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You can always be guaranteed a good time with seventies American exploitation flicks; and Macon County Line is not only no exception to that rule; it stands tall as one of the best films of its type! Macon County Line was apparently a big hit in its day and then promptly forgotten - which is a shame. The film is a winner thanks to some easy to like characters, a constant stream of entertainment, some witty dialogue and a serviceable helping of gritty violence - you really couldn't ask for much more from a film like this! The film takes place in the fifties and the plot focuses on two brothers driving through the Deep South. They cause a bit of trouble and end up picking up a female hitcher along the way before their car dies thanks to a dodgy fuel pump. They manage to get it to a garage but can't afford to get it fixed properly and so go for a bodge instead. While waiting for their car to be fixed, they run into the local sheriff, who takes an instant and unfair dislike to the group...

Unlike many films of its type, this one is not overly sleazy and if anything the tone of the film is light and breezy for most of the duration. The pace of the film is very relaxed for the first hour, although it remains entertaining thanks to the characters. Real life brothers Alan and Jesse Vint provide standout performances that bolster the film. The film does take a bit of a turn for the final third when the real antagonists turn up; we get a rape and murder scene and from there the tone of the film becomes rather darker, although the violence featured is never excessive. The pace of the film heats up too and the climax is fast and furious; and means more since we already like all the main characters by then. This film really does come highly recommended. It might not have a great deal of substance and the production values are not great (though certainly very good considering the obvious low budget) but it's good fun throughout and I'm sure that everyone who goes to the trouble of seeing this film will not be disappointed!

Some movies just don't get the attention they deserve,and "Macon County Line" is certainly one of those.It could quite possibly have to do with the fact that Max Baer appears in it,because we so closely identify him with his "Jethro Bodine" persona,that we have a hard time picturing him as anyone else.If that is the case,it is a shame,because he really gives a top notch acting performance as the not-so-perfect deputy sheriff.This film was very different from any other made in the era.There are bad guys here,but no real hero to speak of.Basically,without giving the story away,it starts out very basic,taking a violent turn toward the end,with an explosively violent ending stemming from a tragic misunderstanding.A very well done and well acted film, that tragically got overlooked.If you are one to reach for the classics in your local video store from time to time,I suggest this one,though it sadly will never be listed as a classic.I think once you see it,you may be impressed enough to add it to your collection.

When you've played hillbilly hunk Jethro Bodeine for almost a decade it's kind of hard for folks to take you seriously in the casting department. So Max Baer, Jr. decided to take charge of his own future by writing a screenplay and selling it with him in a juicy role. He's so good in the role of the Deputy Sheriff that not for one minute will you think of The Beverly Hillbillies while you watch Macon County Line.

The film is set back 20 years before Macon County Line's debut in 1974 and it's a picture without any nostalgic longing for Dixie before the Brown vs. Board of Education decision. Two good old boy brothers are having a road trip to kill time before one has to go into the Air Force. Real life brothers Alan and Jesse Vint play our rover boys and they pick up Cheryl Waters for a bit of amusement.

These two aren't choirboys that's pretty clear. When their car breaks down they take shelter in a barn not knowing it belongs to Max Baer, Jr. They also don't know that a pair of psychopathic drifters are at the house terrorizing Baer's wife Joan Blackman.

The conjunction of these happenings lead to some horrible conclusion and god awful tragedy.

A few familiar faces you will spot in the cast, some old names and some who hadn't quite made it yet. A really stand out scene is with Baer and young Leif Garrett before he became a bubblegum pop star as Baer tries to tell his son that he shouldn't be playing basketball with a black kid he's become acquainted with that this violates social taboos.

The film has become a deserved cult classic and Max Baer, Jr. must thank God that it is as associated with him as Jethro Bodeine.

70's gritnik cinema doesn't get much better. Pure tautness. Imagine Sam Peckinpah had done this, or John Boorman, or that it starred one of the many young upstarts of New Hollywood; it would've been one of the classic movies we referenced from this era, that's for sure.

Alas it had none of those things. But it wasn't a drive-in smash hit for no reason either and as much as high brow critics would dismiss the regular love-pit crowd as easily pleased or what have you, the truth is Macon County Line is an all around accomplished movie that is almost too good to be classified as exploitation. Or the kind of hicksploitation you find in movies like Gator Bait.

What starts as an amusing "boys just wanna have fun" road movie soon turns into a tight, gripping thriller but not without stopping to sample some of the local Lousiana colour first. The economy in the story is incredible, there's no frame wasted, nothing that doesn't propel the story forward or build mood or characters. The direction is confident, without highfallutin auteur-ism but with an efficiency and energy that suits the material.

What really elevates Macon is the superb cast. Names and faces I've never seen before but they're all perfect in their roles, understated and emotional in just the right measure and true to the characters they're supposed to be playing without becoming self-conscious caricatures of themselves. Even the backwoods mechanic carries an authenticity, a sense that you're watching a real person and that such people do exist.

Which brings me to another major success for the movie. It presents and inhabits a real world with real characters that have lived their lives there. The real locations and unknown cast sure help a great deal but so does the story, dialogues and actor interplay. We get a vision of the graphic South without the self-conscious quirks the Coens used in Raising Arizona or Oliver Stone in U-Turn, both great movies but still "artificial" in how they depict life.

Tightly edited, beautifully photographed, with cool music and a fine-tuned screenplay, memorable performances and an unexpected ending, Macon County Line justifies its cult status and drive-in success 30 years down the line and belongs in the very elite company of gritnik gems like Two-Lane Blacktop and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.

It just takes to long to get getting. Nothing, I mean nothing, happens for the first hour. It's only only an hour and a half long movie. The actors all give strong performances and the movie looks great. It's never really that boring (with the exception of maybe the most boring sex scene in movie history). But waiting an hour before you can figure out where the story is going is a bit too long. It does have a strong last twenty minutes or so.

Forget what the carpetbagger critics say...they automatically hate anything "southern"...MCL is a great movie. A classic "must see" for movie lovers. Ten times better than the unbelievable action overkill movies that Hollywood libs think "intelligent" people are supposed to enjoy. Unfortunately, as always, the stereotypical portrayal of Southerners is about as accurate as "The Beverly Hillbillies".

I'm not going to say it's 'great' which is an overused word, but it is lean, naturally acted and economically put together. All in a good way. I'd recommend it, but fast forward through the lovemaking in a tank of water. Ick.

Despite what previous posters have been saying this movie was a big hit when it came out. There was even a sequel a few years later. But it was only a hit at drive-ins and (like other drive-in hits) has been largely forgotten. That's a shame because it's a really great movie.

It's not based on a true story (despite what they say at the beginning and end). It's bloody, violent and made on virtually no budget. It all works though because you get four believable characters--the two brothers (real life brothers Alan and Jesse Vint), the hitchhiker (Cheryl Waters) and the sheriff (Max Baer Jr.). They all give natural, unforced performances and through the dialogue you get to know them and understand them. The script is very well-written. Still, this IS a drive-in movie so it opens with a sex scene including flashes of male and female nudity. And the last half hour is frightening and includes a neat twist at the end.

A very good film that deserves to be rediscovered. See it!

"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-

I had heard of this film, but never had the chance to see it. Knowing that Max Baer wrote and starred in it really didn't mean much to me either way. Although I often identify actors with their TV roles, I've seen a lot of them who got famous by playing goofy characters in phenomenal roles, so I don't usually judge them by their other work. And in this case, that's a good thing. Stumbled onto the Anchor Bay release of this at Wal-Mart for $3, so I figured I'd check it out. Not my usual style of movie, I prefer comedy, horror or camp, but I'm a movie buff and for the price, I figured what-the-hell. And I wasn't disappointed.

The acting is solid. Usually in low budget films there's at least one actor who simply can't act, but not here. Everyone in the film is believable enough to hold your attention and make you forget how unlikely the string of coincidences that happen near the end would be. Baer, who in his first scene seems reminiscent of Jethro Clampett, soon shows that he does have acting abilities. And the other three leads are exceptional. Although it seems like it takes forever for something to happen (it's an hour into the 90 min film before the "shocking" part begins to unfold), the beginning is enjoyable. You forget for a while that there's a point and get swept up in the antics of these (real-life) brothers who are joyriding when their car breaks down in Macon County. Back in the good old days when character development was more important than special fx, a lot of time was spent on doing just that, developing the characters. You start to care about the three leads, which makes it much more disturbing when Baer goes after them near the end for a crime they didn't commit. And what's revealed at the end is a total mind blower that slaps you across the face and shoots you between the eyes. Just for the twist ending, the film is well worth your time. Too bad the videos didn't sell well and are now in the bargain bins, but it's a bargain-bin-classic that I'd recommend to anyone.

Like every self-respecting horror and cult cinema fanatic, I love to watch a good slice of "Hicksploitation" every now and then! In case you stumbled on this movie's page by accident and haven't got a clue what we're talking about, "Hicksploitation" (or "Rednecksploitation") are low-budgeted action movies/thrillers from the 1970's that are set in the American Deep South and feature violent backwoods folks and moonshining yokels with bad dental hygiene. Next to the biggest "classics" in this unofficial sub-genre ("Deliverance", "Southern Comfort", "White Lightning"), "Macon County Line" is supposedly one of the best efforts, but personally I can't help feeling a little bit disappointed.

Real-life brothers Alan and Jesse Vint are very likeable as the convivial Dixon brothers, and the lovely Cheryl Waters is stunning as the sexy hitch-hiker Jenny Scott, but the tone and the pacing of "Macon County Line" are wickedly - almost frustratingly - uneven. For more than a full hour, the film is a rompish comedy that almost solely focuses of the trio's jolly adventures whilst driving through Macon County, Georgia. Admittedly the grumpy and xenophobic Sheriff Reed Morgan warns the Dixon brothers to stay out of trouble, but the whole thing is very light-headed. Then, suddenly, the daffy plot becomes dark and disturbing, and by the time the finale kicks in, Macon County Line" feels like a totally different movie altogether. Practically out of nowhere, two random drifters also show up in Macon County and commit horrible crimes where then naturally Wayne and Chris Dixon get pursued for. "Macon County Line" is promoted as a true story, for example via the brilliantly compelling tag line ("It shouldn't have happened. It couldn't have happened, ... But it did"), but this was really just a trick to attract more publicity and audiences. That certainly worked, since it became of the most successful drive-in hits of all times. Good for director Richard Compton and his crew, but I can easily name a dozen of "Hickploitation" movies that are more enjoyable and impactful ("Jackson County Jail", "Cockfighter", "Race with the Devil", "Baker County USA", ...)

I agree with many previous reviewers that this was an ideal drive-in thriller movie and well suited to the era with it's colorful cinematography of the picturesque South.

Max Baer better known as "Jethro", the jovial dim witted clown of the "Beverly Hillbillies" series shows how equally well he can play officious gun toting Deputy Sheriff Reed Morgan of a southern Georgia town, flaunting his obvious authority with others. When three teenagers arrive in his domain at a local service station with car trouble he immediately becomes suspicious and makes clear his anxiousness for them to leave his County as quickly as possible.

Morgan shortly after leaves with son Luke, played by Leif Garrett, on a duck shooting expedition and while away two ex cons break into his house and rob and murder his wife Carol. Returning home he notices the teenagers car broken down nearby and after discovering the fate of his wife sets out in armed pursuit of the teenagers. The teenagers take refuge on a houseboat and the tragic events which unfold give this movie a hold on to your seat electrifying finale. The excellent "Another Place Another Time" song of Bobbie Gentry in the closing credits adds vividly to the way life and events did exist and were perceived in the Fifties era.

Beverly Hillbilly Max Baer's baby. Well-done, ,he seems to have learned what works during his time in the business. Riding on the 70's vogue for rural south settings, based on a true story, a shoo-in formula if done right, and it is. Main characters (Baer as Sheriff, natch) well-drawn, and minor characters in various glimpses of country life are drawn ala Norman Rockwell if he'd worked in the south. Although corny, they lend local color and set the mood, which starts out corny, then takes a terrible turn, and ,a 180 degree adjustment in tone. Before the end credits, the audience is shown a written rundown of what actually happened after the action of the film, and i felt satisfied I'd been shown a solid portrayal of what ultimately led to those real-life eventualities. But what's with the up-beat song over the credits?

Macon County Line was apparently a huge hit at the drive-ins when it came out in the seventies but since I seldom went to drive-ins I missed it. A few years ago I caught it on television, and was very impressed, not so much by the story but by the way it's told. The film concerns a couple of out-of-town brothers caught up in violent crime and mistaken identity in the Deep South, where, in movie terms anyway, it's never a good place to be a Yankee without a road map, or worse, have your car break down. The story unfolds at a decent clip, and the actors are all good, some much better than than that. It's interesting seeing an old-timer like Emile Meyer in a movie with an up-and-comer like Leif Garret. The real surprise in the film is the strong, silent performance of Max Baer, Jr. in the key role of the deputy sheriff. Like most viewers, I tend to think of Baer as the gentle, simple giant, Jethro, on the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies. As the lawman in this movie Baer actually gives a serious performance. As a dramatic actor he comes off a little like James Garner, a little like Clint Eastwood, but he has a distinctive style of his own. There's something rock solid about Baer. He has real screen presence, and he comes off as alternately heroic and frightening, depending on what he's up to at the moment. Baer also produced the movie, and made a fortune from it. Baer may in real life be a gentle giant, but he sure ain't a simple one.

This is at times a very dark movie, violent and forbidding, and at times almost painfully tense. It may be a product of the Burt Reynolds good old boy era of movie-making, but it plays very differently from the kinds of films Reynolds made, closer in style to Sam Fuller or Phil Karlson.

A weird hybrid of noir & B actioner as 2 brothers travel in the South in the 1950's hooking up w/girls, pulling petty crimes & eventually being pursued for a vicious crime they had no part of. Based on a true story & scripted by Max Baer (Jethro from the Beverly Hillbillies/he also plays a cop here), the shambling flick moves from episode to episode w/story beats touching on different characters sometimes to a notable effect & others just to do so & I think that's the problem here where I would say the film is about 70% successful but that nagging 30 really causes it to fall apart in sections. Badlands, I guess the closest antecedent to County, came out the year before & in Terence Malick's vision that story of crime in the heartland worked liked gangbusters.

This is a great 1950's period piece movie. Similar in some ways to "The Last Picture Show". Unfortunately, Macon County Line never received any hype, and therefore has largely been forgotten. Too bad only 21 people have bothered to vote for this movie.

If you would like to time travel back to the 50's, and get a feel for the rural South, this is an enjoyable movie to watch.

I have sort of a soft spot for MCL, even though I don't think it's very good. I think I saw it at The Varsity Theater in Evanston Il, on a double bill with "Legend of Boggy Creek". Me and my friend thought both films were weak. Both had been hits with the saturation T.V. ad campaign promotion (tons of commercials bought cheap on local T.V.) that made "Billy Jack a mega hit.

Anyway, I saw the film years later. It's a mix of country corn humor, exploitation nudity and violence, and awkward stabs at seriousness. Mr. Drysdale, Jethro wants to make a movie!

I was brought back to it by best of CD of songs by the interesting Bobbie Gentry, her theme song was one of the last things She did before retiring. Worth a look as a curio, and one of these days I'm going to catch up with "Macon County Two" with Don Johnson and Nick Nolte!

Look I must admit I haven't seen this film since it was released in 1974 but I have to say something considering all the over the top praise and high scores. I remember at the time this being one of the worst films I've ever seen and that is simply due to the subject matter and over the top violence. I have loved lots of violent and horror films so it's not that. I just know it really left a bad taste in my mouth and turned my stomach. And until I saw much worse films in later years this was a film that continued to haunt me for some time after. So I just want to warn people it's a very sad and violent film and really doesn't have that much going for it. Hardly a classic with hidden meaning. Billy Jack films are much better films if the violent genre that do have a good message to them.

Richly atmospheric, "Macon County Line" veritably drips 1950s backwoods Louisiana, in a story about two good-humored, shiftless dudes, both laid-back and basically decent, who joyride through the South, with no particular goal in mind. Along the way they pick up a young, attractive Southern belle. But a car problem puts them at the mercy of local hicks, including a White, bullying cop (Max Baer Jr.), prejudiced against Blacks and outsiders.

The plot starts out with some red-light hi-jinx, augmented by lush color visuals and great music, like the Black gospel song "Keep On Keeping On" which conveys the film's subtle theme. The slow-paced story fits the hot, lazy Southern weather. And as we get to know the main characters on their daytime journey, we sense something is going to happen. We just don't know what or when.

As night falls the tone turns ominous. Danger lurks in coincidence. And the story morphs into a kind of allegory that renders it timeless. Terrific suspense makes the last twenty minutes spellbinding ... human prey trying to escape a killer in the brushy backwoods at night, no music, just the natural sounds of frogs and crickets ... tense ... the killer is somewhere in the woods ... two people hear footsteps, a door opens, death is close at hand ... silence.

The film's visuals are grainy, which contributes to a nostalgic, dreamlike quality. Production design is authentic. Casting and acting are fine, and considerably better than one would expect for this genre of film.

I think people were surprised at the time by its success. Certainly, it could never be made today. And that probably ups its status now as a cult classic. "Macon County Line", in addition to being a fine Gothic story set in an atmospheric South, evokes nostalgia for an era and pace of life gone forever.

Well, strap in folks, because taking a ride down "Macon County Line" is akin to expecting a scenic route and instead finding yourself stuck in a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam with no exit in sight. This 1974 flick tries to sell itself as a gritty, backwoods thriller, but it's more like a misguided tour through snoozeville. The premise promises suspense and southern-fried drama, yet delivers all the excitement of a turtle race. And trust me, you'll be rooting for the turtles just to add some spice.

Then there's the acting, which ranges from wooden to "I think that guy just blinked SOS." Characters wander through the plot like they've forgotten why they turned up, possibly reflecting the audience's feelings. Every supposedly tense moment is undercut by the drama equivalent of a limp handshake. The twists? Predictable enough to make you think you've developed psychic powers, except your newfound abilities are only good for predicting clichés.

To wrap it up, "Macon County Line" is the kind of film that makes you wonder about the road not taken-like not pressing play. With its sluggish pace, cardboard characters, and a plot that meanders like a lost tourist, it's a cinematic flat tire. Two and a half stars because, against all odds, it does end-proving that every bad movie, like a bad day, eventually runs out of steam.

I haven't seen this movie in years but recently found it on sale in DVD. You can watch it with or without commentary from the director who admits that it is not a true story. They just added that to make the movie more believable. Despite the movie being fiction, its still worth watching.