Macon County Line (1974)

Director:

Richard Compton

Writers:

Max Baer Jr. (writer)
Richard Compton (writer)

Release Date:

1 December 1975 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Action

Tagline:

It was the fall of '54. A time when laughing was easy. And laugh they did, until they crossed the ... Macon County Line.

Plot:

A vengeful Southern sheriff is out for blood after his wife is brutally killed by a pair of drifters...

Plot Keywords:

Based On True Story | Independent Film

Cast

Alan Vint	...	Chris Dixon
Cheryl Waters	...	Jenny Scott
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Hamp
Joan Blackman	...	Carol Morgan
Jesse Vint	...	Wayne Dixon
Sam Gilman	...	Deputy Bill
Timothy Scott	...	Lon
James Gammon	...	Elisha
Leif Garrett	...	Luke Morgan (as Lief Garrett)
Emile Meyer	...	Gurney
Doodles Weaver	...	Augie
Avil Williams	...	Public Defender
Jay Adler	...	Impound Yard Man
Roger Camras	...	Man in Car
David Orange	...	1st Highway Patrolman

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Iceland:16 | Sweden:11 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Sacramento, California, USA

Company:

Consolidated Productions

Trivia:

It was one of the highest grossing independently financed movies of 1974. The success of the film inspired the sequel Return to Macon County (1975).

Movie Connections:

Featured in Macon County Line: 25 Years Down the Road (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON

too allegorical - and good - to be 'true'

In its tiny, limited way, this is an astonishing piece of work. Stacey contrasted it with its sequels by calling it a 'real movie', but I wouldn't put it that way: it's a drive-in movie all right, with all the sex, guns, cars and cops that implies. But it's also got, let's see, uniformly excellent, low-key performances; the kind of local colour that is impossible for a studio production to capture, with juicy layers of deep-South detail; an organic, fluid narrative structure that keeps surprising you; inspired camera work and even clever blocking for God's sake; and what comes down to a pacifist, anti-authoritarian (and anti-racist) world view that is pervasive without being over-articulated. Unapologetically trashy, yet clearly under the influence of the Hellmann/Pakula school of early-70s existential angst, this is a genuine and successful synthesis, urgently needed proof that brains and cojones can live in one body, even if that body belongs to Jethro Clampett.