Swamp Country

In SWAMP COUNTRY, David Wetzel (David DaLie) finds himself on the run through the titular swamps, after being accused of a murder. He's tracked by the sheriff (Rex Allen), bloodhounds, and a gaggle of hillbillies. Lyle Waggoner is along as the deputy!

While Wetzel makes his way through the wilderness, his pursuers find themselves overmatched by him, as well as the bears, quicksand (aka: mud), and other natural hazards.

Oddly, Baker Knight sings and strums his way into our hearts, turning this movie into a near musical! Popping up throughout, usually with a pertinent ditty, his country crooning is a major reason to watch this fine film. You'll be singing the theme song for days!

Loads of rustic fun, right up to the "shock" finale, when we learn the killer's true identity...

Gosh, this movie is great. Why hasn't anyone caught on to Swamp Country? Why aren't the local teen punk bands all covering the songs in this film? Where has this movie been all my life?

First of all, the soundtrack is probably one of the best sound tracks I have ever heard. Let me explain: There's this hobo kinda guy that no one likes except this girl. All he does is hang out where everybody is and play his acoustic guitar and make up songs about what's going on at the moment. He sounds like Elvis and looks like He-Man in over-alls (but not so muscley). His songs include "Swaaaaaammmp Country", "I'm a Misfit" and various love songs and tunes about the sheriff and searching for a murderer in the swamp. Even though he's a misfit, he has the sense of humor as your favorite grandpa. So charming and rebellious.

Secondly, the soundtrack, while not featuring the local talent on his guitar, is just someone screwing around on a slightly out of tune acoustic guitar. They're just banging away on it and playing random notes and sounds. When someone's running through the swamp, the guitar is playing a note really fast. It's pretty brainless yet I love it.

Another thing that makes this movie great is the way they present the swamp people. The gang of men who look for the murderer in the woods are so true and unstereotyped. The deputy is a real character, not some typecast "cop" that every horror movie likes the use. This guy is a real man. The local guy who knows his way around the swamp and drinks moonshine is probably my favorite. They don't belittle these local yokels or make them seem like stupid crazy inbreds. These guys are clever and real. Yeah, they drink moonshine, but that doesn't make them insane. I hate how movies make swamp people seem like idiots. This movie doesn't do that, and I love it.

I also was totally charmed by the 10 year old girl with the Ramona Quimby haircut. She was so darling. I love how they had her fishing with her dog all by herself. Made me happy to see that wasn't a boy. Usually when little kids are involved in a movie and they're fishing and running around in a swamp with their dog, it's a little boy. Some little daddy's boy. But no, this was a little girl, and she was so awesome.

The "murderer" himself is pretty cool. He plays a good role. Makes the plot interesting too.

Watch out for the local Blacks who either say things that no one can understand and then laugh and walk off screen, or are hanging out with the misfit guitar player and getting down to his music, only to be scared away by some tough mafia-like moonshiners. This was really the only stereotype in the movie that made me say - oh yeah, this movie was made a long time ago.

Is that a real bear mauling scene? It looks like someone is really getting attacked by a bear. This is pretty cool. I didn't know bears lived in swamps.. But I guess they do. ?? And panthers? Do they live in swamps? who knows. This movie is still great either way.

I recommend this movie if you want some kind of a feel good flick that isn't as cheezy as Disney and has some of the best spur of the moment folky songs you'll ever hear. And show it to your kids! This way they won't think swamp people are idiots. And they'll know how to outrun the cops by walking backwards!!

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.

When a boozy blonde floozy is found strangled in her Swamper Motel room, a heavy-set visiting Californian--scenarist David DaLie, such unlikely and uncharismatic screen-hero material it's no wonder he wrote the part for himself (who else would cast him?)--unwisely goes running into the surrounding swamplands rather than defend his innocence. (We know he simply left his own motel room to check out the woman's screams, albeit too late to save her. So why would he bolt?) Strapping Lyle Waggoner, later famous on "The Carol Burnett Show" and "Wonder Woman," plays the local sheriff's deputy, his hair highly shellacked.

But the coolest thing about "Swamp Country" is that white bluesman, songwriter and cult musician Baker Knight plays a sort of Greek chorus--singing songs that comment on the action as a layabout who plays in the local bar and anywhere else he pleases. Knight is no actor or much of a looker, either. He still provides a wonderfully sly presence, musically and otherwise, to this eccentric film. His character is eventually kidnapped by Italian-American mobsters seeking to take over the local moonshining biz. He's also Sheriff Jim's romantic rival for the affections of flame-haired Nora.

This is an offbeat, surprisingly polished regional production (to think that primitive B&W Southern drive-in camp classic "Shanty Tramp" came a year later!) whose idiosyncrasies charm. For (threadbare) suspense, it offers peril by bear attack (wait...there are bears in Okefenokee?), quicksand, 'gator, panther (wait...there are panthers in Okefenokee?), and plain old bad people. Its improbabilities include an allegedly 10-year-old tomboy whose older sis looks about two years younger than their slutty 40-ish ma.

This widescreen movie looks great in Something Weird's transfer, with vivid color despite some streaking. There's a cool score and great songs by Knight. It's a pretty silly film but a fun one.