Macon County Collection

Alan Vint

Cheryl Waters

Geoffrey Lewis

Max Baer Jr.

Joan Blackman

Jesse Vint

Sam Gilman

Timothy Scott

James Gammon

Leif Garrett

Emile Meyer

Doodles Weaver

Avil Williams

Jay Adler

Roger Camras

David Orange

Roger Pancake

Carolyn Judd

Kate Monahan

Edward Cross

Von Deming

John DeMattio

Linda Atnip

Ross Hildebrand

Annie Compton

Jan Green

Richard Compton

Richard Franchot

Cliff Wenger

Melanie

Harry F. Hogan

Stu Phillips

Tina Hirsch

Frances Dennis

Daniel Lacambre

David Schneiderman

James M. Tanenbaum

Don Clark

Michael Ferris

Terence Ford

Leslie Otis

Hannah Hempstead

Samuel Z. Arkoff

Drama

Action

Macon County Line

Max Baer Productions

United States of America

_**Redneck drama/thriller from 1974**_

"Macon County Line" belongs to the redneck car/thriller genre, which overlaps with Southern Gothic (e.g. "The Fugitive Kind") and redneck car/comedies (e.g. "Smokey and the Bandit"). Many of these films take place in the South, but not always; there are tons of rednecks all over, even in the most "progressive" states, like California and Washington.

The plot revolves around two brothers in 1954 traveling through North Carolina. After picking up a lone female, their car breaks down in Macon County where they encounter a bigoted Sheriff. A crime takes place and the sheriff blames the trio.

The film only runs 89 minutes and the first hour is all small town tedium, which is part of the movie's low-budget charm, but the third act livens things up.

The screenplay was written by Max Baer Jr., best known as Jethro on the Beverly Hillbillies TV series; he also plays the redneck Sheriff in the story. Max, incidentally, directed another redneck classic, 1976's "Ode to Billy Joe".

The film has a good back country vibe and effectively shows how bigotry and racism are learned traits and not innate. It also shows how easy it is to blame the wrong person due to coincidence. Beyond this, the film has little depth. It's a light drama about mundane events in a small Southern town that turn to tragedy.

The movie purports to be based on a true story and offers details to this effect, but this was merely fabricated in order to hype the picture. It worked, as "Macon County Line" became a drive-in hit in the mid-70s.

My main beef with the film, other than its mundaneness, is that the story takes place in Macon County, North Carolina, but the picture was shot in the Big Valley of California (around Sacramento). It goes without saying, if you're going to film a Southern Gothic thriller that takes place in the South, shoot it in the REAL South, not friggin' California. That said, the filmmakers do a decent job of making it SEEM like the South, dry as California is.

GRADE: C+ or B-

English

Macon County Line (1974) - HD Restored Trailer [1080p]