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.
27 Reviews
Makes the Three Stooges look kinda like a Norman Rockwell painting.
johnlewis12 January 2007
One of the most unusual movies I have ever seen. Makes the three stooges look like total normalcy. Neil Young and the Devo members are in this a lot. This is a musical comedy, but not like one you have ever seen. Imagine an apocalyptic LSD trip after OD-ing on candycane and reading a playboy. No, that's not it either. Well, this is totally indescribable, but I will try. Imagine an alternate history where sometime in the 1960s or 70s, the world has gone gung-ho full blown nuclear everything. Kind of like Iran wants to be now. Just imagine the whole world like that- especially the USA. Most of the action or story takes place in a small combination gas station-diner. Yes, combination gas-station diner. Dean Stockwell is the owner. He is the straight man in the film, and is a hoot. Dennis Hopper plays two or three different characters. But the main focus is on Neil Young as a goofy, not too bright, very incompetent auto-mechanic. Yes, I forgot to mention there is a car repair garage at this combination gas station-diner. Walk inside the diner, and it looks bigger on the inside- like a full blown regular diner with sexy waitresses and a grumpy but amenable cook (Dennis Hopper) and all the usual eclectic customers. The band Devo works and plays music at the local Nuclear Power Plant down the street from the diner-gas station-garage. They wear day-glow radiation orange work clothes and strange looking nose tubes instead of masks. They play guitars with thick rubber gloves. OK-well that's enough description for now. Please-please if you do not have a very strange sense of humor, do not watch this movie. For some strange reasons I can hardly fathom (not), this film has not been available except on a rare laserdisc or OOP VHS not usually seen around much. However, this can be found in DVD form if you search hard enough on the internet.
Who needs drugs?
Infofreak25 June 2001
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.
Wacked out. And quite boring too.
Nicholas-1128 December 1998
Neil Young's Human Highway is probably a gem just for his musical fans. Some funny scenes, but too uneven and boring to be enjoyed by the casual viewer.
Highlight for Young's fans: Young and Devo playing Hey Hey, My My during a dream sequence.
Highlight for Young's fans: Young and Devo playing Hey Hey, My My during a dream sequence.
Near worthless film, but still a unique effort
jblynch27 June 2006
This movie is nearly worthless. By all means, this is only for big fans of Neil Young and/or Devo. Not to say it is painful to watch - at times its combination of hokey special effects, screwball comedy and pointless plot is somewhat interesting. And the scene where Devo's mascot Booji Boy runs through a searing version of "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)" with Young on guitar and the rest of Devo behind him is as surreal as it is amazing. The rest of the film is free of meaning and entertainment. This is clearly a movie the cast enjoyed making, but they didn't stop to think if anyone would enjoy watching it. The best you can say is that it is unique. After seeing it I learned the film was only made possible because Neil Young fronted the budget. That makes it all more clear. Worse than Paul McCartney's "Give My Regards to Broadstreet"? Perhaps.
Very Poor Concept Video
gavin694229 June 2010
The movie's primary setting is the last day on Earth at a small gas station-diner in a fictional town located next to a nuclear power plant. The characters are diner employees and customers including Young Otto (Dean Stockwell) who has received ownership of the failing business by the Will of his recently deceased father. One employee, Lionel Switch (Neil Young) is the garage's goofy and bumbling auto mechanic who dreams of being a rock star. "I can do it!" he often exclaims.
The song "Breaking in the Wind" highlights the opening scene set in a post-apocalyptic world. Devo are bizarre in this film as radiated garbagemen, not surprisingly. Booji Boy is especially strange, with his mask, squeaky voice and gasoline-tasting.
Dennis Hopper who played the addled cook (among other roles) was performing knife tricks with real knives on the set. Sally Kirkland attempted to take a knife from him and severed a tendon. She spent time in a hospital and later sued claiming Hopper was out of control. Hopper has admitted to drug abuse during this time period.
The version of this film I watched was a VHS transfer, and as far as I know there has been no real attempt to bring this film out on DVD. I am not a fan of Neil Young, and I found this movie largely boring and pointless, but for the fans, a good transfer would work wonders: improved sound would be nice, but if the grainy picture could be cleaned up, this has the potential to become a cult classic.
If you're a die-hard Devo fan, or a Neil Young fan, try to track this one down. I wasn't too pumped about it, but your mileage may vary.
The song "Breaking in the Wind" highlights the opening scene set in a post-apocalyptic world. Devo are bizarre in this film as radiated garbagemen, not surprisingly. Booji Boy is especially strange, with his mask, squeaky voice and gasoline-tasting.
Dennis Hopper who played the addled cook (among other roles) was performing knife tricks with real knives on the set. Sally Kirkland attempted to take a knife from him and severed a tendon. She spent time in a hospital and later sued claiming Hopper was out of control. Hopper has admitted to drug abuse during this time period.
The version of this film I watched was a VHS transfer, and as far as I know there has been no real attempt to bring this film out on DVD. I am not a fan of Neil Young, and I found this movie largely boring and pointless, but for the fans, a good transfer would work wonders: improved sound would be nice, but if the grainy picture could be cleaned up, this has the potential to become a cult classic.
If you're a die-hard Devo fan, or a Neil Young fan, try to track this one down. I wasn't too pumped about it, but your mileage may vary.
Brilliant garbage
Man Out Of Time7 August 2000
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.
Another review from a hardcore Devo fan, you know what to expect...
clurge-24 September 2000
I find that most of the comments ever said about Human Highway tend to say that it's horrible, save the fact that Devo makes an illustrious appearance. Well, prepare for more of the same.
I won't say the movie was horrible, for I have watched it more than twice, and stayed awake for the duration. I can see how some may call it bad, but not horrible. It has a very wandering storyline, and themes relevant to that of the time it was made (nuclear concerns of the 1980s). A strange appearance by Dennis Hopper tries to brighten things up, but he's not a villain out to destroy things, he's a short order cook. Quite a stretch for the "Villain of 1000 Motion Pictures". The final scene where all characters dance in formation can be described as a "surrealistic" romp, in a movie that can be summed up the same way.
Now on to the Devo performance in the film. A real treat for hardcore fans. "It Takes A Worried Man", a Kingston Trio song from a long ways back, performed here by Devo (with resident Mothersbaugh alter-ego Booji Boy), is more than likely THE high point. A close second is the jam with Devo and Young himself, banding together to make some organized noise in a dream sequence.
If you're not into Neil Young or Devo, please refrain from checking this out. It's really not worth it. The movie can be described as "bad", but you have to be on a Young-Devo level to understand it (or make any sense out of it for that matter).
I won't say the movie was horrible, for I have watched it more than twice, and stayed awake for the duration. I can see how some may call it bad, but not horrible. It has a very wandering storyline, and themes relevant to that of the time it was made (nuclear concerns of the 1980s). A strange appearance by Dennis Hopper tries to brighten things up, but he's not a villain out to destroy things, he's a short order cook. Quite a stretch for the "Villain of 1000 Motion Pictures". The final scene where all characters dance in formation can be described as a "surrealistic" romp, in a movie that can be summed up the same way.
Now on to the Devo performance in the film. A real treat for hardcore fans. "It Takes A Worried Man", a Kingston Trio song from a long ways back, performed here by Devo (with resident Mothersbaugh alter-ego Booji Boy), is more than likely THE high point. A close second is the jam with Devo and Young himself, banding together to make some organized noise in a dream sequence.
If you're not into Neil Young or Devo, please refrain from checking this out. It's really not worth it. The movie can be described as "bad", but you have to be on a Young-Devo level to understand it (or make any sense out of it for that matter).
weird and cool. If David Lynch directed a musical?
bellaghy6 February 2008
After many years of searching i finally managed to pick up the VHS release of this utterly bizarre movie. And boy did i enjoy it. I've always been a huge fan of Neil Young and was a massive fan of Dennis Hopper until the early '90s when he started coming back into mainstream Hollywood rubbish. I collected literally everything he did and this was one of the few i didn't manage to get hold of. Young was experimenting with new age music at the time and many of the songs from the underrated Trans album turn up during the movie. Those who followed Hoppers career won't be surprised by his appearance here being good friends with Stockwell and Tamblyn. The film came together on Hoppers property in Taos and by all accounts what made it to screen is hardly surprising considering the partying that was going on. Hopper was in full melt down at this stage and his performance here shows it, he was actually sued along with Young by Sally Kirkland who claimed he cut her with a knife under the influence of drugs. Its interesting to see New York folk singer David Blue here too. A few posters have mentioned David Lynch and its certainly got a Lynch feel to it, Stockwell, Tamblyn and Mary from Eraserhead add to the Lynch connection. Best for me is the brilliant musical number (choreographed by Tamblyn no doubt) at the end and the one of a kind shovel dance!!!! See this movie if you're into Young and Hopper in full gonzo mode....
How can any of you people give this movie a "10"????
acadams523 June 2000
This movie is bad. Not only is it bad, it was never meant to be good. Neil Young and Dennis Hopper wrote this movie during bouts of drug use... if you can call it writing-- they made up the script as they went along. Kind of like Blair Witch Project. Like that unintelligible waste of film, this movie is practically unwatchable. "Good" bad movies are supposed to be entertaining. This was not.
New wavers and hippies get together and make weird movie.
choppy-411 August 1999
Why don't they make movies like this any more? Sure it's a stupid movie. Sure, it's pointless too. But damn, if it isn't cool. Best part is forced perspective set and Devo deconstructing "My My Hey Hey!" Plus, look for Neil doing a one of a kind "shovel dance!"
Show me were the vomitorium is
JoeSkoal10 February 2012
A vomitorium is a passage situated below or behind a tier of seats in an theater, through which big crowds can exit rapidly at the end of a performance.In the case of this movie, during the beginning. I am a DEVO and Neil Young but this was a total waste of talent. This just goes to show you...drugs do not make you more creative. Well I have just spent more time in this review than I did the movie. Anyone rates this above a 1, needs their head examined. Darn, 10 lines of text. Young spent $3,000,000 of his own money on production of this movie. Do people have any idea what 3 million could buy in 1982? 10 lines? OMG, there should be an exception for movies that only need one word...AWFUL!!
Mr. Hulot meets 200 Motels
rockthrowingbuddhist4 January 2007
After the almost universal panning this movie received I did not have the bar set very high for this one.
You will probably not like this movie if you are expecting a concert film or the ads that MTV and VH1 have stuck in high rotation. Or if you do not appreciate surrealism as an art form. And I suppose you have to be enough of a Neil Young fan to appreciate and understand his dark humor. I was surprised by the amount of screen time the normally reclusive Mr. Young enjoyed.
I found myself laughing out loud several times through the film. There IS a plot and plot elements, interesting dialog and visuals are woven quite deftly and in a unique way through the film. This film warrants a DVD release (and I hope to be able to see "Journey Through the Past" some day).
Normally I am tolerant of other's taste in film, but those who describe this film as a painful ordeal or attribute it to drug (ab)use should stick to HBO.
Thank's, Neil, for this wonderful, visionary and hilarious "trip."
You will probably not like this movie if you are expecting a concert film or the ads that MTV and VH1 have stuck in high rotation. Or if you do not appreciate surrealism as an art form. And I suppose you have to be enough of a Neil Young fan to appreciate and understand his dark humor. I was surprised by the amount of screen time the normally reclusive Mr. Young enjoyed.
I found myself laughing out loud several times through the film. There IS a plot and plot elements, interesting dialog and visuals are woven quite deftly and in a unique way through the film. This film warrants a DVD release (and I hope to be able to see "Journey Through the Past" some day).
Normally I am tolerant of other's taste in film, but those who describe this film as a painful ordeal or attribute it to drug (ab)use should stick to HBO.
Thank's, Neil, for this wonderful, visionary and hilarious "trip."
Come on! This is a great movie!!
hank-585 April 2000
Don't believe the negative reviews, this is a very clever movie with great music by DEVO and Neil Young. Ever wonder what happened to the teacher Miss Beadle from TV's 'Little House on the Prairie'? Well, neither had I but her performance here as Young's character's 'love interest' is perfectly flaky; all of the roles are played very well, from Hopper's deranged cook 'Cracker' to Stockwell's sleazy 'Young Otto'.
Weirdness that almost touches Greatness
googlemorf9 January 2001
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.
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.
For hard core Neil Young and Devo fans only...
engstfeld24 April 2001
This movie has no plot and a simple message: Nukes = bad. But if you're a Neil Young fan, I'd recommend buying the video if only out of curiosity. There is a very cool jam session wherein Neil jams with Devo in the middle of the movie where they play "Hey hey My my (into the black)." The sound quality in the movie is quite good, but the acting is minimal at best.
curiosity
chip-3424 March 1999
Great curiosity for Neil Young fans. Very weird. Sometimes very funny but usually just very weird. Worth watching. The music is very good, especially the Devo/Neil Young "Hey Hey, My My" during the dream sequence.
Not for everybody. Basically for hardcore Neil fans and fans of "bad" cinema.
Not for everybody. Basically for hardcore Neil fans and fans of "bad" cinema.
An indescribably funny, wickedly satirical film.
omloflump21 January 2003
When hearing about Human Highway I had some doubts about a film made by a musician. Then I saw it. Had I died and gone to heaven? The experiance of watching this film was almost biblical. I have seen this film literary 50 times, each time it got even better then the last. If my life has a purpose, it is to watch Human Highway 1000 times. The film is extrordinarily well written, by the end of the film I was in tears. It has superb wit and sentimentality. The directing is prehaps the best to grace our screens bar none. When seen at face value the film looks like an absolute piece of crap, but when seen in context with the subtext and style it is one of the most powerful movies in existance. In this reviewers opinion it is the greatest of all anti war movies. The acting is top notch, the greatest surprise was the versitilty of Dennis Hopper playing 4 characters each played with masterful skill. Neil Young's acting displays the trials and hardships of the little man, never is it patronising. My life is complete. 1/10
Loads of Fun
the_mad_mckenna25 January 2003
A silly romp, with model trains as a backdrop. Glowing nuclear plant workers. Rear projection bike rides. The guy from "quantum leap". A short snippet of Young singing "Ride My Llama". It's goofy, quirky, maybe not great, but interesting and a bit daring.Oh yeah, it's fun.
LOL, it's a classic!
coache-kwe30 August 2004
I didn't even know this movie was available! I saw it at its opening in 1982. I was probably in a similar state to Neil and Russ, et al, who wrote it and played in it. Still, it's a great flick, sign of its time. I'm thrilled you youngsters are watching it, if only to pan it. Welcome to the world your parents and grandparents grew up in. You ain't seen paranoia until you lived in the cold war! Duck and cover was a routine of our school day. The commies were coming, the commies were coming!! Similar line today and for similar reasons, different "terrorists".
A good movie to watch for a glimpse of the birth of the culture of fear.
A good movie to watch for a glimpse of the birth of the culture of fear.
Some interesting tidbits ...
chump-426 August 2002
Those aren't spaceships, those are nuclear missiles ...
A treat for Devo fans, as well. This came out at the time that Neil Young was experimenting with the New Wave musical style himself with his album "Trans", several tracks of which can be heard in the film.
This film displays a very unselfconscious Punk/New Wave aesthetic. Sure, it's disjointed and nonsensical, but everyone's obviously having a lot of fun, and the set design is quite effective, and some of the special effects are interesting as artifacts of the time it was filmed.
Can you identify the four cast members who have also appeared in David Lynch films?
A treat for Devo fans, as well. This came out at the time that Neil Young was experimenting with the New Wave musical style himself with his album "Trans", several tracks of which can be heard in the film.
This film displays a very unselfconscious Punk/New Wave aesthetic. Sure, it's disjointed and nonsensical, but everyone's obviously having a lot of fun, and the set design is quite effective, and some of the special effects are interesting as artifacts of the time it was filmed.
Can you identify the four cast members who have also appeared in David Lynch films?
A masterpiece.
wilsondsl10 January 2022
A whack slice of the 80's.. with DEVO!
jtk5727 March 2001
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.
Human Highway: The Neil Syndrome
faloopnik29 January 2003
Despite its clunkiness Human Highway is one of those films that is sprinkled with touches of humor, even though it focuses more on the harmful effects of radiation...much like in The China Syndrome.
Too many comparisons exist between Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove, the ultra serious and the comical, both released in 1964, at the height of the cold war. Yet, the overlooked Human Highway is more than one of these post apocalyptic films. It was released in 1982 when a slew of serious themed films were distributed about the horrors of nuclear war and accidents, i.e., The China Syndrome, the highly hyped and overblown The Day After and the brilliant and ultimately forgotten, Threads. Yet Human Highway stands on its own as a satire and is clearly one of the most bizarre films ever made.
I have unfathomable respect for Neil Young as an artist, but his films have never received the proper distribution they deserve. I don't know anyone who has seen his autobiographical film Journey Through the Past (I do own the soundtrack album) and I doubt that any prints of the film even exist. Rust Never Sleeps is a brilliant, exquisitely filmed concert document, despite its clunky touches of odd humor, oversized stage props and bizarre road crew (dressed like the Jawas from Star Wars). But Human Highway is truly unique, for it's a total mess. I actually found a copy of it on videotape at a small record store in Ithaca, NY, where it had obviously been sitting for years with no takers. Upon purchasing this curio, I mentioned to the store's owner that I had been hearing about this for years and that I didn't know anyone who had seen it. He said he had ordered 20 copies of it about ten years ago and they just sat there, slowly disappearing off the shelves and that I had, in fact, obtained his final copy.
Once I plopped it into the VCR, I simply couldn't begin to understand what I was watching.and yes, I was sucked into it. First of all, it's quite beautifully filmed, with an abundance of rich colors not seen since the days of 1930's Technicolor. Neil also utilizes some amazing bits of rear projection and the sets have a stunning surreal quality to them very reminiscent of the 1954 musical Red Garters and Paul Schrader's Mishima. This was obviously a labor of love, and was clearly quite an expensive production. But it simply doesn't work, for the humor is quirky, dry and riddled with bizarre, undeveloped characters.
Not much goes on in the story line. The Rock Group Devo portray employees at a nuclear power plant in a desolate town, who have been so exposed by the radiation that they glow bright red. This trail of radiation follows them as they dump barrels of waste, while gleefully immersed in song. A nearby rest stop owner (Dean Stockwell) wants to cut costs on running his establishment and finally decides to burn the place down for the insurance money. Dennis Hopper plays the drug-addled chef at the rest stop, complementing a mish-mash of odd characters. Neil Young and Russ Tamblyn play incompetent mechanics at the establishment. Neil is obsessed with a Sinatraesque crooner (also played by Young), who is giving a nearby concert and can barely hide his excitement when the crooner unexpectedly shows up at the station in his limo for an oil change. While working on the limo, Neil gets conked on the head and is rendered unconscious. It is at this point where Human Highway comes to life and blends elements of the surreal and incoherent. Neil's character imagines himself a folk music star, touring the desert in a bus with his motley crew of friends. It is also here where Neil decided to utilize state of the art video techniques and incorporated them to the film's warped imagery, while snippets of classic Young songs are heard on the soundtrack. Bodies of water have a candy colored effect, appearing as if the films' emulsion were completely stripped away and filled with streaks of bright color. It's very hard to determine what is actually taking place in the story line, but one can guess that it is all a series of in-jokes known only to the cast and crew.
The dream like quality of the images and music are stunning and it almost makes one forget the action prior to this sequence. Almost immediately the serene tone of this sequence is interrupted by a warped version of "Hey Hey, My My" performed by Neil with the rock group Devo. However it's not Neil who sings his classic anthem, but Mark Mothersbaugh in his alter ego of Booji- Boy (basically an oversized mask of mongoloid child's face) in a fractured voice. This sequence is somewhat interminable, due to the aimlessness of the noise. However, it is the most fascinating sequence in the film, for I'm sure that those who actually got a chance to see the film wished the whole thing was like this: more noise, feedback and rock and roll. In the end it symbolizes Neil's character coming out of his dream of being a rock star, and when he does the viewer is left with the thin, mundane plot.
To make matters more confusing, or even worse, there is an endless musical production number at the end of the film, in which all the characters dance with shovels. It makes me wonder if the cut pie fight at the end of Dr. Strangelove would have been worth it? Initially the shock of seeing all these counter culture actors bouncing around with shovels is amusing, but it wears out its welcome. Even though it doesn't work, it is a great piece of inspired lunacy and in some ways makes up for the rest of the plodding film.
I guess Neil scrapped plans to make Human Highway 2, as announced at the end of the film. But with Neil, you never know.
Too many comparisons exist between Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove, the ultra serious and the comical, both released in 1964, at the height of the cold war. Yet, the overlooked Human Highway is more than one of these post apocalyptic films. It was released in 1982 when a slew of serious themed films were distributed about the horrors of nuclear war and accidents, i.e., The China Syndrome, the highly hyped and overblown The Day After and the brilliant and ultimately forgotten, Threads. Yet Human Highway stands on its own as a satire and is clearly one of the most bizarre films ever made.
I have unfathomable respect for Neil Young as an artist, but his films have never received the proper distribution they deserve. I don't know anyone who has seen his autobiographical film Journey Through the Past (I do own the soundtrack album) and I doubt that any prints of the film even exist. Rust Never Sleeps is a brilliant, exquisitely filmed concert document, despite its clunky touches of odd humor, oversized stage props and bizarre road crew (dressed like the Jawas from Star Wars). But Human Highway is truly unique, for it's a total mess. I actually found a copy of it on videotape at a small record store in Ithaca, NY, where it had obviously been sitting for years with no takers. Upon purchasing this curio, I mentioned to the store's owner that I had been hearing about this for years and that I didn't know anyone who had seen it. He said he had ordered 20 copies of it about ten years ago and they just sat there, slowly disappearing off the shelves and that I had, in fact, obtained his final copy.
Once I plopped it into the VCR, I simply couldn't begin to understand what I was watching.and yes, I was sucked into it. First of all, it's quite beautifully filmed, with an abundance of rich colors not seen since the days of 1930's Technicolor. Neil also utilizes some amazing bits of rear projection and the sets have a stunning surreal quality to them very reminiscent of the 1954 musical Red Garters and Paul Schrader's Mishima. This was obviously a labor of love, and was clearly quite an expensive production. But it simply doesn't work, for the humor is quirky, dry and riddled with bizarre, undeveloped characters.
Not much goes on in the story line. The Rock Group Devo portray employees at a nuclear power plant in a desolate town, who have been so exposed by the radiation that they glow bright red. This trail of radiation follows them as they dump barrels of waste, while gleefully immersed in song. A nearby rest stop owner (Dean Stockwell) wants to cut costs on running his establishment and finally decides to burn the place down for the insurance money. Dennis Hopper plays the drug-addled chef at the rest stop, complementing a mish-mash of odd characters. Neil Young and Russ Tamblyn play incompetent mechanics at the establishment. Neil is obsessed with a Sinatraesque crooner (also played by Young), who is giving a nearby concert and can barely hide his excitement when the crooner unexpectedly shows up at the station in his limo for an oil change. While working on the limo, Neil gets conked on the head and is rendered unconscious. It is at this point where Human Highway comes to life and blends elements of the surreal and incoherent. Neil's character imagines himself a folk music star, touring the desert in a bus with his motley crew of friends. It is also here where Neil decided to utilize state of the art video techniques and incorporated them to the film's warped imagery, while snippets of classic Young songs are heard on the soundtrack. Bodies of water have a candy colored effect, appearing as if the films' emulsion were completely stripped away and filled with streaks of bright color. It's very hard to determine what is actually taking place in the story line, but one can guess that it is all a series of in-jokes known only to the cast and crew.
The dream like quality of the images and music are stunning and it almost makes one forget the action prior to this sequence. Almost immediately the serene tone of this sequence is interrupted by a warped version of "Hey Hey, My My" performed by Neil with the rock group Devo. However it's not Neil who sings his classic anthem, but Mark Mothersbaugh in his alter ego of Booji- Boy (basically an oversized mask of mongoloid child's face) in a fractured voice. This sequence is somewhat interminable, due to the aimlessness of the noise. However, it is the most fascinating sequence in the film, for I'm sure that those who actually got a chance to see the film wished the whole thing was like this: more noise, feedback and rock and roll. In the end it symbolizes Neil's character coming out of his dream of being a rock star, and when he does the viewer is left with the thin, mundane plot.
To make matters more confusing, or even worse, there is an endless musical production number at the end of the film, in which all the characters dance with shovels. It makes me wonder if the cut pie fight at the end of Dr. Strangelove would have been worth it? Initially the shock of seeing all these counter culture actors bouncing around with shovels is amusing, but it wears out its welcome. Even though it doesn't work, it is a great piece of inspired lunacy and in some ways makes up for the rest of the plodding film.
I guess Neil scrapped plans to make Human Highway 2, as announced at the end of the film. But with Neil, you never know.
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