From Dusk Till Dawn (film)
From Dusk Till Dawn is a 1996 action/horror film directed
by Robert Rodriguez and written by Quentin Tarantino. The movie stars George Clooney,
Harvey Keitel, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis, and Cheech Marin.
From Dusk Till Dawn employed a non-union production crew, which is unusual for a production with a budget above 10 million dollars. Rodriguez, Tarantino and producer Lawrence Bender defended this choice because it made for a more team-like atmosphere on the set instead of people having to stick to their certified jobs.
The film was followed by two direct-to-video follow-ups, a sequel, From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money and a prequel, From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter. Danny Trejo is the only actor to appear in all three, although Michael Parks appears in The Hangman's Daughter. Rodriguez, Tarantino and Lawrence Bender served as producers on all three movies.
Tagline:A terrifying
evil has been unleashed. And five strangers are our only hope to stop it.
Cast
Harvey Keitel - Jacob Fuller
George Clooney - Seth Gecko
Quentin Tarantino - Richard Gecko
Juliette Lewis - Kate
Fuller
Ernest Liu - Scott Fuller
Salma Hayek - Santanico Pandemonium
Cheech Marin - Border Guard / Chet Pussy / Carlos
Danny Trejo - Razor Charlie
Tom Savini - Sex
Machine
Fred Williamson - Frost
Michael Parks - Texas Ranger Earl McGraw
Brenda Hillhouse - Hostage Gloria Hill
John Saxon - FBI Agent Stanley
Chase
Marc Lawrence - Old Timer Motel Owner
Kelly
Preston - Newscaster Kelly Houge
Plot
The fugitive Gecko brothers Seth (George Clooney) and Richie (Quentin Tarantino) are fleeing the F.B.I. and Texas police after Richie has broken Seth out of custody at court, in a bloody shootout. Seth Gecko is a cold, tough anti-hero, while his younger brother Richie is a delusional, homicidal serial rapist.
Seth and Richie hold two girls hostage in a liquor store to attempt to get Pete Bottoms, the clerk, to get rid of Texas Ranger Earl McGraw, who has entered the store. Just as McGraw is about to leave, he is shot in the head by Richie, thinking that Pete has mouthed "help us." This leads to an argument between Seth and Richie, and Richie shoots Pete in the shoulder. Enraged, Pete manages to pull out a gun he had hidden in a safe. Though he manages to shoot Richie in the hand, Pete fails to reload quickly enough, and is set on fire by the two brothers (during which the hostages escape). As the two siblings argue and depart, the liquor store quickly catches fire and explodes behind the two, who don't bother to notice. It is revealed during the brothers' argument that Richie was merely supposed to buy a road map from the store.
The Geckos arrive at a motel, along with Gloria Hill, a hostage they had taken from the court in the trunk of their car. Seth warns Hill not to talk or try to escape. Seth then leaves to get food and to scope Mexico's border, while Richie watches a news report about him and his brother.
At the same time, the Fuller family: Jacob (Harvey Keitel), the father and a former pastor who has experienced a crisis of faith, and his two children Scott (Ernest Liu) and Kate (Juliette Lewis) are on a vacation in their RV. Meanwhile, Seth returns with food for the three of them and discovers that Richie has raped and killed Hill. Seeing Hill's nude and battered body lying on the hotel bed, Seth becomes enraged, only to calm down and promise his brother that they will get to Mexico tomorrow.
The Fullers arrive at the motel, only to be kidnapped by the Geckos, who force the Fullers to smuggle the brothers past the Mexican Border. Richie's eyes begin to roam on Kate which makes Seth and Jacob uncomfortable. But both men make an uneasy truce if it means Jacob and his family will come out of the ordeal unharmed and the Geckos can make it past the border. They manage to fool the border agent (Cheech Marin) and arrive at the "Titty Twister", a bar in the middle of a desolate wasteland, where the Geckos have agreed to be picked up by Carlos (Cheech Marin again), their contact, at dawn.
At the "Titty Twister", the Geckos run into a few conflicts. First they encounter Chet Pussy, an obnoxious bouncer (Cheech Marin again) whom Seth and Richie pummel to gain entrance. Then Razor Charlie (Danny Trejo), the owner and main bartender, refuses to serve them, stating that he only serves bikers and truck drivers. Though Jacob manages to prove that he is a truck driver, stating that a truck license is required to drive an RV, Seth nevertheless gets angry when Big Emillio, a bouncer, puts his hand on him. Jacob defuses the situation by buying everyone a drink.
Exotic dancer Santanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek), the main attraction at the "Titty Twister", appears. After her show is over, Chet the bouncer, having recovered from his beating, enters the bar with Razor Charlie and Big Emilio at his side. Once they attack the Geckos and stabbing Richie in his wounded hand, he and Seth shoot all three to death. Upon seeing Richie's blood soaked hand, Santanico morphs into a horrible creature, jumps on Richie's back and sinks her fangs into his neck, killing him. It soon becomes evident that everyone that works at the "Titty Twister" are vampires.
In the ensuing chaos, nearly every biker and trucker in the bar is killed in a bloodbath. Only, Seth, Jacob, Kate, and Scott survive, along with a biker named Sex Machine (Tom Savini) who has a gun holstered to his crotch, and Frost (Fred Williamson), a Vietnam War veteran who likes cigars. They manage to kill all of the vampires in the room (including Santanico Pandemonium, Razor Charlie, Big Emillio, Chet Pussy, and a vampire called "Mouth Bitch"), but their problems are not yet over. A host of vampires attempt to enter the bar, which is then barricaded. Also, the slain clients - including Richie - are starting to rise again as vampires and must be destroyed. During the struggle, one of the vampires bites Sex Machine in the arm, but he tries to cover up his wound.
The survivors try to decide what to do next. Some of them suggest staying until dawn. When Kate says in ever-growing panic that she cannot stand all of this, Frost disagrees, recalling a traumatic event that occurred to him in Vietnam. While he is telling this story, Sex Machine begins to develop vampire traits and when Frost finishes his story, Sex Machine bites him (non-fatally) on the neck. He also manages to bite Jacob in the arm and throws him against a wall, before being thrown through a door by Frost, causing all of the vampires outside to enter. In the process, Frost also turns into a vampire instantly. Seth, Kate, and Scott quickly escape to a back room.
Meanwhile, Jacob manages to combine a baseball bat and a shotgun in the form of a cross and escapes into the back room where Seth, Scott, and Kate are hiding. They fashion weapons from items found in the storeroom (including carving crosses on the remaining bullets in Seth's gun), and prepare to fight the vampires. Before joining them, Jacob makes his children swear that they will kill him when he inevitably changes into a vampire.
The four then make their assault on the undead. Seth and Kate manage to kill Sex Machine (after he turns into a demon rat), and Jacob attacks Frost. However, just after Frost is vanquished, the other vampires stop attacking Jacob, since Jacob has turned into a vampire himself. He is standing next to Scott, who cannot bring himself to kill Jacob. He bites Scott, who then kills him. Scott is then attacked by several vampires and Kate is forced to shoot him and his attackers. As the vampires have very poor reactions to anything blessed, the bullets blow up their bodies, which blows up Scott as well.
Seth and Kate quickly get surrounded by the vampires, but then streams of sunlight shine through holes in the walls, showing that it is now dawn. Seth and Kate quickly shoot holes into the walls through which sunlight pours in, holding the remaining vampires at bay. Just then, Carlos attempts to enter the building. On Seth's call his bodyguards blast open the door, and the sunlight streaming in in a broad beam (and a disco ball on the ceiling reflecting it into every corner of the bar) blows up all of the remaining vampires.
Seth and Kate flee the building as the vampires go up in flames. Seth berates Carlos for choosing the "Titty Twister" as their rendez-vous and demands that now he will pay Carlos only 15% (rather than 30% as per their prior agreement) because of Richie and the Fullers' deaths. Eventually, the two agree to 25%. Seth leaves with Carlos. Though he is tempted to take Kate with him, he decides he is not evil enough to take her to a town of vicious criminals, where she will surely meet a bad end, stating his famous line, "I may be a bastard, but I'm not a fucking bastard." (This line is parodied by Australian satire band TISM with their song "I Might Be A Cunt, But I'm Not A Fucking Cunt"). He throws some money at her, and allows her to continue her journey without him, though she appears somewhat at a loss to continue her family's vacation after the events of the night.
As they leave, the camera pans back to reveal that the "Titty Twister" was actually the top of a buried ancient Aztec Temple, presumably the home of vampires for centuries, and reveals hundreds of trucks and bikes that have been toppled down the side of the cliff following their owners' untimely demise.
This film
was banned in the Republic of Ireland on release in 1996, until 2000.
The
sign at The Titty Twister was supposed to read "From Dusk Till Dawn",
but director Robert Rodriguez did not notice until the movie was in post-production.
Rodriguez originally commissioned one of his favourite painters, Frank Frazetta,
to create the one-sheet poster for the film. Although the poster ultimately wasn't
used, Rodriguez struck up a friendship with Frazetta and the two planned on working
together. This almost came to fruition in early 2004 when Rodriguez was originally
hired to direct John Carter of Mars and he brought on Frazetta as the film's production
designer. When Rodriguez was forced to leave the film, Frazetta left as well.
The movie's storyline heavily influenced the music video for Rammstein's song
"Engel" including the part when Satanico Pandemonium feeds Richie a
drink down her leg with her foot in his mouth.
Seth's line "Okay ramblers,
let's get rambling." is the same line said by Joe Cabot in Quentin Tarantino's
film, Reservoir Dogs. Two actors from that film, Quentin Tarantino and Harvey
Keitel are also in this movie.
Cheech Marin played multiple roles in the movie
- the Border Patrol guard, Chet Pussy at the Titty Twister, and Carlos.
The
film has many references to the John Carpenter film Assault on Precinct 13 (T-shirt
worn by Scott).
The Gecko Brothers is an allusion to the Frogg brothers, Edgar
and Alan Frogg, the siblings from The Lost Boys.
Quentin Tarantino had been
asked by Rodriguez to co-direct, but declined to focus more on acting.
John
Travolta, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken and Michael Madsen were
all offered the role of Seth Gecko. All five declined due to scheduling conflicts;
Buscemi was filming five movies, Walken four, and the rest were filming three.
The Gecko brothers are trying to get to El Ray, Mexico, a reference to Jim
Thompson's novel The Getaway where it is a fictional town filled with doomed criminals
who have nowhere left to run.
The burgers Seth Gecko buys and brings to the
motel are from Big Kahuna Burger, a reference to Pulp Fiction.
Behind the
bar in the Titty Twister is a neon sign that says "Chango Beer". The
Chango Beer brand was mentioned by Cheech's character in Desperado ("All
I got is piss warm Chango"). In a deleted scene a Chango bottle can be clearly
seen before Sex Machine (Tom Savini) breaks it with a whip. The beer also appears
again in the Sin City film adaptation during the "That Yellow Bastard"
segment when Hartigan follows a clue to Kate's Bar. The name Chango turns up as
well in The Faculty (also directed by Rodriguez) as the name of the football team
that is the opposition in the football game against the Harrington Hornetts (the
name is announced as "The Bruns County Changos" over a P.A. announcement
during one of the sequences that occurring during the school day).
The "Ezekiel"
speech Samuel L. Jackson gives in Pulp Fiction was originally in the script for
From Dusk Till Dawn in the scene where Jacob fights back the army of vampires
by using a shotgun and a bat as a cross.
The character of Earl McGraw also
appears in Tarantino's film Kill Bill and both segments of the film Grindhouse
(which exists as two movies directed by Rodriguez and Tarantino). Michael Parks
reprised the role in all of these appearances.
The "crotch gun"
that Sex Machine wears can be seen in Rodriguez's film Desperado.
Rappers
Timbaland and Magoo's music video for "Clock Strikes (Remix)" revolves
around them going through the same situation that the Gecko brothers did.
Seth
Gecko leaves with Carlos at the end of the movie to journey to El Ray, Mexico.
The main character from the Robert Rodriguez segment of Grindhouse, Planet Terror,
is El Wray.
Seth Gecko's gun is a Smith and Wesson Model 29 revolver with
a 4-inch barrel.
Richie Gecko's gun is a silver-plated Colt M1911 pistol.
The Gecko Brothers' car is a 67' Mercury Cougar.
In the film, Cristos
makes an appearance as one of Carlos's bodyguards. Cristos was also a fighter
in Bucho's cartel in Rodriguez's Desperado.
Quentin Tarantino was nominated
for a Golden Raspberry award for "Worst Supporting Actor" at the 1997
Golden Raspberry Awards.
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