Moonrunners

I've wanted to see this movie ever since I discovered it was the foundation for the Dukes of Hazzard TV show. I was not a die hard fan of the TV show, but I liked it, primarily for the Waylon Jennings narration. This movie has the same goofy, rollicking charm as the show. You know you're in B-movie land with low production values and no big name stars, but the movie works anyway for at least the first two-thirds anyway, then it sort of gets lost in itself. The three leads--James Mitchum, Kiel Martin, Anthum Hunnicut--easily fit into their roles, especially Hunnicut. The pretty girl they introduce early in the film is pretty much irrelevant for the remainder of the film. The TV show corrected this oversight by making Daisy Dukes a stronger presence. The gangsters from up north are another missed opportunity. They could have added a lot more danger and excitement to the latter half. But the Waylon Jennings soundtrack is divine; he gets to sing a lot and his fans will recognize most of the songs. Even with its shortcomings, Moonrunners is worth taking a look at. I've watched movies with far better reviews and enjoyed them far less.

I first learned of this movie as a result of watching the movie "Thunder Road" on cable TV. Robert Mitchum stars in it and the cast also includes his son James.

After the end of that film, I found out that James Mitchum was in another one on similar theme, namely this one. I watched it recently and I was pleasantly surprised with it. There's no brain-blasting stuff in it and no message. It's simple entertainment that had me hooting and hollering with delight a number of times.

While it apparently inspired the TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard", I noticed a few bits in it that could well have influenced a movie made later that same decade: "Smokey and the Bandit".

I enjoyed this one a lot and it mystifies me why it's not better-known, because it's a lot of fun!

I was actually involved in the shooting of Moonrunners, but in a coincidental way. I was a police officer for Clayton County, Georgia and worked security for the film. It was shot in Clayton and Coweta Counties. The scene of the chase through the small town where the Fury is stopped at a railroad crossing was filmed in Haralson, Ga. There were three streets to block and four police officers. Since I didn't have a street to block, the director let me drive one of the police cars. In the overhead shot of the car that is my elbow sticking out of the window in the stopped police car. The final scene shows a Coweta County deputy who also helped with the security, but he didn't want to drive the car. We bought the video tape of the movie as soon as it was available and enjoy watching it for the local scenery as well as the movie itself. And although it is obvious to anyone familiar with Moonrunners that it was the basis for The Dukes of Hazard, it took a court action for the makers of the film to acknowledge the connection.

A nice representation of the type of life during the days of running moonshine. This movie is the precursor to the television series the "Dukes Of Hazzard". The main characters aren't named Duke and there is no General Lee. There is however an Uncle Jesse, A sheriff Roscoe P Coltrane and the Balladeer(Waylon Jennings). Ben Jones(Cooter) has a large role as a revenue agent. There are many similarities to the television series. There are plenty of car chases. It's a fun movie to watch, but may be slow in some parts of the dialog. People who watch it can see the direct relationship that it has with the "Dukes of Hazard". Definitely worth a look of given the opportunity.

Moon Runners for some reason is almost NEVER mentioned as far as good decent 70's schlock and action movies, despite the "Dukes of Hazzard" connection. It's pretty rare - while it was shown on cable in the late 70's, it almost never shows up on TV at all nowadays. I caught it for the first time in many years early this year on cable (TNT I believe).

Grady and Bobby Lee (later to become Bo and Luke Duke) run moonshine for Uncle Jesse, who prides himself on his old-school moonshining methods, and refuses to buckle in to the 'big business moonshine' of Jake, who controls these parts for New York mobsters. Fast-paced and entertaining, as the boys continue to get their moonshine through. Some excellent car chase action, and while the chase scenes aren't on par with say "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" and also aren't as numerous as I thought I remembered, still decent enough and forgivable since the film is just fun to begin with. Definitely a film to be seen!