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Blood Guts Bullets & Octane
USA 1997
Reviewed by Jamie Graham
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Needles, California. Bob and Sid run an auto emporium, overshadowed by rival Danny Woo's far bigger car dealership. Heavily in debt, they take up an offer to babysit a 1963 Pontiac Le Mans for two days in return for $250,000. What Bob and Sid don't know is that an FBI search has linked the Pontiac to 34 roadside murders, as well as the ritual slaying of an entire South American tribe. The FBI speculate that the Pontiac's trunk contains a shipment of narcotics with which the tribe interfered.
The Pontiac and $125,000 are dropped off at Sid and Bob's garage. After a mix up during which Sid is shot, the pair decide to steal the car and demand $500,000 for its return. They arrange a meeting point on a highway. Crimelord Mr Reich arrives and refuses to pay. Sid shoots at him but misses and is killed in return. Danny Woo then steps out of Mr Reich's car. Woo explains that his wife is very ill and the only cure comes in the form of the 'blessed' blood of a particular South American tribe. Having been refused blood for a transfusion, Woo hired Reich to slaughter the tribe and drain their blood, which is now kept in the Pontiac. Woo kills Reich and gives Bob the remaining $125,000 and the keys to Reich's unregistered car, his way of returning a favour Sid and Bob did for him when they lied to auditors checking up on Woo. Bob heads for Mexico.
Review
Blood Guts Bullets & Octane is a maverick debut in a long line of maverick debuts where the story behind the film is as important as the film itself. Its director Joe Carnahan failed to finish film school and, deprived of an official qualification, set out to shoot this calculated calling card of a movie. Armed with a video camera, $7,300 and friends willing to work for beer and Doritos, Carnahan aped Robert Rodriguez' guerrilla tactics and wrote, directed and edited his very own El Mariachi.
Like its production history, the movie also echoes Rodriguez' debut with its fetishistic use of weapons and Western overtones. A final confrontation on a highway is shot like a high-noon showdown, all looming close-ups and long establishing shots. The overexposed stock also gives the film a burnished quality that perfectly complements its dusty, sun-drenched locations. Like Rodriguez, Carnahan turns his limitations into strengths: the action plays out in a loose style, the handheld camera is eager to view events from unexpected angles. A succession of whip pans, white-flash edits and black-and-white flashbacks lend the film a frantic, wired energy, and 'mistakes' are left in.
Such aggressively freestyle tactics - partly wilful, partly enforced by budgetary constraints - have long been a feature of independent film-making. Likewise, it is impossible to ignore the Tarantino influence that seeps into so many movies of the last few years. This is, after all, a convoluted, time-fractured tale of two black-suited car salesmen who become embroiled with all manner of criminal lowlifes. The macho leads fire off forever quotable lines of expletive-ridden dialogue, quibble over the merits of folk singer Johnny Cash and hold women, who aren't featured in the film at all, in bitter contempt. The 'what's in the car boot?' hook, meanwhile, recalls at the very least the briefcase macguffin of Pulp Fiction (itself stolen from Kiss Me Deadly, 1955). Yet despite his liberal borrowing and, for some tastes at least, over-eagerness to prove what he can do, Carnahan emerges from his debut as a genuine talent. The fact that he also found time to turn in a fine performance as Sid makes the feat doubly impressive
Credits
- Producers
- Dan Leis
- Leon Corcos
- Patrick M. Lynn
- Screenplay
- Joe Carnahan
- Director of Photography
- John Alexander Jimenez
- Editor
- Joe Carnahan
- Art Director
- Eric Lutes
- Music
- Mark Priolo
- Martin Birke
- ©Shortfuse Films
- Production Companies
- Short Fuse Films
- in association with Next Wave Films
- Executive Producers
- Peter Broderick
- Charles Leis
- Unit Production Manager
- Carlos Hernandez
- Post Supervision
- Leon Corcos
- Assistant Director
- William Rhodes
- Additional Photography
- Leon Corcos
- Mark Herzig
- Original Boiler Plate Logo Design
- Eric Lutes
- Make-up
- Eric Lutes
- Titles
- Melrose Titles and Optical Effects
- Original Lounge Compositions
- Luis Resto
- Dan Kolton
- Additional Music
- Mark Pieruccini
- Mama's Gravy
- Casualty Park
- Sound Recordist
- Spencer Mulcahy
- Additional Sound Recording
- Aaron Kinney
- Mike Shively
- Additional Tracks/SFX
- Aaron Kinney
- Chris Pickett
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Rockne Carnahan
- Weapons Specialist
- Rick Stevenson
- Cast
- Mike Maas
- Victor Drub
- Nick Fenske
- mechanic
- Mark Priolo
- Frank Priolo
- Joe Carnahan
- Sid French
- Andrew Fowler
- Mike Carbuyer
- Gloria Gomez
- Julie Carbuyer
- Dan Leis
- Bob Melba
- Josephine Arreola
- Elda
- Dave Booth
- Jerry
- Kavin Hale
- Pinto guy
- Max Ancar
- Frank Manzano
- Leah Carnahan
- Ginger
- Scott Taylor
- Dick Dupree Sr
- Eric Lutes
- Dick Dupree Jr
- Carlos Hernandez
- Diaz Carbajal
- Dan Harlan
- Danny Woo
- Karla Cave
- Dottie Woo
- Karen Olsen
- attendant
- Matt Carnahan
- Mitchell Wayne Richter
- James Salter
- Raymont Phelps
- Ken Rudulph
- FBI Agent Jared
- Jerry Rainbolt
- Jerry Goldman
- Carol Curry
- stripper
- Rick Reinaldo
- Dave Collagan
- inmates
- Michael Saumure
- Vernon Cash
- Kurt Johnson
- hillbilly sniper
- Hugh Mcchord
- Mr Reich
- Tanja Anguay
- Priya Patel
- Woo cowgirls
- Chuck Leis
- Pete the bartender
- Mike Maas
- dumpster bum
- Kellee Benedict
- FBI Agent Littel
- Mark S. Allen
- FBI Agent Franks
- Shad Selby
- paramedic
- Stew Oleson
- Milt Huggins
- Spencer Mulcahy
- hick in overalls
- Dave Pierini
- Bill the mechanic
- Certificate
- tbc
- Distributor
- Downtown Pictures
- tbc feet
- tbc minutes
- In Colour