From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) starring George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, Ernest Liu, Salma Hayek directed by Robert Rodriguez Movie Review

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)   4/54/54/54/54/5


George Clooney in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

From Start to Finish

If it wasn't enough that brothers Seth (George Clooney) and Richard "Richie" Gecko (Quentin Tarantino) had just robbed a bank they soon added murder when they shoot a cashier and a Texas Ranger, arson when they torched the place, kidnapping involving one of the bank employees and to top it off Richie then rapes and murders the woman. Their crimes don't stop there and after stopping at a motel force a troubled pastor Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel) who is travelling with his daughter Kate (Juliette Lewis) and his son Scott (Ernest Liu) to smuggle them across the border into Mexico in his RV. But things take a turn for the strange when they stop off at the "Titty Twister" a strip joint for bikers as they soon discover to their horror it is the home of vampires and an almighty battle is about to begin.

Salma Hayek as a stripper, doing an incredibly sexy dance is one of my many memories from the first time I watched "From Dusk Till Dawn" and whilst I have watched it many times since and it features many other memorable scenes it is Salma Hayek as a sexy stripper which springs to mind when ever I think of "From Dusk Till Dawn". Now that may say more about me than it does the movie but it is such a strong scene that it is impossible not to remember it and that is the thing about "From Dusk Till Dawn" it is so memorable thanks to the look, the music, the characters, what happens and plenty more even if whilst memorable it has issues.

Salma Hayek in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Now here is one of those strange things about "From Dusk Till Dawn", it is in fact two movies. Don't believe me, well the first half is all about the exploits of Seth and Richie as they head South across the border. We encounter the trouble at the store which ends up in a gun battle and arson; we have the rape and then the hostage taking. Whilst this is going on we realise that whilst Seth sees himself as a smooth criminal Richard who would like to be like him is more rash and prone to erratic behaviour with his drifting off into fantasies. All of this is about the cool style of Seth and the manic danger of Richie and is all incredibly explosive with director Robert Rodriguez bringing style to every ounce of this first half.

But after this first half which also includes the kidnapping or Jacob and his family who is battling his own crisis of faith we then get the second movie which takes part at the "Titty Twister". Now I won't go in to detail as this second half is simply wild but it involves vampires. So yes we have two movies which are very different yet they are connected and quite simply a hell of a lot of fun.

And the reason for this is because as I said director Robert Rodriguez fills the movie with style, with larger than life characters, larger than life action and then on top of that gives us vampires and a huge bloody battle. Yes there is George Clooney who not only delivers one of his coolest performances but sports some major neck ink and there is also Juliette Lewis delivering one of those typical performances of a girl who could have a naughty side if you know what I mean. But for all the actors and characters it is because every second of "From Dusk Till Dawn" has style that it is hard not only to stop watching but also to not enjoy it.

What this all boils down to is that once you have watched "From Dusk Till Dawn" once you will never forget it whether it is for Salma Hayek's sexy stripper dancer or for George Clooney doing bad guy cool. Yes when you think about it for too long it has issues but it is such a well put together movie that it sucks you in and keeps you entertained from start to finish with one stylish scene after another.

Tags: Vampire Movies


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