Hobo with a Shotgun
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Hobo with a Shotgun is a 2011 Canadian-American black comedy action exploitation film directed by Jason Eisener, written by John Davies, from a story by Eisener, and starring Rutger Hauer. It is based on a faux-trailer of the same title featured in the Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez film Grindhouse.
Plot
A hobo arrives by boxcar in the city of Hope Town, its welcome sign reading "Scum Town". The city is brutally ruled over by a crime lord named "The Drake" and his sadistic sons Ivan and Slick. The Hobo sees an amateur filmmaker shooting a Bumfights-style movie. A bloodied man, Logan, the Drake's younger brother, screams for help. The Drake and his sons arrive and, labeling him a traitor to the townspeople, publicly decapitate him with a barbed-wire noose.
Wishing to buy a lawnmower in a pawn shop, the Hobo begs for change on a sidewalk. However, after seeing a group of punks drag in a homeless man, he sneaks into the Drake's nightclub. Inside, the brothers and their henchmen torture and kill homeless people in arcade-style games. Slick begins harassing a boy named Otis, who owes him money, and Ivan snaps Otis' arm. Abby, a prostitute, defends Otis. Slick prepares to kill her, but the Hobo knocks him unconscious and carries him to the police station. There, he learns of the police chief's corruption and complicity in criminal activities. The brothers and the chief carve "scum" into his chest and throw him into a garbage bin. He meets Abby, who helps him recover.
The next day, the Hobo goes to the filmmaker and completes a series of degrading acts, including chewing glass, to purchase the lawnmower. A trio of robbers enter and hold a woman and her baby hostage. The Hobo grabs a shotgun from the shelf and kills the robbers. Realizing that Hope Town needs justice, he buys the shotgun, costing the same as the lawnmower, and kills dozens of criminals, including the filmmaker, a pimp, a coke lord, and a pedophile dressed as Santa Claus.
The Drake, infuriated, lets his sons loose. They burn a school bus filled with children — who are friendly to hobos — and burst into a television station, killing the anchorman during a live broadcast — who had expressed his appreciation of the hobo; they demand that all homeless people be killed. The Drake then joins them and orders the Hobo be brought to him. A mass murder of the city's vagrants begins.
As Abby is walking home, a cop attempts to rape her. The Hobo kills him and Abby smuggles The Hobo past a group in a shopping cart covered with the cop's remains. The pair are spotted by Otis, who informs Slick and Ivan. Back at her apartment, the Hobo tells Abby of his plan to start a lawnmowing business, which she enthusiastically supports. Ivan and Slick enter and attack the two, wounding Abby. The Hobo overpowers Slick, holds him at gunpoint, and forces Ivan to leave. The Hobo then shoots Slick in the groin and takes Abby to the hospital. Slick manages to call the Drake before he is taken to hell in a burning school bus. The Drake, mourning the death of his favorite son, summons "The Plague", a duo of armor-clad demons named Rip and Grinder. While Abby is recovering, the Hobo visits the maternity ward and delivers a monologue to the babies. When he returns to Abby's room, the Plague capture and deliver him to the Drake, who plans to publicly execute him.
Recovered, Abby returns to the pawn shop for weapons. Attaching an axe to the Hobo's shotgun and retrofitting the lawnmower into a shield, she arms a crowd to free the Hobo and bring down the Drake. She confronts the Drake, holding Ivan hostage; the Drake shoots and denounces him a disappointment. In the ensuing fight, Abby kills Grinder. Although the Drake severs Abby's hand with the lawnmower shield, she stabs him repeatedly with her exposed arm bone and incapacitates him. Rip tries to persuade Abby to be his partner, but the Hobo drives him off.
The townspeople, motivated by Abby's bravery, have shown up with their own weapons and proceed to aim them at the shocked police, who demand that they leave the area. Seeing that the police will kill the people they failed to protect against the criminals, the Hobo tells the Drake that on their upcoming ride to Hell "You're riding shotgun," and blows his head off. The police open fire on the Hobo and the people then turn their guns on the police. Both groups shoot each other, while the Hobo dies and Abby's screams are heard. The Drake's influence and his crimes against humanity in the town come to an end.
