It’s rare that I’m compelled to write a review because I consumed media that is so bad that I feel the urge to warn other people to stay away. (The only other time I can think of was after buying
John Lennon’s
Walls and Bridges in a fit of naïve, overzealous, completionist fandom.) As a great fan of
Neil Young and at least a modest fan of
Devo, it’s hard not to be curious about
Human Highway, a film financed, cowritten, and codirected by the former and featuring the acting and music of both. Allow me to tell you now not to watch this movie.
Wikipedia covers the “plot” and background details well enough, so let me summarize what this film features:
- Bad acting from everyone involved
- Bad writing, no character development, and a flimsy excuse for a plot
- Blatant racism, including both Young and Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh (as Booji Boy) dropping a slur
- Casual sexism
- Romanticization of car culture despite the vague environmentalist/anti-nuclear theme
- Nuclear apocalypse
- A senseless and gross milk bath
- Less focus on music than you might hope for
- Only one musical collaboration between Young and Devo
It is this last point that provides any reason to consider preserving any part of this film. The infamous early jam version of “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” with Booji Boy on lead vocals (recorded in 1978 before the officially released Crazy Horse version on
Rust Never Sleeps (1979)) is bizarre and wonderful. But you can
find that online without having to endure the rest. I suppose there’s also Devo’s cover of “It Takes a Worried Man”, but you can find that on their delightful
The Complete Truth About Devolution (1993) anyway. The movie also features parts of most of the synthesizer songs from Young’s excellent and idiosyncratic
Trans (1982), which might’ve been novel for the very few people who caught the movie before the album was released, but that’s irrelevant today. (And yes, I loved
Trans long before I understood myself to be
trans!)
Young was clearly fascinated by the phrase “human highway”, as evidenced by recording and performing myriad versions of the song over the years, recording an unfinished album under the same name with
CSN in the 70s, and ultimately making this film. Of everything he created that used the phrase, this movie is the worst by a wide margin.
I have some concern that by bringing attention to this movie, I may inspire someone to watch it. Please do not make this mistake. It is not even campy in a so-bad-it’s-good sense. It’s just bad. It makes me think less of Young. He was old enough to know better.
Scores:
Human Highway: D-
Young and Devo’s “Hey Hey, My My”: A
Trans: A-
The entirely unrelated Neil Young song “Human Highway” from
Comes a Time: A
Either of the CSNY versions of “Human Highway” from
Archives II (2020), originally recorded in 1973 and 1976: A+
1 comment:
-Bad acting from everyone involved
The acting sucks but is genuinely funny with the absurdity of the film
-Bad writing, no character development, and a flimsy excuse for a plot
The writing is dogshit but also hilariously absurd, the lack of character development is irrelevant due to the insane nature of the film. The characters themselves are established enough with specific personalities and it obviously does not follow a traditional narrative structure, instead it is a vignette of a fictional diner / auto shop / gas station in the nuclear maxing location of Linear Valley. Character development is genuinely a non issue with how insane the rest of this movie is.
-Blatant racism, including both Young and Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh (as Booji Boy) dropping a slur
Yes they should have definitely not have had Fox Harris do blackface to play "The Sheik" and should have refrained from saying "towelhead," kind of nuts that this made the final cut.
-Casual sexism
That is true, but more mild that the Sheik debacle.
-Romanticization of car culture despite the vague environmentalist/anti-nuclear theme
Genuinely seems like it was satirizing car culture, specifically the American romanization of car culture, how that ties to the absurd notion of the "American Dream," and the innate ridiculousness of late 20th century social structure while global leaders and economic warlords romanticize nuclear arms proliferation.
-Nuclear apocalypse
Hell yeah
-A senseless and gross milk bath
The milk bath is fucked up but also very funny that they chose to include this.
-Less focus on music than you might hope for
I wish there was more music too. It's sick that they played clips from Trans before the album dropped though.
-Only one musical collaboration between Young and Devo
They should have done more.
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