Half-Cocked: Fully loaded

Reviewer: Erin Donovan
Rating (out of 5): ****

Despite some of its fashion and political aberrations, the early nineties were a good time for filmmakers and artists of limited means. Analog lovers who managed to track down the scratchy black and white film Half-Cocked, which barely saw the light of day in 1994, were in for a treat. The film had a soundtrack that informed the last pre-Internet generation of alienated punkers that there was still an alternative to cheesed out "alternative rock" in the form of earnest, low-fi music that was equally inspired by avant-garde, country and punk; and was informed by only having access to gear bought at pawnshops.

The story centers around Rhoda (Tara Jane O'Neil) and her friends who provide the grease that makes the Louisville music scene run (working lame jobs to pay rent on a party house, making fliers, supporting even the bands that suck) but have no creative outlet of their own. Her bratty older brother, Otis is a moderate local celebrity (messianic singer Ian Svenonious of The Make-Up and Nation of Ulysses is ingeniously cast) with his band the Guillotines. One night during a show Otis humiliates her so Rhoda steals his band's van and her friends drive all night. They wake up in Chatanooga realizing they are broke, starving and don't have enough money to get home or eat. They decide their best course of action is to take the Guillotine's equipment, start a band called Truck Stop and make enough money to avoid going home for awhile. Of course, the Louisville-Chatanooga-Nashville beltway of artrock is not a large or anonymous one and they are immediately figured out. But since Otis's dunceness is the stuff of local legend, fans of Truckstop get together to provide aid and comfort to the band on the lam.

Co-directors Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky (who also made Horns and Halos) use a a cast of non-actor musicians to document the boredom of being a small town bohemian, the ravages (and serendipity) of touring and the feeling of infinite possibilities that emanate from the first practices of a new band.

DVD extras are quite extensive: several featurettes, music videos, slideshows as well as Hawley and Galinsky's subsequent 40-minute short film "Radiation," about a rock promoter in Spain.

See also: Hype!, Heavy Metal Parking Lot, Clerks, Songs for Cassavetes, Don't Need You, American Hardcore, Repo Man, Airheads, Fast Times at Ridgemont High.