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For the episode, see MST3K 619 - Red Zone Cuba.
I-i-i'm Che-ro-kee Jack!
- Cherokee Jack


Red Zone Cuba is a 1966 Cold War crime movie directed by Coleman Francis.

Plot[]

Redzonecuba

Red Zone Cuba

A young reporter asks a train engineer about three men—Griffin, Cook and Landis—who had hopped his freight train years previously. "He ran all the way to hell," the engineer remarks about Griffin.

Years ago, Griffin had escaped from jail, and encountered Cook and Landis. The three make their way to an airstrip run by Cherokee Jack who flies the men to a military training facility, where they will be paid to take part in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Having been deceived about the money they were to receive, the three attempt to escape, only to be recaptured and forced to invade Cuba. They are soon captured again, this time by the Communist Cuban forces.

Redzonemovie

Red Zone Cuba

After a lengthy sequence of executions, the three manage to escape again. They abandon their badly wounded superior officer Bailey Chastain, though he begs them to take him along. Desperate, he informs them of his family's mine back home that contains pitchblende, tungsten, and other precious metals. The three still leave him behind because they cannot carry him during their escape. They find an airstrip and steal a light aircraft to return to the US.

Back in American, the three engage in a variety of crimes to get to the home of Chastain's wife to help her mine the metals her husband had mentioned in Cuba. They throw café owner Cliff Weismeyer down a well and steal his car. They also hop a train. Eventually, police find them as they and Chastain's wife Ruby head towards the mine. Cook and Landis surrender and Griffin dies in a shootout with the police. Chastain returns alive and is reunited with his wife. As police collect the belongings Griffin was carrying at the time of death, a voice-over (Francis) somberly intones that Griffin "ran all the way to hell... with a penny and a broken cigarette".

Cast[]

  • Coleman Francis as Griffin / Narrator
  • Tony Cardoza as Landis / Fidel Castro
  • John Carradine as Mr. Wilson
  • Harold Saunders as Cook
  • John Morrison as Joe
  • George Prince as Cherokee Jack
  • Tom Hanson as Bailey Chastain
  • Lanell Cado as Ruby Chastain
  • Charles F. Harter as Cliff Weismeyer
  • Frederic Downs as Tinsley

Notes[]

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Red Zone Cuba

  • The original title of the movie was "Night Train to Mundo Finé", which translates as "Night Train to the End of the World."  The theme song was sung John Carradine.
  • The title was changed to Red Zone Cuba for release, which may give the impression that this movie is primarily about the Bay of Pigs invasion, but that incident is only one of many depicted in the fugitives' adventures.
  • A scene in which Griffin returns to the cafe and rapes Cliff Weismeyer's blind daughter (after throwing Cliff down a well) was omitted in the MST3K version.
  • As in The Beast of Yucca Flats and The Skydivers, there is a significant amount of attention paid to an extrajudicial killing.

MST3K Connections[]

References[]

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