TontoandFriends.com

By Vans McCoy - vansmccoy@hotmail.com
Film Critc/Video Store Manager
tontoandfriends.com





Today's addition to my list of awesome films is From Dusk Till Dawn, a classic 1996 horror/action/awesome film written by Quintin Tarantino and directed by Robert Rodriguez. This film marks George Clooney's first film role after success on that show about doctors and he couldn't have picked a better film to star in!

Plot: A pair of bank robbers, Seth and Richie Gecko (George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino, respectively) are on their way to Mexico, more specifically El Ray, to evade the FBI. Along the way, the Gecko Brothers kidnap a family in an RV and force the family to help smuggle them into Mexico. Once they are safely south of the border, they stop at a grungy truck stop where the real action begins. You see, this is no ordinary truck stop... no, no. All the strippers and employees are really a bunch of bad ass vampires!

What choice do our heroes have but to fight back and kill as many vampires as they can?!


Classic Monologues: There have been some great monologues in the English language: "To be or not to be" from Hamlet; "The Horror..." from Apocalypse Now; "I'm mad as hell..." from Network, and so on, but none are as poetic or emotionally affecting as the one delivered in From Dusk Till Dawn by Chet Pussy, as portrayed by Cheech Marin. 



Not to be outdone, the awesome Fred Williamson delivers a more somber and intense, but equally awesome monologue about 'Nam and how the human spirit will find a way to survive!




The Supporting Cast: In addition to the aforementioned Cheech Marin and Fred Williamson, you have Tom Savini as Sex Machine and Danny Trejo as Razor Charlie. Rounding out the awesomeness of the supporting cast is John Saxon as FBI Agent Stanley Chase. My only complaint is that Saxon wasn't able to bust out some Roper-esque martial arts.

Don't know who Roper is, or what that's referring too? Well, now you do:



Full Tilt Boogie: While not a part of the film directly, but the behind the scenes documentary, Full Tilt Boogie, is one of the better full-length "movie about a movie" documentaries you'll see. Any movie with a Kennedy joke in the opening is okay by me.



Most Awesome Moment: No discussion of this film is complete without mentioning Satanico Pandemonium. Oh, screw mentioning it, let's get to some watching:



The Trailer: