Roadside Prophets - 1992
Rating - 15
Directed and Written by - Abbe Wool
Starring - John Doe, Adam Horovitz, John Cusack, David Carradine, Timothy Leary
Run time - 96 minutes
Roadside Prophets is a 1992 comedy road movie starring musicians John Doe (bassist of the Californian punk band X) and Adam Horovitz (A.K.A. Ad-Rock, one-third of hip-hop trio Beastie Boys). Doe stars as Joe Mosely, a divorcee factory worker whose prized possession is his 1957 Harley Davidson motorcycle. He meets Dave Coleman, another motorcycle rider and new employee at the factory. After work, they go for a drink and while Dave is telling Joe about a casino in the town El Dorado, Dave dies after being electrocuted by a faulty arcade game. As Dave said he had no family (which he lied about), Joe thinks it's his duty to drive to El Dorado, Nevada and scatter Dave’s ashes.
When stopping at a Motel 9, Joe meets Sam (Horovitz), a jumpy adolescent who is searching across America for the Motel 9 where his parents committed suicide. Tired of searching, he buys a motorbike and joins Joe uninvited on his journey to scatter his colleague’s ashes. Along the way, they meet many eccentrics as they pass aimlessly through the Nevada deserts.
This movie is regularly been said to be the 1990’s answer to the classic 1969 movie Easy Rider, starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, also about two guys who travel across the US, though in this movie, they are instead travelling with the proceeds from a cocaine deal, with the film featuring many references to drugs and hallucinogenics. Roadside Prophets (in comparison), is a breath of fresh air, being much more realistic and understandable, the one drawback though is the plot falls flat and loses its interest halfway through.
Screenwriter/Electrician Abbe Wool, who wrote and directed this movie, also co-wrote the biopic Sid and Nancy and worked on movies like Planet of the Apes and The Big Lebowski. John Doe gives a rather bland lead performance while Adam Horovitz is rather good (even with his annoying voice). This movie may only appeal to pacific audiences and has rather been left in the dust of motorcycle movies, I feel this long-forgotten gem deserved more recognition and appreciation as it may not be much special, but its still an intriguing watch.
Score - 7/10
Roadside Prophets is available to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video
I enjoyed this one😃
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