''South of Heaven, West of Hell'' is a 2000 American

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film starring

Dwight Yoakam Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and filmmaker. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album ''Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerable s ...

, who also co-wrote, directed, and scored the film. The film follows Valentine Casey (Yoakam), a Marshal in the

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

territory when he receives a surprise visit from his

outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them. ...

adoptive father (

Luke Askew Francis Luke Askew (March 26, 1932 – March 29, 2012) was an American actor. He appeared in many westerns, and had a lead role in the spaghetti Western '' Night of the Serpent'' (''La notte dei serpenti''; 1969). He also had a small but key par ...

) on Christmas Eve 1907. This stands as the only film Yoakam has starred in, written and directed. The film premiered on the closing night of the 2000

Slamdance Film Festival The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival is held in Los Angeles in late February and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization. The organization ...

, and released in theatres on December 15, 2000.

Plot

Cast

as Valentine Casey *

Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker, singer and songwriter. He received international attention after writing, directing and starring in the independent film, independent Drama (film and television), drama f ...

as Brigadier Smalls *

Vince Vaughn Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American actor. He is known for starring as a leading man in numerous comedy films during the late 1990s and 2000s. He was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award ...

as Taylor Henry *

Bridget Fonda Bridget Jane Fonda (born January 27, 1964) is a retired American actress, known for her roles in films such as ''The Godfather Part III'' (1990), '' Single White Female'' (1992), '' Singles'' (1992), ''Point of No Return'' (1993), '' It Could Ha ...

as Adalyne Dunfries *

Peter Fonda Peter Henry Fonda (February 23, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. He was a two-time Academy Award nominee, both for acting and screenwriting, and a two-time Golden Globe Award winner for his a ...

as Bill "Shoshonee Bill" *

Paul Reubens Paul Reubens (; ; August 27, 1952 – July 30, 2023) was an American actor and comedian, widely known for creating and portraying the character Pee-wee Herman. Born in Peekskill, New York and raised in both Oneonta, New York and Sarasota, Flo ...

as Arvid Henry *

Bud Cort Walter Edward Cox (born March 29, 1948), known professionally as Bud Cort, is an American actor known for his unorthodox starring roles in Robert Altman's '' Brewster McCloud'' (1970), for which he was nominated for a Golden Laurel Award, and Ha ...

as Agent Otts *

Michael Jeter Michael Jeter (; August 26, 1952 – March 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his career on stage and screen, Jeter played diverse characters. He won a Tony Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. He portrayed Herman Stiles on the sitcom '' Eve ...

as Uncle Jude *

Bo Hopkins William Mauldin "Bo" Hopkins (February 2, 1938 – May 28, 2022) was an American actor. He was known for playing supporting roles in several major studio films from 1969 to 1979, especially for his breakout role in the ensemble cast of ''Americ ...

as Dr. Angus "Doc" Dunfries *

as Leland Henry *

Joe Ely Joe Ely (; born February 9, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was "one of the main movers" of Austin, Texas' progressive country scene in the 1970s and '80s. He has had a genre-crossing career, performing with Bruce ...

as Paul "Petrified Paul" *

Warren Zevon Warren William Zevon (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer and songwriter. His most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", "Lawyers, Guns and Money" and "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner". All t ...

as Babcock

Production

Shortly before production began, the financier backed out and Yoakam made the decision to finance the film on his own, partially through the sale of his home in Malibu. His production company (A Cast of Strays) ultimately filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

protection, and several crew members registered complaints with unions and filed lawsuits in small claims court against the company. Yoakam said it was "the hardest experience I've ever gone through in my professional life in terms of executing art". To help pay off the debt accrued while making the movie, Yoakam hired a cheaper backing band in 2002, which resulted in a falling out with his longtime producer, bandleader, and guitarist

Pete Anderson Pete Anderson (born July 23, 1948) is an American guitarist, music producer, arranger and songwriter. Anderson is most known for his guitar work with, and critically acclaimed production of, country music star Dwight Yoakam from 1984 through 2 ...

. Yoakam originally meant

Vincent Gallo Vincent Gallo (born April 11, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and musician. He has won several accolades, including a Volpi Cup for Best Actor, and has been nominated for the Palme d'Or, the Golden Lion, and the Bronze Horse. Gallo was ...

to play the lead rather than himself. Nor was he intending to direct it.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has a 14% approval rating, based on 7 reviews with an average rating of 3.50 out of 10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

the film has a score of 22% based on reviews from 6 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Robert Koehler of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' said that the film "lacks the critical ingredients of shape, consistent tone, rhythm and economy that would make this truly old-fashioned

oater The Western is a film genre defined by the American Film Institute as films which are "set in the American West that mbodythe spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier." Generally set in the American frontier between the Californi ...

into a lean, compelling adventure". He added that "there's no grace to the interplay of images and emotions. At every step, the filmmakers seem unable to pull off an exaggerated horse opera, and they never know when to pull the plug on scenes that are going nowhere". Writing for ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an American online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. ...

'', Michael Dequina said in his review that "watching Yoakam's film...is like eating a shit sandwich. The title may be a cutesy joke describing someplace close to hell, but make no mistake—this film ''is'' hell."

References

External links

* {{Dwight Yoakam 2000 films 2000 Western (genre) films Films set in Arizona Trimark Pictures films Films set in 1907 2000 directorial debut films Films produced by Gray Frederickson 2000s English-language films American Western (genre) films 2000s American films English-language Western (genre) films