Dudes is a 1987 American independent film directed by Penelope Spheeris, written by Randall Jahnson, and starring Jon Cryer, Catherine Mary Stewart, Daniel Roebuck, and Lee Ving. A Western revenge story in a contemporary setting, its plot concerns three punk rockers from New York City who attempt to make their way to California. When one of them is murdered by a vicious gang leader, the other two, played by Cryer and Roebuck, find themselves fish out of water as they pursue the murderer from Arizona to Montana, assisted by a tow truck driver played by Stewart.
Continuing Spheeris' theme of highlighting the punk subculture as in her prior films The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) and Suburbia (1984), Dudes features several rock musicians in various roles, including Fear singer Lee Ving as the gang leader, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea as the murdered punk, and John Densmore of the Doors, Axxel G. Reese of the Gears, and punk artist and promoter "Mad" Marc Rude in minor roles, as well as punk rock band the Vandals performing in the opening scene. Spheeris had previously worked with Ving in The Decline of Western Civilization, and with Flea and the Vandals in Suburbia.
Dudes was shown in only a few theaters and did not receive a wide release through a film distributor. Several parties involved in making the film, including Spheeris, later attributed this to its mixing of multiple genres and tones. Written as a dramatic, action-filled "punk Western" set in the modern era, the finished film also contained elements of comedy, road movies, and a heavy metal soundtrack, the combination of which made it difficult to market. It received a home video release on VHS, through which niche interest in the film persisted in subsequent decades. In 2017 it was given a new release in the DVD and Blu-ray formats.
Plot Grant, Biscuit, and Milo are punks living in Queens. Bored with their lives, they decide to move to Los Angeles, and set out on a cross-country drive. In Utah they assist Elvis impersonator "Daredelvis" with getting his trailer unstuck. Later, Grant sees a mirage of a cowboy on horseback. While camping in the Arizona desert they are attacked by a gang of vicious rednecks, and Milo is murdered by their leader, Missoula. Grant and Biscuit escape and collapse in the desert, where Grant again sees a vision of the cowboy.
The local sheriffs do not believe the boys' story, having no record of Missoula or his gang and being unable to find Milo's body as evidence of the murder. Grant resolves to track down the gang and avenge Milo's death, despite Biscuit's reservations. Heading back into Utah, they find one of the gang's trucks overturned and several of the members dead. Before dying, one of them reveals that they planned to turn themselves in but were killed by Missoula, who is headed north through Wyoming to Montana. The boys also meet Jessie, a young woman who runs a gas station and towing business.
Catching up to Missoula's truck, Grant and Biscuit engage in a high-speed shootout with Missoula and his buddy Blix, but swerve off the road and crash. They are rescued by Jessie, who teaches Grant how to shoot and ride a horse and strikes up a romance with him. Meanwhile, Biscuit has a dream in which he is part of a Native American tribe who are slaughtered by Union Army soldiers led by Missoula. Upon awakening, he begins to imitate a Native American warrior and insists on resuming the pursuit. Jesse outfits the pair in exaggerated western costumes and gives them use of a beat-up 1959 Buick Invicta complete with bull's horns mounted to the hood.
In Wyoming, the boys find Daredelvis working at a rodeo and enlist his help to capture gang member Wes, from whom they recover Milo's stolen jacket, but Wes is killed by a bull without revealing Missoula's location. On the way to a ghost town where Missoula is rumored to be hiding, Grant once again sees the mysterious cowboy, but Biscuit dismisses it as an illusion. Finding the town empty, the pair get drunk and have a vision in which they meet the cowboy, named Witherspoon, accompanied by a trio of Native American warriors from Biscuit's dream. Witherspoon magically transports Grant back in time to when the town was populated and raucous, while the Native Americans similarly transport Biscuit back in time to participate in a tribal gathering.
Awakening hung over, Grant finds a matchbook in Milo's jacket that leads them to a saloon in a Montana town where they find Missoula and Blix. Trailing them into a movie theater, Grant and Biscuit open fire on the pair, but Grant hesitates and a shootout ensues; Missoula and Blix escape, while Grant and Biscuit are arrested and jailed. Missoula and Blix murder two sheriff's department officers and invade the jail in an attempt to kill the boys, but Jessie arrives just in time to break them out. Grant manages to kill Blix and wound Missoula, and pursues him on horseback to an abandoned building, where he tackles Missoula off a high ledge. Missoula shoots Grant in the arm and Grant returns fire, killing him. Grant once again sees Witherspoon and the Native American warriors, now accompanied by Milo, who ride off into the distance and disappear in a cloud of dust just before Biscuit and Jessie arrive.
Cast Adapted from the film's credits reel.
Jon Cryer as Grant Daniel Roebuck as Biscuit Flea as Milo Lee Ving as Missoula Billy Ray Sharkey as Blix Glenn Withrow as Wes Michael Melvin as Logan, one of the gang members Axxel G. Reese as Red, one of the gang members Marc Rude as Sonny, one of the gang members Catherine Mary Stewart as Jessie Calvin Bartlett as Witherspoon Pete Willcox as Daredelvis Vance Colvig as Hezekiah, a prisoner in the Montana jail Ancel Cook as Rhatigan, one of the Arizona sheriffs Wycliff Young as Watts, one of the Arizona sheriffs Arleigh Bonnaha as Fights at Dawn, one of the Native American warriors Apesanahkwat as Skytalks, one of the Native American warriors Red Wing as Laughing Bear, one of the Native American warriors Christina Beck as the woman accompanying Missoula in the saloon and movie theater Molly Matthiesen as the woman accompanying Blix in the saloon and movie theater Read Morgan as Stoddard, one of the Montana sheriffs John Densmore as Beeson, one of the Montana sheriffs Pamela Gidley as Elyse, a woman who flirts with Grant in a restaurant Peter Kent as Elyse's boyfriend "Road Warrior", who starts a fight with Grant Leland Sun as the restaurant waiter Tiny Wells as McGrorty James Helpi as a skinhead Blessing McAnlis as Jennifer, a young girl who gives Grant and Biscuit information about the gang David K. Wolf as Ray Kellog, a scout leader who refuses to help Grant and Biscuit Judy Starr as Nancy Kellog, Ray's wife and fellow scout leader Marcia Darroch as the movie theater concessionaire Punk rock band the Vandals—consisting of singer Dave Quackenbush, drummer Joe Escalante, guitarist Jan Sakert, and bassist Chalmer Lumary—appear as themselves in the film's opening scene, performing their song "Urban Struggle".
Production
Development
In writing Dudes, scriptwriter Randall Jahnson was partly inspired by visits to Old West locations which he felt were "frozen in time". In the early and mid-1980s, he later reflected, the punk and art rock scenes in Los Angeles were demonstrating a certain fascination with the West, exemplified by Wall of Voodoo performing cover versions of Spaghetti Western songs, the Dead Kennedys covering "Rawhide", and the Meat Puppets mixing punk with country music, which influenced his crossing of the two genres in his script. He settled on the film's title based on the Old West use of the term "dude" to describe a "tenderfoot" or "fish out of water", city-dwelling Easterners unprepared for life on the frontier, seeing his main characters as modern "dudes".
Jahnson pitched his script to producer Miguel Tejada-Flores of independent film company the Vista Organization as "punk rockers out in the wilds of Wyoming", which Tejada-Flores thought was an interesting idea, though a bit "out there" conceptually. He and fellow producer Herb Jaffe sought Ridley Scott to direct, but could not agree with him on the film's "vision". Penelope Spheeris first read the script in March 1986 and expressed interest. Tejada-Flores had been impressed by her previous directorial work, particularly her 1985 film The Boys Next Door, and felt that she could tell an enthralling story from the mix of genres present in Jahnson's script. He showed The Boys Next Door to Jaffe, and the two agreed that Spheeris was a good candidate to direct, a choice which was solidified when she convinced them that she could make the film within their proposed budget and get good performances out of her actors. Jahnson was a fan of Spheeris' 1981 punk rock documentary The Decline of Western Civilization, and agreed that she had the "punk rock sensibility" for the script.
Cinematographer Robert Richardson, who had recently finished working on Platoon (1986), personally approached Spheeris and expressed interest in working with her. Tejada-Flores and Jaffe had been impressed by Richardson's prior work, but did not think they could afford him; however, Richardson agreed to work within their cinematography budget.
Casting
Spheeris wanted Jahnson to be part of the casting process, and invited him to many of the casting sessions, which was not common practice for directors. Jon Cryer, who had recently gained attention for his role in the hit film Pretty in Pink, was attracted to the eclectic nature of Dudes''' script as well as the opportunity to play the hero, which he had not done before. Spheeris favored Cryer for the film's lead but also considered Keanu Reeves, and chose Cryer at Jaffe's suggestion. To prepare for the role Cryer learned how to ride a horse and fire a gun, and got his ear pierced since the script called for Grant to wear an earring; the heavy earring caused the piercing to become infected. Being young and eager to play the hero, he performed many of his own stunts. He had difficulty with the scenes that required him to drive a car; He had earned his driver's license while performing in Torch Song Trilogy in Los Angeles several years prior, but used public transport and taxis in his native New York City and had very little experience behind the wheel.
Catherine Mary Stewart became interested in the role of Jessie because "she was a strong female character, which is important, and also was somebody who could ride horses, shoot a gun, she owned a garage...Part of my fantasy when I was a little girl was to do exactly all that stuff, and when I came on the set I had an idea of what my character should be and what I sort of developed for myself, and [Spheeris] was very supportive of that." In preparation for the role she trained with a stunt performer who specialized in gun play, learning how to twirl her revolver so it would slide right into its holster. "I was practicing that all the time," she later recalled, "because I wanted it to be great."