Tagged: Moonshiner
Moonrunners: Kiel Martin’s Fringed Buckskin Jacket and Blue Jeans
Kiel Martin in Moonrunners (1975)
Vitals
Kiel Martin as Bobby Lee Hagg, daredevil moonshine driver and part-time guitar picker
Georgia, Fall 1973
Film: Moonrunners
Release Date: May 14, 1975
Director: Gy Waldron
Costume Designer: Patty Shaw
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Two rambunctious and fast-driving cousins speed through a fictional county in the deep south, running moonshine for their uncle Jesse while evading local sheriff Roscoe Coltrane and his connections to a corrupt local crime boss who drives a white Cadillac—all set to the music and homespun voiceover of outlaw country legend Waylon Jennings. And no, I’m not talking about The Dukes of Hazzard.
Four years before the Dukes debuted on CBS, Gy Waldron’s B-movie Moonrunners premiered in drive-in theaters across the South fifty years ago tomorrow on May 14, 1975.
Moonrunners could have been lost in the traffic jam of cheap ’70s hick flicks about moonshine and muscle cars until it was plucked from potential obscurity by Warner Brothers’ perplexing—but indeed prophetic—suggestion that it could form the basis for a successful TV show. Now best known as the rawer progenitor to The Dukes of Hazzard, Moonrunners has essentially all the same elements and characters but distilled into a dirtier, hornier jar of shine—seasoned with the visceral authenticity that comes from filming on location in rural Georgia and not a WB backlot. Continue reading
The Last American Hero: Jeff Bridges in Denim
Jeff Bridges in The Last American Hero (1973)
Vitals
Jeff Bridges as Elroy “Junior” Jackson, Jr., moonshine runner and aspiring race car driver
Gaston County, North Carolina, Fall 1972
Film: The Last American Hero
Release Date: July 27, 1973
Director: Lamont Johnson
Wardrobe Credit: Alan Levine
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Amid the playoffs ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Race at Martinsville a week from today on November 3, today’s post celebrates one of the more underdiscussed “mooonshine movies” that also draws on the link between Appalachain bootleggers and stock car racing.
Photographed by cinematographer George Silano against an authentic North Carolina autumn in late 1972, The Last American Hero was adapted from Tom Wolfe’s Esquire essay about moonshiner-turned-NASCAR star Robert “Junior” Johnson, represented on screen by Jeff Bridges (in one of his first starring roles) as Elroy “Junior” Jackson, Jr., who speeds through the mountains of North Carolina in his ’67 Mustang to run moonshine for his father Elroy (Art Lund) and brother Wayne (Gary Busey). Continue reading
Robert Mitchum’s Calypso Shirt in Thunder Road
Robert Mitchum and Keely Smith in Thunder Road (1958)
Vitals
Robert Mitchum as Lucas “Luke” Doolin, moonshine driver and Korean War veteran
Rillow Valley, Tennessee, Fall 1957
Film: Thunder Road
Release Date: May 10, 1958
Director: Arthur Ripley
Wardrobe Credit: Oscar Rodriguez
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today would have been the birthday of Robert Mitchum, born August 6, 1917 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Now one of my favorite actors, the first Mitchum movie I had ever seen was Thunder Road, the Southern-set moonshine drama that Mitch developed, produced, and performed on the soundtrack.
My introduction to Mitchum—now one of my favorite actors—was by way of Thunder Road, the Southern-set moonshine drama I had been determined to see after growing up as a fan of The Dukes of Hazzard. Twenty years before the Duke boys painted the General Lee, Mitchum’s Lucas Doolin tore through the mountains of Tennessee in his souped-up Fords, evading syndicate gunmen and revenue agents while romancing a local nightclub singer, Francie (Keely Smith). Continue reading
Gator McKlusky’s Navy Gingham Shirt
Burt Reynolds as “Gator” McKlusky in Gator (1976)
Vitals
Burt Reynolds as Bobby “Gator” McKlusky, paroled moonshine runner
Dunston County, Georgia, Summer 1975
Film: Gator
Release Date: August 25, 1976
Director: Burt Reynolds
Costume Designer: Norman Salling
Background
September 6 marks the sad one-year anniversary since Burt Reynolds’ death. One of the star’s most famous roles was that of “Gator” McKlusky, the “good ol’ boy” moonshiner introduced in White Lightning (1973) who was revisited, this time with Burt’s iconic mustache, in the Reynolds-directed Gator (1976). Continue reading
Robert Mitchum in Thunder Road
Robert Mitchum as Lucas Doolin in Thunder Road (1958), frisked next to his classic Ford.
Vitals
Robert Mitchum as Lucas “Luke” Doolin, moonshine driver and Korean War veteran
Rillow Valley, Tennessee, Fall 1957
Film: Thunder Road
Release Date: May 10, 1958
Director: Arthur Ripley
Wardrobe Credit: Oscar Rodriguez
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
There’s a Treasury agent down the line someplace with three bumpers hangin’ on his car.
For the first Car Week post of this year, and just in time for the fourth of July, BAMF Style celebrates the all-American tradition of car-racing and its moonshine-running origins with the 1958 action film Thunder Road.
Gator McKlusky’s Red, White, and Blue
Burt Reynolds as “Gator” McKlusky in Gator (1976).
Vitals
Burt Reynolds as Bobby “Gator” McKlusky, paroled moonshine runner
Dunston County, Georgia, Summer 1975
Film: Gator
Release Date: August 25, 1976
Director: Burt Reynolds
Costume Designer: Norman Salling
Background
To celebrate yesterday being the Fourth of July here in the United States, BAMF Style is breaking down a red, white, and blue look from that most American movie star… Burt Reynolds.
Sterling Archer and I disagree on which of Burt Reynolds’ two cinematic outings as Gator McKlusky is superior… or at least “less bad”. I prefer the darker White Lightning that cast a grittier line on Arkansas moonshiners, while Archer claims that the Reynolds-directed sequel Gator is the stronger choice. While I could make the argument that White Lightning has an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes while Gator currently enjoys a 0%, it’s also worth pointing out that Archer falsely attributes many scenes from White Lightning to Gator. (It’s also likely that Archer just appreciates Gator more because Burt had grown his now-iconic mustache for the role; his upper lip had been tragically bare in White Lightning.) Continue reading
Bo Duke (and the General Lee)
John Schneider as Bo Duke on the set of The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-1985).
Vitals
John Schneider as Bo Duke, race car driver & former moonshine runner
Hazzard County, Georgia, Fall 1978
Series: The Dukes of Hazzard
Creators: Gy Waldron & Jerry Rushing
Men’s Costume Supervisors: Bob Christenson & Joseph Roveto
Background
Picture a cool fall day in 2005 on a suburban road just north of Pittsburgh. A young – and charming, if I may say – 16-year-old is out with his dad, taking his red 1992 Plymouth Acclaim for a spin with his learner’s permit freshly in his wallet. After about a half hour of learning how to obey basic traffic laws, the father turns to his son and says: “Okay, let’s turn it around and go home.”
The son nods obediently, yanks the emergency brake release, taps the column shifter into neutral, and – without reducing speed – jams his foot onto the emergency brake. The rear tires of the Acclaim lock up, the steering wheel is yanked to the left, and within seconds, the surprisingly powerful V6 engine roars as the Acclaim is shifted back into gear to head home.
The son smiles smugly with his perfectly-executed first attempt at a bootleggers’ turn while the father breaks his steadfast rule about cursing around the kids:
You’re not Bo fucking Duke!
Luke Duke
Tom Wopat as Luke Duke in “High Octane”, Episode 1.05 of The Dukes of Hazzard.
Vitals
Tom Wopat as Luke Duke, ex-Marine & moonshiner
Hazzard County, Georgia*, Fall 1978
* best represented by Newton County, 35 miles east of Atlanta
Series: The Dukes of Hazzard
Creators: Gy Waldron & Jerry Rushing
Men’s Costume Supervisors: Bob Christenson & Joseph Roveto
Background
I know I said I wouldn’t do it, but the pull of the General Lee was too strong, and I finally decided enough car week posts had been written before I could officially sell out and write about my dream car, the 1969 Dodge Charger R/T, and the show that immortalized it… The Dukes of Hazzard, which began filming 36 years ago today on November 7, 1978. Continue reading
Burt Reynolds in White Lightning
Burt Reynolds as “Gator” McKlusky in White Lightning (1973).
Vitals
Burt Reynolds as Bobby “Gator” McKlusky, paroled moonshine runner and Marine Corps veteran
Bogan County, Arkansas, Summer 1973
Film: White Lightning
Release Date: August 8, 1973
Director: Joseph Sargent
Costume Designer: Michael Butler
Background
White Lightning was arguably the first of what would be deemed “hick flicks”, a series of rural-themed films that became popular in the ’70s. The story was usually the same, an anti-hero would use his muscle car to face off against a corrupt, and usually fat, Southern lawman with illegal booze as the story’s MacGuffin. Burt Reynolds was strongly associated with this subgenre, kicking off with his appearance in White Lightning, the more lighthearted sequel Gator, and the wildly popular Smokey and the Bandit. This first, 1973’s sweltering Southern adventure White Lightning, is the grittiest and my favorite of this trio. Continue reading
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