Songs on Screen

The Song: “Renegade” by Styx
The Style: “Hostiles“

The Story:
Set in the rugged American frontier of the 1800s., Colt Kilroy, a brooding and disillusioned former gunslinger, rides alone across the desert. Once infamous as a fearless outlaw, Kilroy now seeks a second chance after years of bloodshed — but the noose tightens as lawmen, bounty hunters, and old enemies track his every move.

Colt stumbles into the dusty border town of Paradise, a near-forgotten settlement built around a struggling railway stop. Desperate for shelter and anonymity, he tries to disappear among the locals. But Paradise is no sanctuary: the corrupt Paradise Rail Company, led by the ruthless magnate J. DeYoung, has plans to seize the settlers’ land — through intimidation, violence, and rigged claims.

As Colt gets drawn into the townsfolk’s plight, he faces a choice: stay hidden and survive, or become the renegade hero they desperately need.

Riddled with guilt and anger, Kilroy steps back into the fight. He leads a desperate stand against DeYoung’s enforcers, using clever guerilla tactics, including trapping the gang in a fake railcar robbery and spiking their ammunition with black powder tricks.

During a climactic standoff at the town’s train depot — nicknamed The Gallows — Colt turns the tables on the hangman closing in on him, fully embracing both his dark past and his hope for redemption.

As Colt Kilroy rides into the rising sun, wounded but victorious, the people of Paradise quietly honor the man who refused to let them be erased.

The Easter Eggs:

• The last name Kilroy is taken from another Styx album, Kilroy Was Here
• The town name (from Paradise Theatre)
• Main villain’s surname (Dennis DeYoung from Styx)
• “Time’s running out, Renegade” Line spoken by an old bounty hunter before the final confrontation
• A letter he writes to his Mama is mostly just the lyrics
• The manager of the brothel is Madame Blue (another song)
• Mama is wearing the earrings from the album cover (Pieces of Eight)
• The date on the wanted poster is September 1st (the day the album was released)

The Song: “Neighborhood Sniper” by Eazy-E
The Style: “New Jack City“

The Story:
In a worn-down neighborhood on the east side of the city, Dante Cooper, a quiet, focused 18-year-old, lives in the shadows.

Raised by his grandfather, a retired military sniper, Dante was trained to be disciplined, patient, and precise—his grandfather’s dream was for him to serve honorably in the army. But the streets taught Dante another lesson: survival doesn’t wait for permission.

After losing his mother to a stray bullet from a gang crossfire, Dante puts his skills to work—not for medals, but for revenge and protection. From rooftops, fire escapes, and forgotten corners of the projects, Dante becomes a silent guardian, systematically targeting gang leaders, drug enforcers, and predators terrorizing his block.

Operating from a decaying apartment complex known as the Eazy Courts, Dante stalks his enemies, notebook in hand, studying their routines like a soldier plotting an ambush. Each shot is precise. Each target is deliberate. And each hit sends a ripple of fear through the underworld.

Dante’s ultimate goal: bring down Victor Wright, a ruthless crime boss who has kept the neighborhood under his thumb for years—profiting off drugs, guns, and lost lives. But with each kill, Dante inches closer to becoming the thing his grandfather warned him about: a man with no way back.

In a climactic rooftop confrontation at the Crenshaw Market, Dante must decide whether he will finish Victor the easy way—or find the harder road toward true justice.

The Easter Eggs:

• Dante is the smallest boy in his class, much like Eazy-E
• Eazy Courts – name of the apartment complex where Dante lives (Eazy-E tribute)
• Crenshaw Market Finale location – Crenshaw is a famous area associated with LA rap scene and Eazy-E
• ’64 Chevy Impala Victo – a nod to the car Eazy-E famously drove and rapped about
• Dante’s apartment number = “187” (police code for homicide, referenced in other Eazy-E songs)

The Song: “Starting Over” by Chris Stapleton
The Style: “Chef“

The Story:
Miles Carter spent the last fifteen years building a life most people would envy: a sleek apartment, a high-paying finance job, and a social circle full of polished, hollow smiles.

But when he hears that Josie Wright — his high school sweetheart, now divorced and broke — is back in town with nothing but a beat-up car and a wild dream to become a stand-up comic, something inside him stirs for the first time in years.

Josie doesn’t want a safety net. She doesn’t want his money. She wants open roads, dive bars, cheap motels, and one shot at chasing something real — even if it blows up in her face.

Miles realizes he gave up his comedic soul a long time ago to fit into boardrooms and country clubs. After a tense showdown with his boss, he delivers his resignation with a series of dry, savage jokes — the kind that once made Josie fall for him in the first place.

Trading in his tailored suits for faded jeans and a battered suitcase, Miles chases after Josie, determined to start over — not for wealth, not for success, but for the messy, beautiful chance to laugh again alongside the girl who once knew the real him.

As they hit the backroads of America, performing to crowds of five or fifty, it’s clear: the paycheck is optional. The real payoff is finding their way back to themselves — and to each other.

The Easter Eggs:

• Their first amateur night gig is at a dingy place called “The Stapleton House” a tiny nod to Chris Stapleton
• Josie’s old duffel bag has a Traveller patch referencing Stapleton’s Traveller album.
• In a town where they bomb a comedy show, they find a stray dog – a mutt Josie impulsively names Whiskey.

The Song: “Barracuda” by Heart
The Style: “The Girl on the Train“

The Story:
Riley Vance built her career on exposing powerful people — politicians, corporations, organized crime — and she never backed down from a fight.

But after leaking evidence linking a major tech mogul to a string of offshore assassinations, Riley finds herself at the top of a hit list. The media is silenced. The law is bought. And the private security force hunting her? They call themselves The Barracudas — mercenaries trained to eliminate threats swiftly and quietly.

Forced off the grid, Riley trades her sleek city life for a battered motorcycle, a fake ID, and a growing list of back-road safe houses. Trust is scarce. Betrayal feels inevitable. Even old allies are suspect, each handshake hiding a potential knife.

As the net tightens, Riley realizes survival won’t come from running—it will come from fighting smarter, dirtier, and faster than the predators chasing her.

In a brutal final showdown at a rusted-out shipyard, Riley sets a trap: one she might not survive — but one that could expose the Barracudas’ true masters and shatter the system that created them. By the end, bloodied but breathing, Riley walks away into the dawn. No medals. No headlines. Just a woman who refused to be swallowed alive.

The Easter Eggs:

• Garage where Riley hides out has a sign: “Wilson Motorworks: Est. 1973”. Band reference + year Heart began.
• A closed-down cafe in a town Riley passes is called The Dreamboat. A wink to their Dreamboat Annie album.
• Riley doesn’t know the Barracuda leader’s name, so she calls him “The Magic Man”, another Heart song
• Written on the side of a crumbling building: “If the real thing don’t do the trick” – direct lyric from Barracuda