Love, drugs, guns, and the devil.
Highway 61 (1991) is a Road Movie directed by Bruce Mc Donald and starring Don McKellar.
McKellar plays Pokey Jones, a barber and aspiring jazz musician who discovers the body of a vagrant in his back yard. A mysterious woman, played by Valerie Buhagiar, shows up to claim the body as her brother, and take him back to New Orleans. While her real purpose is to smuggle drugs, Pokey agrees to drive her all the way.
Meanwhile, Mr. Skin, a delusional man who thinks he's Satan, played charmingly by Earl Pastko, is following them collecting souls, and one of his victims is a widower with hopes to bring his daughters to country music stardom.
Some tropes associated with the film include:
- Coffin Contraband: Bangs uses the dead body to hide drugs. They travel with the coffin strapped to the roof of the car.
- Cool Car : Pokey's parents' car, which hasn't been driven in decades.
- Deal with the Devil : The dead man Pokey found owes Mr. Skin his soul.
- Devil Complex: Mr. Skin is a delusional man who thinks he's Satan, played charmingly by Earl Pastko, has taken upon himself to "collect souls" by making deals with people when they are still alive, then returning to steal their corpses when they die. He is one of the antagonists of the film when he follows the protagonist hoping to claim the corpse of someone who previously made a deal with him, but whose body has been stolen by the protagonist to use in a smuggling drug-mule trip under the guise of giving it a decent burial back in his hometown. Mr.Skin also believes he is the devil due to a bizarre belief that he was born on the same day that multiple famous celebrities died (including Elvis) and that their deaths were the costs to bring him into Earth.
- Did the Earth Move for You, Too? : Played with. In the midst of her Immodest Orgasm, Jackie fires a gun.Jackie: Now I know why they call you Pokey.Pokey: Now I know why they call you Bangs.
- Canadian Music: The soundtrack features some great Canadian indie bands, including The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir and Nash the Slash.
- Stage Mom : Mr. Watson: he wants his daughters to become great country musicians.
- The Cameo: Jello Biafra as a customs agent
- Title Drop : Pokey loves pop culture and he tells Jackie he wants to travel on the subject of Bob Dylan's famous album, as Highway 61 will take you all the way through the U.S.
