''American Strays'' is a 1996 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by Michael Covert. It follows three interwoven stories of desert travelers as they converge on a small diner.

Synopsis

Red's Desert Diner Oasis, a dive in the middle of nowhere, becomes the focal point of three separate storylines. In the first, Dwayne ( Savage), a homicidal vacuum cleaner salesman, may have met his match in Patty Mae ( Tilly), a woman with an impressive collection of sweepers. The second story follows Johnny ( Perry), a suicidal man who hires a sadistic hitman ( Jones) to end his life anyway possible which includes beating the ever loving crap out of him. The third story follows an unemployed man (

Roberts Roberts may refer to: People * Roberts (given name), a Latvian masculine given name * Roberts (surname), a popular surname, especially among the Welsh Places * Roberts (crater), a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon ;United Stat ...

) and his family, two mobsters ( Viterelli and Russo), and others as they travel across the emptiness of the American Southwest.

Cast

* Scott Plank as Sonny * Melora Walters as Cindy * John Savage as Dwayne * Brion James as Oris * Joe Viterelli as Gene * James Russo as Eddie * Luke Perry as Johnny * Will Rothhaar as Jordan * Jessica Lerelman as Daphne * Toni Kalem as Alice * Eric Roberts as Martin * Vonte Sweet as Mondo * Anthony Lee as Omar * Stephanie Cushna as Johnny's Girlfriend * Sam J. Jones as The Exterminator * Stace Williamson as Johnny's Brother * Carol Kane as Helen * Luana Anders as Martha * Jack Kehler as Walker * Robert Fields as Harry * Charles Bailey-Gates as Bobby * Thomas Elliott as Timmy * Jennifer Tilly as Patty Mae * Michael Horse as Lead Cop * Leland Crooke as Cop #2 * Michael Kaliski as Cop #3 * Patrick Warburton as Rookie Cop

Reception

''American Strays'' was released to a single theater on September 13, 1996. The film grossed $1,183 in its opening weekend and $1,910 in total during its theatrical release.

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

of '' The New York Times'' wrote in his review that the film "has the germ of a good idea" but concluded American Strays is "a spoof in search of a sense of humor".

References

External links

* * * 1996 films 1996 comedy-drama films 1990s English-language films American comedy-drama films 1990s American films {{1990s-comedy-drama-film-stub