This film is a low-budget piece, with actors you've probably not heard of. But...they manage to put it all together well.
Ben, a gangster, is told by a partner in crime that he will be getting a chance at "real" work. Ben will take a suitcase full of cocaine into a shack in the desert and simply wait a few days for the buyer to arrive. This buyer is known only as "the Dutchman." Ben will receive $100,000 for the drugs; he will be allowed to keep $35,000 of that money as payment.
Ben decides to bring along two male friends who also happen to also be amateur gangsters. Characteristically, Ben lies to his friends and says he's being paid $20,000 and that they'll split the 20k three ways. (No honor among gangsters, I suppose!) That part always makes me smile; it shows Ben to be very clever and deceitful. What's more, it leads to a hilarious speech, to wit: "I didn't even HAVE to tell you guys I was being paid twenty thousand dollars for this deal! I could have lied and said I was making TEN thousand, and you'd STILL have begged me to let you come along!" Ben is a pathological liar, but the director happens to exploit that aspect of his personality in a few humorous scenes.
Trouble starts almost from the beginning. When they stop for gas, despite the fact that they have some money with them, Ben's boneheaded friend Jesus decides he just doesn't feel like paying for anything and robs the store. As their car races away, the owner fires a shotgun at them; piercing the gas tank and essentially trapping the three at their pickup point. Jesus doesn't stop there. He decides to invite a few lady-friends over for a party the first night and everyone, except Ben, who is horrified at this gross incompetence, starts helping themselves to the cocaine. The next day; bored, thirsty, and upset at the situation, Ben starts to see visions of an Indian holy man in the desert.
This movie has some funny moments; mostly because it doesn't TRY to be funny. These characters are so incompetent you can't help but smile regardless of what they're going. There aren't many cliché's; the characters seem well-rounded to me. Though the ending is a bit on the unoriginal side; it neither impresses nor disappoints. Highly Recommended. I hope this movie is re-released on DVD soon.
