Too Many Slow Spots to Work
Swamp Country (1966)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
A man from California (David DaLie) is in his Southern motel room when he wakes up to screams. He rushes into another room to try and save a woman but he finds her strangled to death. Sure enough, the motel owner walks in and thinks that he is the guilty party. The cops are called and it's clear he's not going to have fair justice so he takes off through the swamps. Soon a manhunt is underway and the man finds some protection from a mother and her two daughters.
SWAMP COUNTRY is a rather interesting film because it does feature some familiar faces like Rex Allen, Lyle Waggoner and Vincent Barbi and you have to wonder how they got involved with this film. This here is an ultra low-budget film that's basically trying to be like the show The Fugitive but set in the Southern swamps. It's clear that the film didn't have too much money but that's not what makes it bad.
What keeps this film from being more entertaining is the fact that there are many dry stretches where nothing is happening. I honestly thought the film got off to a decent start and there's no question that the swamp locations and its various wildlife was a plus. There are scenes with the wildlife attacking people and these scenes are good too. The problem is that whenever this stuff isn't happening you've got long, drawn-out dialogue scenes that just drag the film out.
What's worse is the singer who is constantly popping up throughout the movie to sing a song. WTF is that all about? The performances are pretty much what you'd expect from a film like this but I did enjoy DaLie in the lead since he's not typically what you'd expect in that type of role. The movie does benefit from its 2.35:1 ratio. SWAMP COUNTRY has a few decent moments but it's certainly not that good of a movie.
* 1/2 (out of 4)
A man from California (David DaLie) is in his Southern motel room when he wakes up to screams. He rushes into another room to try and save a woman but he finds her strangled to death. Sure enough, the motel owner walks in and thinks that he is the guilty party. The cops are called and it's clear he's not going to have fair justice so he takes off through the swamps. Soon a manhunt is underway and the man finds some protection from a mother and her two daughters.
SWAMP COUNTRY is a rather interesting film because it does feature some familiar faces like Rex Allen, Lyle Waggoner and Vincent Barbi and you have to wonder how they got involved with this film. This here is an ultra low-budget film that's basically trying to be like the show The Fugitive but set in the Southern swamps. It's clear that the film didn't have too much money but that's not what makes it bad.
What keeps this film from being more entertaining is the fact that there are many dry stretches where nothing is happening. I honestly thought the film got off to a decent start and there's no question that the swamp locations and its various wildlife was a plus. There are scenes with the wildlife attacking people and these scenes are good too. The problem is that whenever this stuff isn't happening you've got long, drawn-out dialogue scenes that just drag the film out.
What's worse is the singer who is constantly popping up throughout the movie to sing a song. WTF is that all about? The performances are pretty much what you'd expect from a film like this but I did enjoy DaLie in the lead since he's not typically what you'd expect in that type of role. The movie does benefit from its 2.35:1 ratio. SWAMP COUNTRY has a few decent moments but it's certainly not that good of a movie.
- Michael_Elliott
- 5. Jan. 2018