Red Zone Cuba 1966

In the opening sequence, a young reporter named Jim Benton questions Mr. Wilson about three men—Griffin, Cook, and Landis—who hopped his freight train five years earlier, back in 1961. The film then shifts into a title sequence and returns to 1961, where Griffin escapes from jail and crosses paths with Cook and Landis. The trio makes their way to an airstrip run by Cherokee Jack, who airlifts them to a military training facility with the plan of being paid to participate in the infamous Bay of Pigs Invasion.

Deceived about the money they were promised, the three attempt to flee but are soon recaptured and pressed into invading Cuba. They are captured again by Cuban forces, triggering a brutal, extended sequence of executions, until they manage another escape. In a moment of desperation they abandon their badly wounded superior officer, Bailey Chastain; he pleads for them to take him along, but they refuse because he cannot be carried during their escape. He does manage to inform them about a mine back home belonging to his family, containing pitchblende, tungsten, and other valuable metals. The trio masters an airstrip, steals a light aircraft, and deserts Cuba to return to the United States.

Back on American soil, the men embark on a spree of crimes to reach the mine and help Bailey Chastain’s wife mine the metals his brother-in-law spoke of. They crush the café owner Cliff Weismeyer by throwing him down a well, and in a shocking act, Griffin rapes the blind daughter of Cliff’s family before stealing his car and slipping away. Their escape also includes hijacking Mr. Wilson’s train in Albuquerque. The fugitives press on to Arizona, where they meet Chastain’s wife Ruby and head toward the promised mine, but their car runs out of oil and law enforcement closes in. In a brutal turn, Griffin shoots Ruby and bolts into the fields, while [Landis] and [Cook] are captured.

Chastain, having survived Cuba, returns and is joyfully reunited with his wife after she is rescued and escorted home by a policeman. Griffin meets a final end in a shootout with the police; they recover his belongings—a penny and a bent cigarette—and the film closes with a somber voice-over.

Griffin “ran all the way to hell… with a penny and a broken cigarette” as the film ends.