Thursday, April 2

Bad Georgia Road (1977)


"Bringin' the lightening to the world, honeypie"


Directed by John C. Broderick
85 Minutes / Wizard Video / Cropped from 1.85:1 to full screen

A well-off business woman (Molly Golden, Carol Lynley) inherits one hundred thousand dollars, property, and the home of a deceased uncle down in Alabama. On a snap decision she decides to quit her job in New York only to find a rat hole and the money going to pay off her relative's massive debts upon her arrival.

She also finds two moonshine runners, Leroy (Gary Lockwood) and Pennyrich (the ever-weathered Royal Dano), living on her land. As they move the shine, the crinkled paper bags of cash start rolling in, and Molly decides to stay for the easy source of income. But as Leroy risks his ass roaring the roads in his dusty Challenger; the stakes grow ever higher daily.

Decent yet unfocused drive-in drama actioner with a bit of a mean-streak. The first half is pure tedium as the simplistic story grinds out to flesh in a heap of talk. After about forty minutes, the film picks up and becomes surprisingly entertaining with coyly witty screenwriting and solid delivery by the leads.

You can guess how the relationship between the sloven greaseball Leroy and proper, respectable Molly ends up the minute they first meet. Though the turning point of their reluctant attraction is a bit distasteful, but the chemistry on display cannot be denied. There's no real conflict and you assuredly know everything will turn out fine from the start. It's worth seeing if you ever run across it and if the mood for something akin to Tarantino's Death Proof (but real) strikes.

Film: 5/10
VHS Picture: 7/10 (looks like shit, but adds much to the hot and dirty atmosphere--hence the high score)
VHS Sound: 4/10 (ditto for the thick lo-fi hum)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I love your blog! You bring back such great video store memories...I lived most of my teen years roaming video store isles. Never saw this one, but I do remember the box.

Jayson Kennedy said...

Thanks Mr. Phantom! Glad you enjoy it, I visit your blogs quite often.

I actually wasn't quite old enough to enjoy ol' mom and pop video stores before Blockbuster came in. I started getting heavy into Horror around the mid '90s. Though my earliest memory of the genre is the huge Horror section at my local video store. I distinctly remember Thriller's Elvira black big boxes lined up on the very bottom shelf. Of course I was probably around five or six years old at the time.

...do you dare tread upon the staircase?

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