HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is a pointless, vile, utterly amoral, and corrupt piece of stinking garbage masquerading as a movie. The fact that it stars ‘80s B-movie icon Rutger Hauer as the title character is helping this draw attention to this minor theatrical release, while some mainstream critics are giving it positive reviews for being a faithful homage to the sleazy inner-city crime movies of the 1970s. There is absolutely nothing redeeming here, however, on a moral, cultural or artistic level.

The nearly nonexistent story features the Hobo arriving in Hope Town, which is overrun by a crime lord and his sons and an utterly corrupt police force. The Hobo sees numerous murders occur in vicious fashion. He then follows a young woman as she leaves to have sexual relations with a man she just met, and the Hobo steps in to save her when it becomes clear she’s in danger of being killed. The Hobo and the woman establish a friendship that provides the movie’s only quiet or remotely humane moments, although the dialogue involved is laughably bad.

His real dream is to buy a lawnmower and establish a business cutting grass, but instead he buys a shotgun when armed robbers attack the pawnshop where he’s chosen to make his purchase. From there, it’s a relentless series of vigilante and revenge scenes, interspersed with the horrible crimes the bad guys perform in order to motivate the revenge.

Surely one of the vilest creations ever to be committed to celluloid, HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is an attempt to revive the ultra-sleazy, mega-violent “grindhouse” movie genre that filled decrepit urban theatres during the 1970s and ’80s. Every imaginable violation of the human body and spirit unfolds relentlessly across its running time as it tells the threadbare story of a hobo who pursues vigilante justice to wipe corrupt cops and a vicious crime lord and his sons. The movie features literally countless variations of obscenities and profanities, including dozens of uses of God’s name in vain in addition to a shot of a picture of Jesus with his eyes crossed out mockingly.

Among the horrific, nearly non-stop violence, the movie finds special pleasure in depicting graphic forms of torture and mutilation as well as murders, including a decapitation with a baseball bat. Bodies are pulverized to goo by cars and industrial press machines. A man hanging by chains and covered in blood is continually beaten by topless women with baseball bats. There are numerous brutal shootings and stabbings and the hobo has the word “Scum” carved into his chest with a knife. Also, men pay bums to get beaten viciously on camera and force the main bum to eat broken glass for $20. The bum, while seeking justice, is just as brutal as anyone else, viciously shooting bad guys on sight with a massive shotgun.

Also, the streets of the city are filled with prostitutes, and sex acts are frequently discussed and shown in passing a couple of times. Usually, the sex is interrupted by the wanton violence. Numerous women are depicted topless as well. In addition, mountains of cocaine are consumed by bad guys, whose faces are covered in the powder afterwards. Alcohol use is also rampant, including by the allegedly heroic hobo.

Every other form of human aberrant behavior is present here as well, with an extra nasty touch coming from the fact that the more people are humiliated or tortured, the more the bad guys involved laugh at them with glee. This is an utterly sick exercise in depravity of which everyone, especially former star Hauer, should be deeply ashamed. HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN will make anyone with a shred of humanity, much less Christians, feel unclean enough to want to shower immediately.