Thursday, April 16, 2009

Mystery Train: Ricky Aviles


From the movie Mystery Train, 1989: Steve Buscemi, Joe Strummer and Rick Aviles riding in a car, Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Cinqué Lee at the desk of a hotel, they all are listening to Elvis Presley sing Blue Moon on the radio.
from wikipedia
Mystery Train is a 1989 anthology film written and directed by independent film director Jim Jarmusch and set in Memphis, Tennessee. The film comprises three different stories involving foreigners (a Japanese couple, an Italian widow, and a British criminal) set on the same night. They are linked by one run-down hotel run by Night Clerk (played by Screamin' Jay Hawkins) and his dishevelled bellboy (Cinque Lee, younger brother of director Spike Lee), a scene featuring Elvis Presley's "Blue Moon" and a gunshot.
In the final story, "Lost In Space", we meet Dee Dee's husband, Johnny (aka Elvis, much to his chagrin, played by former Clash front-man Joe Strummer). Having drunk himself silly after losing his job and brandishing a gun, Johnny, along with his buddy Will Robinson (former stand-up comic Rick Aviles) and brother-in-law Charlie (Steve Buscemi), robs a liquor store, severely wounding the owner in the process, and spends the night hiding out in the hotel getting drunk. While there, Charlie realizes that Will shares the same name as Will Robinson from the TV show Lost in Space, which Johnny's never heard of. So they proceed to tell him about the show, which Will says that's how he feels now with Charlie and Johnny, Lost in Space. The next morning Charlie discovers that Johnny isn't even really his brother-in-law, which angers him because of what they've been through. Johnny then tries to shoot himself, and during the struggle Charlie gets shot in the leg. Come morning the three escape a police car that isn't even looking for them. The closing credits show the train and the airport and the final views of the characters from the first two stories.

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