Red Zone Cuba (1966)

Red Zone Cuba is a meandering - but still oddly abrupt and baffling - concoction written, directed, produced, and botched by Coleman Francis, an American film director and actor with a disturbing preoccupation with light aircraft and desert locations (Red Zone Cuba offers both in abundance).

The film opens with a greasy, young reporter asking some worn train engineer about three schmucks whose names I can't remember (and I
checked IMDB one minute ago). One of these schmucks apparently "ran all the way to hell".

One of the guys, Coleman Francis that is, seems to have escaped from jail. He runs into the other guys, two bean slurping hobos on the run (from something). These three make their way to Cherokee Jack, some dude with a plane. He flies them to a military training facility for some reason. Coleman all of a sudden decides to strangle one of his new friends (he doesn't succeed in killing him, though). Then they attempt to escape (the reason being something with money, lack thereof probably). They get captured and forced to invade Cuba (naturally).

On Cuba - which has an eerie resemblance to the desert they just left - they are immediately captured again (naturally). After a lengthy and boring sequence of executions they manage to escape yet again, after ditching a dying friend who nags on about a tungsten mine back home. Cue the Colemanian light aircraft. With a freshly stolen plane they head back to the US. Back home they celebrate their recently acquired freedom by dropping a gloomy café owner down a well, killing him and leaving his blind daughter running the café alone. Heart-warming.

Finally they decide to steal the tungsten from the bozo they left dying on Cuba. Enter the college squad AKA the local police force - oh, and more light aircraft. Coleman refuses to turn himself in, finding it more dignified to be shot down in the desert by a helicopter. Rummaging through his pockets one of the police men utter this spot-on gem: "Ran all the way to hell... with a penny and a broken cigarette". THE END! My mind hurts...

Screenshots coming up.