November Children

Extremely tedious counter-culture statement starring Director MacGregor as a flower cowboy political candidate who's elected by the local peace-loving farming community, only to be persecuted by the corrupt, conservative establishment. The main protagonist is drawn as a cult-like statesman, eschewing violence, advocating people power via peaceful protest which naturally upsets the status quo who view the rise of the commune as a threat to their power and influence.

Daughter of local sheriff (Gayle Hemingway, aka Gail Smale) becomes romantically involved with the charismatic can-do candidate, which causes additional tensions with the local law enforcement until a bloody showdown results in tragedy.

Padded with endless scene fillers and accompanying folk rock So-Cal soundtrack, MacGregor appears to be inspired by 'Billy Jack' but lacks the tension, action and technical polish of its commercially successful influencer.

The acting looks professional with functional dialogue, but the editing (or plot structure) is jumbled to the extent it's sometimes difficult to understand what's happening (although to be honest, I don't think you'd be missing much even it were more coherent).

A couple of quite bloody confrontations in an overall body count of five I counted (although the fatalities at the beginning lacked any context) but the only nightmare in 'Nightmare County' (the version I saw was approx 86 mins) for me at least was the monotony borne of its viewing. Despite the righteous virtues being extolled, there was little to excite nor entertain and going the distance was seriously hard work.

I saw this movie more 30 years after it was shot with me as an extra in it. That was in 1971. I don't know why it shows a release date of 1977. It probably sat on a shelf somewhere for six years waiting to find someone willing to distribute it. I spent three days in San Fernando Valley shooting my part (which lasts on the screen all of 4 seconds during the opening credits) Even as a naive 21-year old with no movie experience, I could tell that this was an awful, budget movie that was going nowhere. The best known actor in the movie, Jodie McCrea (son of Joel McCrea) didn't even appear in the credits. He must have felt it was worse than any of those goofy beach movies he was in back in the 60s and asked that his name be left out. I won't spoil the movie for any of you who still want to see it (why, I'll never know) Let's just say that whatever money the producer rounded up to make this movie surely didn't go into production values. The sound is bad, the acting is worse and the directing is embarrassing. Enough said.