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Human Highway is a 1982 American comedy film starring and co-directed by Neil Young in his film and directional 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 (Into the Black)" by Devo and Young with Booji Boy singing lead vocals and Young playing lead guitar.
The film was shown in select theaters and not released on VHS until 1995. It received poor reviews upon its premiereJimmy McDonough, Shakey, Anchor Books, 2002, p.575-7 but has received favorable reviews more recently.Tom Keogh Review at IMDb Retrieved September 1, 2007
At the destroyed gas station-diner post nuclear holocaust, Booji Boy is the lone survivor, but after his cynical proseThe prose is excerpted from "My Struggle", by Booji Boys, 1978. Film credits. the opening credits are a return to the present. (Some edits of the film place this scene at the end, including the most recent director's cut.)
At the nuclear power plant nuclear garbage men (members of Devo) reveal that radioactive waste is routinely mishandled and dumped at the nearby town of Linear Valley. They sing a remake of "Worried Man Blues" while loading waste barrels on an old truck. Meanwhile, Lionel and his buddy Fred Kelly (Russ Tamblyn) ride bicycles to work. Fred says that Old Otto's recent death was by radiation poisoning. They remain unaware of the implications as Lionel laments it should have been he who died because he has worked on "almost every radiator in every car in town."
Early in the day at the diner Young Otto announces he must fire an employee for lack of money. He chooses waitress Kathryn, who has a tantrum and refuses to leave. She sits down weeping at a booth that has a picture on the wall of Old Otto and chooses on the jukebox the song "The End of the World". Later, waitress Irene overhears Young Otto's plans to fire everybody, destroy the buildings, and collect on a fraud insurance claim. Irene demands to be included in the scheme and to seal the deal with a kiss.
Although Lionel has a crush on the waitress Charlotte Goodnight, she has a crush on the milkman Earl Duke. After an earthquake Duke, dressed in white, enters the diner with a delivery. He flirts with her saying, "Charlotte ...on my way over here this morning I thought about you and the earth moved." She replies, "You felt it too!" He also offers her a milk bath. While he is there a dining Arab sheik offers him wealth in return for his "whiteness."
A limousine stops at the gas station. After Lionel learns his rock star idol, Frankie Fontaine, is in the limousine he insists the vehicle will need work. After meeting Frankie, who appears to lead an opulent, sequestered and drug-influenced lifestyle, Lionel says to the wooden Indian in his shop, "Now there's a real human being!"
Lionel receives a bump on the head while working on Frankie's limousine and enters a dream. He becomes a rock star with a backup band of wooden Indians. Backstage he is given a milk bath by Irene. Lionel travels with his band (the wooden Indians) and crew (all people from his waking life) by trucks through the desert. The wooden Indians go missing.
During "Goin' Back" (a song by Young) the entourage recreates in the desert near a Pueblo. Native Americans prepare a bonfire to burn the wooden Indians that went missing. Soon Lionel is playing music and dancing around the bonfire, which appears to have become the center of a Pow-wow. "Goin' Back" ends gazing into the bonfire of burning wooden Indians. "Hey, Hey, My, My" is a ten-minute studio jam performance by Devo and Young.
Lionel wakes from his dream surrounded by concerned friends, much like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Soon, global nuclear war begins. No one is sure what is happening until it is announced by Booji Boy as "the hour of sleep." He provides shovels and commands everyone to "dig that hole and dance like a mole!" The cast then enters a choreographed adaptation of "Worried Man". The planet is engulfed in radioactive glow and the cast, still festive, climbs a stairway to heaven accompanied by harp music.
Several of the cast members became favorites of David Lynch.
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.Jimmy McDonough, Shakey, Anchor Books, 2002, p.531-2
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