Human Highway

press release:

USA | 1982 | DCP | 80 min.

Director: Bernard Shakey (Neil Young), Dean Stockwell

Cast: Neil Young, Dean Stockwell, Dennis Hopper

In 1979, following a decade of tremendous artistic success in the music industry, Neil Young commenced production on this offbeat musical comedy. Released three years later, Human Highway takes place in the fictional small town of Linear Valley soon before the apocalypse. The film boasts a cast of counterculture superstars including Russ Tamblyn, co-director Stockwell, Hopper, Devo and Young himself as a mechanic named Lionel. The scriptless, improv heavy, comedy was made partially as an attempt for Young to show off his fun side. After decades of retooling, Young’s experiment in narrative film has finally been made widely available via this new DCP restoration.

Marquee Mondays: In collaboration with the student-run WUD Film Committee, the Cinematheque brings back our Monday evening series of fun screenings that travel down the less-visited, sometimes more grungy avenues of contemporary pop cinema. The screenings take place at the Marquee Theater in Union South. This season’s offerings include new digital restorations of the “Canucksploitation” gem The Pit, filmed in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin; plus new Director’s Cut DCPs of Philip Kaufman’s New York gangland cult favorite, The Wanderers and Neil Young’s ultra weird apocalyptic rock musical Human Highway.

All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.