Dangerous Dan Goes to the Movies - Six String Samurai

Welcome to the first installment of Dangerous Dan Goes to the Movies.  Today, I'll be talking about an old favorite: Six String Samurai!

In an America devasted by a nuclear attack in the 50's, Elvis has just died and the throne of America is vacant.  Every guitar slinger in the devasted country is heading to Vegas to be crowned the new Rock and Roll king.  Six String Samurai follows the story of Buddy and a feral kid as they cross the wasteland, running afowl of cannibals, Russians, and a metal band led by Death himself.

Sound awesome?  You bet your ass it is.  It's part spaghetti western, part samurai, part Wizard of Oz, part Mad Max.  The setting is a rundown version of the 1950's, complete with psychotic bowling teams, Cleaver-esque cannibal families, and dying 50's tech.
The soundtrack is spectacular, both the score and the songs by Russian surf band The Red Elvises.  The acting?  Well, it's passable.  Buddy's good but one of the Russians sounds suspiciously Texan.  And the kid?  I'll talk about him in a moment.

The visual aspect of the film is by far the best part.  The costume of Buddy and the assassins on his trail are both very distinctive.  Probably because Buddy looks like a post-apocalyptic Buddy Holly and the assassins look like Guns and Roses.

You wouldn't think a B-movie would have a message but the underlying theme of Six String Samurai seems to be that Rock and Roll is an unstoppable force.  Buddy and the kid keep going up against bigger and bigger threats.  One of my favorite lines in the movie is "Only one man could kill this many Russians."
If it weren't for the film's 85 minute run time, I'd probably give it a 4.5 out of five.  But I can't go higher than 3.5 for one reason: The Kid.  The Kid, unfortuantely, isn't as cool as the Feral Kid in The Road Warrior.  No, he's annoying, much more like the feral kids we all see every day in real life.  Not only that, he has a negative impact on my enjoyment as far as the end of the movie is concerned.  The little bastard causes Buddy a huge amount of trouble and drags down the entire movie.

Final verdict:  3.5 out of 5.