Just to go ahead and set it in stone, if you do not like kick-ass car chases in your movies this is one you may want to skip. Understandably, this complicates the plan especially when Sheriff Connors comes looking for Gator. During the course of their operation to bait the sheriff, Gator’s charm and utter coolness proves too much for Boone’s girlfriend and the two kick off an affair. The charming outlaw is given a suped-up car and partnered with local stock car driver Dude Watson and whiskey runner Roy Boone. Despite what he may have told the feds, Gator has no plans to see Connors in jail, instead he wants him in a bodybag. Making a deal with federal authorities, Gator is released from prison as part of a sting to prove the sheriff is making a profit off the bootlegging business. Worse yet, this murder was carried out by the racist, bigot Sheriff JC Connors, in order to have a few less young hippies in his community. While serving time in an Arkansas prison for bootlegging, Gator McKlusky learns that his brother has been killed. One film of this ilk which he had a special fondness was the 1973 cult favorite White Lightning. One man who truly had a fondness for these kinds of films was the late actor Burt Reynolds who seemed tailor made for the reckless, charming, good ol’ boy roles these movies provided. From everything I’ve heard, Gator is one to skip.The 1970’s proved to be a great era for films set and immersed in the culture of the American South. Though he’s named Gator McKlusky in both films, the comparisons should end there. Note: Do not confuse White Lightning with the 1976 Burt Reynolds directed, Gator. Here’s hoping Joseph Sargent’s 1973 thrill ride will one day gain more popularity than just another unremembered title on Burt Reynolds’ IMDB page. Maybe if it had been directed by Steven Spielberg, who was originally set to make his directorial debut with this film, it would have been anointed as the seminal action classic that it so truly is. It has also been referenced in television shows such as The Simpsons and Archer, but is strangely forgotten by most fans of the genre. 1 and again used the score during the first Nazi-scalping sequence in Inglourious Basterds. Quentin Tarantino commissioned Wu Tang Clan’s RZA to remix the film’s theme for the Crazy 88’s fight in Kill Bill Vol. If you haven’t seen White Lightning you’ve certainly heard its music. Sargent perfectly captures the strange atmosphere of the film’s eccentric Arkansas location. We see Cowboys, hippies, moonshine swindlers and Bible humpers, and the best part is, they’re all at odds with each other. Traditionally Conservative counties were being invaded by the counterculture movement and the story puts Gator McKlusky smack dab in the middle of this cultural divide. In addition to being an endlessly enjoyable revenge flick, White Lightning is also a fascinating look into the attitude of the American South during the early 1970s. In fact, I bet he could’ve convinced Jonathan Demme to hire him as Hannibal Lecter simply by slipping him a VHS copy of it. He’s so evil in this movie, there’s no way you could cast him as a pansy after seeing it. If you watch this performance, you’ll see why his career flip flop is hardly surprising. If that synopsis does not entice you, what if told you that the villain is played by Ned Beatty, who before this film was only known to audiences as the guy who was raped in Deliverance and after it was almost exclusively cast as ruthless villains in films such as Toy Story 3 and Rango. Forgotten Classics seeks to change that by hopefully bringing to light a few of these films thus spurring your interest enough to go out and put one of them on your Netflix Queue.Īre you fan of Toy Story 3 or Rango? How about Cool Hand Luke, revenge flicks or anything by Tarantino for that matter? If you answered “Yes” to any of these, chances are you’ll get a kick out of this one.Ĭast: Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and the film debut of a 6-year-old Laura Dern.īefore he was swindling alcohol over county lines in Smokey and the Bandit, Burt Reynolds was Gator McKlusky, a tough-as-nails ex-con hired by the local authorities to break up the empire of a moonshine kingpin who also happens to be the murderer of his younger brother. As a result, literally hundred of films are left at the door, only to be forgotten by a large majority of the filmgoing public. While that’s all good and fine, often times films are cited merely for their social relevance or outrageous popularity, (See: Rocky, Dances With Wolves, Forrest Gump) instead of for their merits as an expertly made piece of cinema. It is very common for budding film cineastes to scour the pages of the AFI top 100 or the BFI for a proper list of films that an y enthusiast should see.
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