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
Last Updated: 20 Dec 2011