Highway 61 is a 1991 film by Canadian director Bruce McDonald.

Synopsis

The film stars Don McKellar

Don McKellar

-Personal life:McKellar was born in Toronto, Ontario to a lawyer father and teacher mother. He attended Glenview Senior Public School, Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute and later studied English at the University of Toronto's Victoria College...

 as Pokey Jones, an orphaned barber in a small town near Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay

-In Canada:Thunder Bay is the name of three places in the province of Ontario, Canada along Lake Superior:*Thunder Bay District, Ontario, a district in Northwestern Ontario*Thunder Bay, a city in Thunder Bay District*Thunder Bay, Unorganized, Ontario...

, Ontario who dreams of becoming a jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 musician. One morning, Jones discovers a frozen corpse (Steve Fall) in his backyard, and soon meets Jackie Bangs (Valerie Buhagiar

Valerie Buhagiar

Valerie Buhagiar is a Maltese born Canadian actress, film director and television host.She studied acting at George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario, graduating in 1986...

), a tough and mysterious roadie who claims the dead man is her brother.

Jackie's real intention is to use the body, a vagrant unknown to anyone in town, to smuggle stolen drugs into the United States. She convinces Pokey to use his parents' car, which hasn't been driven in decades, to drive her to New Orleans to bury her brother. So Jackie and Pokey set out along Highway 61

Highway 61 (Ontario)

King's Highway 61, commonly referred to as Highway 61 and historically known as the Scott Highway, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. It connects the Pigeon River Bridge, where it crosses into the United States and becomes Minnesota State Highway 61, with a...

, coffin strapped to the top of the car, and follow Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

's famous U.S. Highway 61 south through the heart of the United States. They're pursued by Mr. Skin (Earl Pastko

Earl Pastko

Earl Pastko an American - Canadian actor. Born December 10, 1965 in Chicago, Illinois. He stands approximately 5"9" and he's a founding member of the Remains Theater Company. He moved to Canada in 1984. He's best known for roles in as Colonel Alexi Zukhov, Highway 61 and The Sweet Hereafter...

), who believes he's Satan

Satan

Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...

 and wants to claim the body because the dead man sold Mr. Skin his soul.

Peter Breck

Peter Breck

Joseph Peter Breck is an American prolific character actor of stage, who has played roles on television and in film...

 is fourth-billed as Mr. Watson, the "stage-mom" father of three girls: Mississippi (Missy), Minnesota (Minnie) and Louisiana (Louise). The film also includes cameo appearances by Tav Falco

Tav Falco

Tav Falco is an American-born musical performer, performance artist, actor, filmmaker, and photographer. He has led the psychedelic rock-and-roll group Tav Falco's Panther Burns since 1979...

, Jello Biafra

Jello Biafra

Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...

, and Art Bergmann

Art Bergmann

Art Bergmann is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who was one of the key figures in Canadian punk rock in the late 1970s.-Punk bands:...

.

The film's soundtrack

Highway 61 (soundtrack)

Highway 61 is a soundtrack album to the Canadian film Highway 61, released in 1991.The album produced the first chart hit for Canadian alternative band Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, "Put Your Head On"...

 album includes songs by Bourbon Tabernacle Choir

Bourbon Tabernacle Choir

The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir were a Canadian alternative rock band that formed in 1985 in Toronto, Ontario. Their R&B-flavoured rock made them a mainstay on Canadian campus radio in the early 1990s, but the band never quite broke through to the mainstream....

, Rita Chiarelli

Rita Chiarelli

Rita Chiarelli is a Canadian blues singer. She has been dubbed "the goddess of Canadian blues" by CBC Radio One's Shelagh Rogers.-Biography:Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Chiarelli began performing in Ronnie Hawkins' band in the early 1980s. She subsequently spent several years in Italy...

, Nash the Slash

Nash the Slash

Nash the Slash is a Canadian musician. Though a multi-instrumentalist, he is known primarily for playing electric violin and mandolin, as well as harmonica, keyboards, glockenspiel, and other instruments .Nash worked as a solo artist beginning in 1975, then founded the progressive rock band FM in...

, Acid Test

Acid Test (band)

Acid Test was a Canadian alternative rock band formed in Toronto in 1990. The band consisted of vocalist and bassist Lucy Di Santo, guitarist Steve Fall, keyboardist Atom Percy, drummer Jim Alty, and DJ Mike Harland. Fall played a prominent role in the Bruce McDonald black comedy Highway 61 in...

, Jellyfishbabies

Jellyfishbabies

Jellyfishbabies were an alternative rock band in Canada, active from 1986 to 1991. Although the band never attained mainstream success, they were one of the major influences on the Halifax Pop Explosion scene of the early 1990s....

 and Tom Jones

Tom Jones (singer)

Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...

. Nash the Slash also composed the film's instrumental score.

In 2001, Playback

Playback (magazine)

Playback is a Canadian film, broadcasting and interactive media website owned by Brunico Communications. In May 2010, after 24 years of publication, Playback magazine stopped publishing its biweekly print edition....

named Highway 61 the 15th best Canadian film since 1986. McDonald won "Best Director" honours at both San Sebastián International Film Festival

San Sebastián International Film Festival

The San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...

 and Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film

Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film

The Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival , previously named Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film was created in 1983 as a venue for horror, thriller and science fiction films. It takes place in Brussels, every year in March...

, two of the top festivals in the world.