Macon County Line

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.