Human Highway

Human Highway (1982)

When love and fate collide

The new owner of a roadside diner stuck in a town built around an always leaking nuclear power plant plans to torch the place to collect insurance. However, an assortment of bizarre characters and weird events (such as spaceships flying around) gets in his way.

Date of release
1982-09-10
TMDB
5.2 / 10 (25)
Runtime
1h 28m
Genres
Science Fiction, Comedy, Drama
Director
Neil Young, Dean Stockwell

Casting

Interesting facts

Human Highway is a 1982 American comedy film starring and co-directed by Neil Young in his film and directorial debut under his pseudonym Bernard Shakey. Dean Stockwell co-directed the film and acted along with Russ Tamblyn, Dennis Hopper, and the band Devo. Included is a collaborative performance of "Hey Hey, My My " by Devo and Young with Booji Boy singing lead vocals and Young playing lead guitar.

Production

Over four years Young spent $3 million of his own money on production. Filming began in 1978 in San Francisco and Taos, New Mexico. It was resumed in 1981 on the Hollywood soundstages of Raleigh Studios. The set, which included the diner and gas station, was built to Young's specific requests. His initial idea was to portray a day in the life of Lionel and bystanders during the Earth's last day. The actors were to develop their own characters.

Dennis Hopper, who played the addled cook, was performing knife tricks with a real knife on the set. Sally Kirkland attempted to take a knife from him and severed a tendon. She spent time in a hospital and later sued, claiming Hopper was out of control. Hopper has admitted to drug abuse during this period.

It was Devo's first experience with Hollywood. Gerald Casale said the band felt removed observing the odd behavior, including excessive alcohol and drug abuse, and rock star adulation with Young as the central "most grounded" person.

The "Hey Hey My My" footage with Devo was recorded at Different Fur, San Francisco. Mark Mothersbaugh as "Booji Boy" during this performance inserted the Devo line, "rust never sleeps". The line inspired Young's works of the same name. Young showed the footage of this performance to his band Crazy Horse. Guitarist Frank Sampedro has said they played "Hey Hey My My" "harder" as a result.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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