Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Moonshine County Express (1977)

Director: Gus Trikonis

Writers: Hubert Smith, Daniel Ansley

Composer: Fred Werner

Starring: John Saxon, Susan Howard, William Conrad, Morgan Woodward, Claudia Jennings, Jeff Corey, Dub Taylor, Maureen McCormick, Albert Salmi, Len Lesser, Bruce Kimball, Candice Rialson, E.J. Andre

More info: IMDb

Tagline: 100 proof women runnin shine cross the county line!

Plot:  When a moonshiner is murdered, his three daughters take over the family business.



My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

This one's loaded with some familiar faces - Saxon, Conrad, Jennings, McCormick and one of my all time favorite character actors, Dub Taylor.  He's not in it much but the shit that spews from his mouth is funny.  It's a better than average drive-in hicksploitation picture that does a lot of what's come before but Gus Trikoni and co. were able to make this into a pretty fun flick.  Unlike a lot of movies in this genre it's not loaded with completely stupid and incompetent police.  Conrad plays the heavy that's got the town and the sheriff under his control and Howard and her sister's recently murdered pappy has a secret stash of some incredible hooch but Saxon is the only man who can come to their rescue.  There's a moment in the picture where one of the girls exclaims they need a man to help them.  Not just anyone but a man.  It's laughable and sad at the same time.  There are a few car chases and some action but the lack of any nudity keeps this on the family-friendly side of things.  It sure would have been fun to see this at a drive-in.  The funniest part for my money is when J.B. (Saxon) and Dot (Howard) are at a spacious bar.  There's a band playing, The Tom and Dink Show, and they're singing a song called, Fireman's Ball.  I couldn't understand the beginning of the lyrics but the rest of this hilarious country tune goes like this, "...the dog has rabies. The cesspool's overflowing and it looks like rain. Grandmaw's got syphilis and grandpa's de-ranged and all of their children had their sex changed."

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