Moonshine County Express

I have seen a John Saxon Film recently, was not MSCE (Moonshine County Express), but kept thinking about this film that I foundly remember from the 70s when I seen him recently. I came to IMDB to do a search to see if I could find the name of the film(found it here) to see about buying it on DVD, but to no avail, not even on VHS! That is awful :-( Couple fun things about the film, Three pretty sisters, One of them always using dynamite to blow up things, I think it was Maureen McCormick, and Claudia Jennnings being the brains of the three I think. John Saxon drives a muscle car, a cherry red Dodge Challenger, a real sweet car. A buddy of mine used to own one down the street from me at the time I seen this back in the late 70s. Hopefully, this gem will come out on DVD soon. If you like this film, you may also like "Duel", Steven Spielbergs first film.

After their moonshiner "pa" is killed by a rival bootlegging outfit, three sexy sisters (Susan Howard, Claudia Jennings, and Maureen McCormick) band together to continue his business, which quickly brings them into conflict with same group of thugs. So they team up with a local good 'ole boy and stock-car driver/rum-runner (Jon Saxon) to fight back.

This is yet another Roger Corman produced "hicksploitation" film from the 1970's, but actually a pretty good one (despite its PG rating). Most people today will probably seek it out to see Maureen "Marcia Brady" McCormick, but I personally find it more interesting in that it features two of my favorite 1970's drive-in queens, Claudia Jennings and Candice Rialson. The PG-rating, of course, precludes both actresses' usual gratuitous nude scenes, but Jennings was actually a genuinely talented actress (a veritable Meryl Streep for someone who was once a Playboy Playmate) and she's pretty good here as the feisty, shotgun-totin' middle sister. Rialson has a smaller role as the local tart, but she's just sexy as hell even with her clothes on. The main stars though are Jon Saxon and Susan Howard, both of whom are a little too old for these kind of roles (Saxon especially), but they're both pretty good (again Saxon especially). There's also some very decent character actors in the cast including Dub Taylor as the girls' drunken and treacherous uncle and Les "Uncle Leo" Lesser as a very near-sighted store owner. Which, of course, brings us to Marcia, I mean Maureen McCormick. She's definitely cute and appealing as youngest, animal-loving sister, and the scene were she gets bound to a column and (very mildly) tortured by the bad guys might fulfill some people's more perverted "Brady Bunch"-related fantasies, but others might prefer her later film "Texas Lightning" where she has nude scenes (sort of). She does basically hold her here as an actress against thespians a little more talented than Robert Reed, Florence Henderson or Ann B. Davis.

This movie certainly has an interesting cast, and I found it to overall be a pretty decent flick.

The moonshiner father of three women is killed by a rival bootlegging syndicate, and the three daughters carry on the family business. In this movie are Susan Howard from Petrocelli and Dallas, Maureen McCormick from The Brady Bunch, and Claudia Jennings from some rather trashy movies. John Saxon plays J. B. Johnson, a hot rodder who, Dot says, is interested in only cars and women and goes as fast as he can with both of them. J. B. teaches Dot how to run shine in a nice hot Mustang, but she drives it into a body of water. J. B. drives a Dodge Challenger. It seems a rival runner drove a '70 Roadrunner with an "auxillary fuel tank" for hauling shine. And there was a hypocritical preacher who was really out to make money on shine. Well, the law enforcement is on the lookout, and if one shine business doesn't go out of business, the other one will.

This is directed by Gus Trikonis, well known for directing so many series. This flick here is still unavailable on DVD and is only to catch on NTSC ex-rental VHS. It's made in an era were car chasing was the big thing and coppers were the stupid ones. Smokey And The Bandit (1977) was also a perfect example and the series The Dukes Of Hazard (1979) also picked in on that success.

But it's strange that a flick with this cast and a good director still is collector to find. It's also one of those many flicks that involved John Saxon and is still unreleased on DVD. Further it also has William Conrad famous from Jake And The Fatman series as main lead. Claudia Jennings is also here to see and we all know how sadly see died two years later. Too many faces to recognize in this well made flick.

If you like coppers hunting fast cars and flicks about rednecks than this is surely one to pick up. Don't be mislead by the fact that it was said that the nudity had to left out, it do has one shower scene but it was told about the nudity because many females here in this flick were known to go nude in their flicks.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Take some gorgeous gals, good 'ol boys, creepy villains, fast car chases, and throw in some gratuitous sex scenes. Put it all together, and you have another classic Roger Corman 70s B movie. Corman churned-out these low-budget films like mad, back then. And Moonshine County Express is a fast-and furious tale, of moonshiners in the backwoods of the south. The plot revolves around the three luscious Hammer sisters (played by Susan Howard, Claudia Jennings, and Mareen McCormick). Their father was a legendary moonshiner. And he gets brutally murdered by the local thugs, in a moonshine war.

After their father is murdered by Starkey, the local crime kingpin, the Hammer sisters are determined to beat Starkey at his own game. The sisters discover a huge stash of pure bootleg liquor, stored away in a secret hiding place. They've inherited it from their father. And they plan on selling it right under Starkey's nose, and making a fortune. But Starkey proves to be a formidable foe, who'll stop at nothing to shut-down the Hammer sister's liquor business.

This film boasts a talented cast of actors. Especially William Conrad, as the cigar-chomping, nefarious Starkey. John Saxon co-stars as the wily, ace moonshine runner, JB. Saxon has a tumultuous, eclectic chemistry with co-star, Susan Howard. Susan plays the eldest sister, Dot Hammer. Most of the time, Dot can't decide whether to kiss JB, or strangle him.

Claudia Jennings, was known as the queen of 70s drive-in movies. Claudia plays the stalwart Betty Hammer, who defends her family with gusto, from Starkey and his thugs. Claudia's only in a supporting role though. So she never gets to become the center of attention, like she does in her films where she's the main character. Maureen McCormick, known to most as Marcia from the Brady Bunch, is Sissy Hammer, the youngest sister. Maureen doesn't shine as brightly as the rest of the cast. That's mainly because her role as Sissy, isn't very well-developed.

This move was part of a sub-genre of 70s B movies, that featured good 'ol boys and gals in the sticks, as the main protagonists. These films always seemed to have the hero(s) running from either the law, the bad guys, or both, in souped-up muscle cars on dirt roads. Other 70s movies of this ilk, included Moonrunners (which spawned the TV show, the Dukes Of Hazzard), Smokey and The Bandit, Gator, etc. Moonshine County Express, is a top-tier film of this genre. So you'll enjoy it, if these kinds of films are your cup of corn-squeezins.