Palmer's Pick-up

Robert Carradine, Richard Hillman with cameos from more people to name here (but Rosanna Arquette, Morton Downey Jr, and Grace Jones - to drop a few names!) Directed by Christopher Coppola (any relation to FF?). Winchester Films, 1999.

I wished I had actually been able to watch it in '99, because it would have been fantastic to watch this spoof when the rest of the world was stocking up on cigarettes and bottled water, preparing for the Millenium Bug! This movie actually plays into that, as a road movie, with two goofy guys hauling a crate that they dare not open, but MUST be across country within a week, when, basically, the recipient can use the contents to bring about the end of the world. (this, of course, unbeknownst to our hapless heroes)

Good Road B-movie, with various twists and turns and interesting little sideshops along the way - it shows back road America as a freakshow, held up to highlight the dullness of our heroes. Also, there is the typical assassin following them, always behind by just one step.

In all honesty, there are several things at work in this film, and truly I think it demands a second viewing to understand fully what's happening - especially with the Virgin Mary images that Pearl keeps seeing. That was strange. Suffice it to say: this is not your typical road-movie, but it does have the implication that all of us are subject to fate and have a Divine Destiny, a specific purpose, if you will, even throughout the schizophrenic, melodramatic lunacy that we like to call "America."


VG