-宋云峰编写

　　失意赌徒波比带着巨款前往拉斯维加斯还赌债，没想到途经一个岔路时汽车的水箱开了锅。无奈，波比只好转入小路来到一个沙漠小镇。但令他始料不及的是自己就此走入了一条不归路，与倒霉结下了缘。他先是在修车厂遇到一位怪里怪气的修理工，几经商讨才同意为他修车。继而在镇上邂逅了性感迷人的女郎格雷丝。然后倒霉的事就接二连三地发生了……

　　大导演奥利弗·斯通用超现实主义的现代寓言手法细致入微地描绘了一幅“别人都是地狱”的可怕景象。影片虽然有些宿命的色彩，但那个大家都尔虞我诈、每人皆孤独无助的小镇不正是我们这个时代的一个缩影吗？

　　A small-time<注1> gambler Bobby Cooper is driving along the road of Arizona to Las Vegas to pay off his debt when suddenly the radiator hose of his Ford Mustang is busted.<注2> So he has to pull up to a garage near a small town,swheresthe only mechanic Darrell has a weird conversation with him before agreeing to replace the radiator hose. Since it will take some time to repair the car, Bobby takes out his moneybag from the trunk<注3> and goes to the town for a drink.

　　In the town he encounters a blind veteran<注4> with a dead dog, who asks Bobby to buy him a free drink.Then Bobby is attracted to a beautiful girl who has just come out of a shop carrying three boxes of drapes.<注5> Bobby gives her a hand and the girl invites him to her home for a shower and a drink. After the shower, the girl, whose name is Grace, asks him to help her hang the drapes. Bobby cannot resist her charm and begins to kiss her, who seems happy to receive it. Just as the two are about to undress, an old man bursts in from outside and gives Bobby a punch on the nose. The man is Jake, Grace's husband. He threatens to kill Bobby if he ever touches Grace again.Resented that the girl has set him up,<注6> Bobby gets out of Grace's home wondering why such a beautiful young girl married to such a violent old man.

　　Just as Bobby walks downtown to get something he needs, a car stops beside him. He is surprised to see Jake in the car. He has come out to give him a lift. Jake tells Bobby that he is tired of Grace's playing games with men all the time and wants to hire Bobby to kill her. Fearing that it might be another trap, Bobby declines the request. When Bobby gets into a food store for some drink, two robbers come in ordering the shop owner and Bobby to give them all the money they have. They also grab Bobby's moneybag in his protest. Just as the two robbers are about to leave the store, the shopowner takes out a rifle hidden under the counter and shoots the two men dead.Unfortunately one of the bullet also shreds<注7> the moneybag and sends the bills everywhere. Bobby begs the storeowner not to call the police and quickly gets away leaving his ,000 all over the ground in the store.

　　When Bobby gets back to the garage in a hurry, he is shocked to see the machine of his car taken apart. Darrell tells him that other parts also need to be replaced. Bobby asks him to repair the car as quickly as possible, but Darrel demands a bill of 150 dollars before fixing the car. Without enough money, frustrated Bobby has to go back to the town telephoning all the people he knows begging them to wire<注8> some money to him. But even his mother refuses his request. As a last resort, he dials his creditor<注9> to borrow and promises to pay it back together with the ,000 debt. The creditor is already furious about his delay in paying back the debt, and now he threatens to send someone down the small town to teach him a good lesson.

　　Desperate, Bobby comes to Jake for help, telling him that he would kill Grace for Jake if he can get some money to get out of the town. After some bargain, they reach a deal according to which Bobby will arrange an accidental death for Grace. However, as Bobby is to push Grace down the cliffswheresthey go to have a picnic, he can't resist the sexy girl's seduction and makes love to her instead of killing her. This time, it's Grace who begs Bobby to kill Jake for her. She tells Bobby that Jake married her mother when her father had died. But Jake did not stop at that. He raped Grace from time to time and after her mother died in an accident—also falling from a cliff in drunkenness—he has been treating her as if she were a piece of meat.<注10> Grace also tells Bobby that Jake hides a lot of money—some ,000—in a safe of his room, but he carries the key all the time. She asks Bobby to kill Jake when he sleeps with her. Then they can get the money and get out of the town together. Scared, Bobby turns her down and walks back to the town alone.

　　On the way, Sheriff Potter of the town happens to pass by and gives him a lift to the garage. He tells Bobby that there was a robbery in the store and someone lost a lot of money, which makes Bobby more nervous. Upon arriving at the garage, Bobby asks Darrell to let him go in his car and he swears to God that he will send Darrell from next town. However, Darrel tells Bobby that he cannot get the car till he pays the bill. What drives Bobby mad is that Darrell raises the bill to because of another part he has replaced without his permission.

　　Bobby goes to the bus station to buy a ticket for Mexico, which he thinks is the only way out. When the ticket box woman refuses to sell him the ticket of .55 because of Bobby's shortage of a few dollars, he loses his temper, which terrifies the woman. With the ticket in hand, Bobby comes to the bus stationswhereshe is suddenly attacked and beaten up by a guy merely because Bobby previously talked to his girlfriend on a few occasions. To make it worse, the guy discovers his ticket to Mexico and tears it into pieces. In despair, Bobby telephones Grace and tells her that he would accept her previous proposal. Grace says that she would leave the back door open in the evening so that Bobby could get in and kill Jake.

　　While waiting it to be dark, Bobby has a talk with the blind veteran who tells him facts of life<注11> from his own experiences. When Bobby gets into Grace's home, she is making love to Jake. After some tense struggle, they manage to kill Jake. Then they take the key from Jake's neck and open the safe. They are thrilled to find ,000 instead of ,000. Then they decide to go away with the money immediately. While leaving Grace's home to get his car back, Bobby stops at Grace's Jeep and takes off some part from the engine. Grace has to wait for Bobby and go with him in his car since she fails to start her Jeep. They put both the moneybag and Jake's body into the trunk and set out on their way.

　　Just as they are happy to get out of the evil town, a police car catches up with them. It's Sheriff Potter who has also been secretly sleeping with Grace over the past years. He promised Grace to leave his wife and to marry Grace. Bobby is shocked to learn that Grace has been sleeping around.<注12> He condemns the townswheres'everybody fucks everybody else'.<注13> Grace explains that she has to do so insgroupsto survive among those vicious men. Bobby suggests that they split the money and go each one's own way. But the jealous Potter beats Bobby up for his seduction of and escape with Grace. Fed up with Potter's empty promises, Grace shoots him on the head while he is beating Bobby. Then they put Potter's body into the trunk and get on the way.

　　The next morning, they stop at a quiet place and throw the two bodies into a valley. Aware of the cold-blooded deeds that Grace has done, Bobby unplugs<注14> the car key before helping her dump the bodies. It proves that he is right. The sweet-faced Grace pushes him down the cliff all of a sudden when they just finish dumping the two bodies. Yet when Grace finds that she cannot leave without the car key, she has to go down the valley to fetch it from Bobby. When she gets close to him, wounded Bobby shoots her dead without any mercy.

　　At last, relieved Bobby can forget the nightmare in the small town and go to Mexico for a free life with the money. But he just drives a few miles before the radiator hose fixed by Darrell gets busted again. Stranded<注15> in the desert, hopeless Bobby curses fate.

　　The Dialogue between Bobby and the Blind Veteran

　　Veteran: That's it. Sun's going down. Regular people, you know, they go home. Sit around the dinner table, you know? Have all this food prepared, very nice. Everybody has a little setting. And they trade stories...about the day, about the heat. Maybe they laugh about a little joke or something crazy they did. Then they kiss...sleep, wake up about two hours and do it all over again.

　　Bobby: (Putting some coins into the veteran's box) Well, the day was all right. We all got through it okay.

　　Veteran: No, you keep it. Day ain't over yet. Night is part of day. You see things in the shadows, and you hear things in the dark.

　　Bobby: You’re afraid of the dark?

　　Veteran: Afraid of it? Boy, I live in the dark. All because of a woman who made me this way. (Handing his whiskey bottle to Bobby) Want some? People only are afraid of what they can't see. I can see nothing. It's all the same to me. Kiss from a beautiful woman, lick from a dog. Kiss of the death. It's all the same to me now.

　　Bobby: So we're all just floating like sticks in a stream. Just enjoy the ride, is that it?

　　Veteran: That's about it.

　　Bobby: (Leaning against a wood pillar) Not this twig, friend. I got plans.

　　Veteran: Oh, you got plans? Nothing makes the Great Spirit laugh harder than a man's plans. We all got plans. I planned on seeing all my life. I bet you never planned on straying into this town.

　　Bobby: I don't plan on sticking around, either.

　　Veteran: I used to be a young smart-ass like you. Then I got smart with a wrong man's daughter. I got acid poured on my peepers for my trouble. (Taking off the glasses to reveal his blind eyes) Human beings ain't only just human, you know. They got animals living inside of them, too.

　　Bobby: I hope she was worth it.

　　Veteran: Oh, she was worth it. She was worth every black minute since.

　　Bobby: Time's up, old one. You got any last-minute words of wisdom? (putting more coins into the box)

　　Veteran: Things ain't always what they seem. You gotta ask yourself: Is it worth it? Because the day comes, Earth Maker's gonna come down and look right into your fucking heart... and you'd better know what it is you're doing. Are you a human being or just some hungry ghost out there?