histrionics very much like a similar scene in "Roadhouse." Note also the reproduction of the "bring it" hand motion identically employed by one of the combatants in each. This may be pure coincidence or it may be a gesture of flattery from Tarantino and Rodriguez.
For my summation, I had assumed I would dramatically close my case by offering these two movies as the only ones to feature the band The Cruzados or members thereof in prominent musical roles. A little fact checking, however, indicated no fewer than four additional films in which they appear. These guys really get around; it must be because they're so damn sexy in those mariachi outfits. They do lend some impressive music as the bar's house band in "From Dusk Till Dawn" and get significantly more action than they do in "Roadhouse." Hell, their song during Selma Hayek's snake dance is almost as compelling as her swiveling hips.
Given the breadth of his record collection, I'll assume that Tarantino assembled the songs that comprise the soundtrack and his choices are perfect. The Blasters' classic "Dark Night" is scorched over the opening and closing credits and it's a fitting and dramatic connection; and if you want to listen to ZZ Top doing their best Soundgarden impersonation, stick around through the closing credits.
Unlikely? Maybe.
Then again, I also wouldn't have taken Quentin Tarantino for a "Roadhouse" fan had I not seen it with my own eyes.
Jeffrey K. Wahr
Cinescare Correspondent
From Dusk Till Dawn, 1996
Keitel's foppish, "faithless preacher" is a welcome relief from the typecast badass he usually plays. His portrayal is excellent as the hapless patron trying to keep everyone alive and away from the business end of Clooney's gun.
