The 2010 film “Machete” wore its grindhouse roots on its celluloid sleeve. But the film felt like a hazy Xerox of that not-so-golden era.
“Hobo with a Shotgun,” in theaters and on Video on Demand, nails the grindhouse spirit from the opening credits.
Rutger Hauer stars as a bum who decides to clean up a city even dirtier than him. It’s grosser than gross, filled with outlandish performances and shockingly violent acts.
In a nutshell, it’s a grindhouse movie fan’s dream.
Hauer is the Hobo in question, a vagabond who arrives in a new city after a ride on the rails. The town would need a major renovation project to qualify as a dump. The police are nowhere in sight, criminals torture the innocent and a cruel ringleader named The Drake (Brian Downey) is behind much of the mayhem.
The Hobo does what everyone else does in town – ignore the depravity around him. But when a pretty hooker is threatened by one of The Drake’s sons, the Hobo snaps. He becomes a vigilante, and the press can’t get enough of his bloody victories.
“Hobo Stops Begging, Demands Change,” one newspaper blares, arguably the film’s funniest moment. But can an armed bum take The Drake down?
At an economical 85 minutes, “Hobo” never wears out its welcome. There’s nary a wasted moment here – even the few tender exchanges between the hooker (Molly Dunsworth) and the Hobo feel important enough not to snip away. Director Jason Eisener sets the narrative back in the 1980s, so we see kids wasting time in arcades and endure a throbbing retro soundtrack while the Hobo cleans up the city.
Hauer, his face weathered and raw, can still intimidate like he did during his Hollywood heyday. Everyone around him hams it up like it’s an Al Pacino talent competition, but Hauer glowers as if nursing a toothache. Grindhouse features don’t require great acting, but Hauer delivers a nuanced performance all the same.
The humor here is pitch black and soaked in blood and entrails. Even horror movie junkies may be shocked by what they see. It’s pure exploitation, a film not averse to setting a school bus full of children ablaze to make a point.
Too bad the script isn’t as consistently sharp as befitting such a romp. Hauer is primed to toss off some great lines, but when the action mounts and he raises that shotgun, he often has nothing clever to say.
“Hobo with a Shotgun” began as a faux movie trailer approved by Robert Rodriguez in the runup to his 2007 Grindhouse feature “Planet Terror.” “Machete” also began its life the same way, but only one film emerges as the true heir to the sub-sub genre.
(Photo: Rutger Hauer plays a homeless man out to clean up a crooked town in “Hobo with a Shotgun,” a Magnet Release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing. Photo credit: Karim Hussain)
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I strenuous object to the denigrating title of this movie! It’s an outrage. It should be, “Homeless Person with a Shotgun.”
Hobo sounds more romantic, more retro, more whimsical, than “Homeless person”!
But a hobo isn’t just a homeless person, he’s an itinerant laborer. Maybe Bum with a Shotgun? Although the Brits would think that he’s an armed butt…
How about “Recently graduated college with no job prospects WITH a shotgun”?
A Hobo is a homeless guy without a stable place to stay! They may work, and may have a college degree-and hopefully dont have a shotgun!
Nope, a homeless guy who just moves around is a tramp. Hobos actively seek work.
What you are talking about are drifters-some are just travelling vagrants, some are true tramps. Some were from gypsies, and some become thieves. Then you have gypsies, tramps and thieves!