Director: Gus Trikonis
Cast: John Saxon, Susan Howard, William Conrad, Claudia Jennings

Since my country, Canada, more often than not comes across my eyes as being too laid bad and dull, whenever I am in the mood to think about "culture", I usually think about the cultures in more exciting and vibrant places all over the world. I think about places like Japan, France, Egypt, and a heck of a lot of other places. But because it's right next door to my country, I think I spend more time thinking about the United States. What really interests me about the United States is that there is no constant culture in all of its fifty states covering 9.834 million square kilometers over the planet. (American readers: You really should adopt the metric system - much clearer and easier!) If you look at all fifty states, you are bound to see some stark differences of how things are practiced in some particular states, sometimes in particular parts of the state in question. When you look at Texas, it becomes a bit mystifying as to why this particular state has more of a "wild west" feeling than other states, with its harsh penalties in court of laws, as well as it seeming that every household has at least one firearm. In the state of California, the city of San Francisco has long proved itself to have a much more liberal attitude than many other places in the United States, including much of the rest of California. The people of the state of Washington seem proud to declare themselves part of the Pacific Northwest and often seem to have a laid-back attitude towards everything. And of course, there are the two states some distance from the lower 48, Alaska and Hawaii, whose cultures are radically different in many different ways not just limited to weather and the plant life.

While all those subcultures that I mentioned in the previous paragraph are worthy of mention and study, there is one particular American subculture that I really want to talk about, and it's one that appears to cover several states. Those states are in the southern part of the United States, and the particular culture in those states may be most commonly known as "redneck culture". No doubt as soon as you read those last two words in the previous sentence, some thoughts came up in your head that mostly are or are completely of what other people think of. People with shotguns. Swampland living. Banjo music. Fiddle music. Incest. Rampant poverty. Hot and dirty areas of property tangled with excessive growth foliage. Illegal stills built and used to make whisky and moonshine. Brutal and crude law enforcement. Fleeing from this brutal and crude law enforcement with souped-up vehicles. All this, and more, to the tune of "Yahoo!!!!" from everybody living in this part of the world. I really don't think I have to go on with describing this redneck culture. Us city folk know it pretty well from countless movies and television shows, and it's very likely that you have shaped a definite attitude towards this culture, that attitude being a very negative one. But it's interesting to observe the attitude of people in redneck culture, not just from films and television shows, but also real-life rednecks. In both cases, it seems to me that all of these rednecks are surprisingly proud to be living in such an environment and being who they are and how they act. Self-loathing or a desire to get out of this culture always seem to be very low on their "to do" lists. That is, if they are even on their lists.

Why is this? Why do rednecks celebrate their lifestyle so much in whatever manner we observe them? One cynical reason might be that often the rednecks seem to possess lower intelligence and less schooling than the average person, and therefore it can be concluded they are just don't have the smarts to figure out that there are such things as better lifestyles. But my observations also have spotted that rednecks seem to have a stronger sense of defiance than many other people. Related to this is the observations that many rednecks, despite their living conditions, have managed to carve themselves a firm foothold in their corner of the world. Better to be a big fish in a small pond. Though I would like to get more insight into redneck culture, I wasn't really expecting that when I got my hands on a copy of Moonshine County Express, seeing it was released by Roger Corman from his New World Pictures distribution firm. But if it provided enough drive-in style entertainment, I would be satisfied. In the opening of the movie, we learn of a notorious racketeer in redneck country by the name of Starkey (William Conrad, Cannon). He desires the moonshine business that one Pap Hammer (Fred Foresman) is running with his three daughters Dot (Susan Howard, Dallas) Sissy (Maureen McCormick, The Brady Bunch), and Betty (Claudia Jennings, Deathsport) so Starkey arranges it so that patriarch Hammer is killed. When the killing of Pap doesn't appear to be stopping the Hammer women from continuing on, Starkey has the idea of using stock car driver J. B. Johnson (John Saxon, Strange Shadows In An Empty Room) to finish the job. But it doesn't take Johnson long to sympathize with the Hammer women, so he eventually teams up with them so all four of them can take Pap's secret stash of moonshine and get it onto the black market and make lots of money. However, Starkey keeps going with his push to put the Hammer family out of business, and bumbling corrupt local sheriff Larkin (Albert Salmi, Empire Of The Ants) at the same time provides his own threats.

How much redneck could a rednecker movie redneck? When this redneck movie rednecks, it certainly gives off a lot of the redneck ingredients you expect in this sort of redneck movie. In the opening sequence alone, we not only get to see the expected illegal brewing operation going on, we get banjo music which is complimented by the familiar sound of a jaw harp. Later on in the movie, the corrupt local sheriff makes his first appearance, trying to untangle the mess the three Hammer sisters are having with the local kingpin, who is - you guessed it - fat and unshaven. There are other very redneck touches ranging from a country music hoedown to a few appearances from the ever-reliable actor Dub Taylor (The Great Smokey Roadblock). Naturally with the mention of Taylor, you are probably expecting that there is also a great number of attempts at comic relief along the way, and you would be correct. Taylor, as expected, is a lot of fun to watch whenever he shows up, and here and there are some mildly amusing moments, such as the verbal punchline to a moment just after the Hammer sisters pay the preacher at their father's funeral with moonshine instead of money. There are some attempts at comedy that don't work, though fortunately director Gus Trikonis (The Evil), while unable to really milk any genuine laughs or chuckles from these moments, does manage to have them pass by without really irritating the audience. Also, while there are some violent moments here and there (which I will get into a little later), Trikonis does manage for the most part to generate not only the aforementioned redneck atmosphere, but a general feeling that while not quite definitely amiable, is definitely more cheerful than what you usually find in many 1970s drive-in movies set south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Also - while I don't know if this was intentional or not - Trikonis gives Moonshine Country Express an interesting feel besides the redneck theme. There is at times an almost documentary feeling to the movie, even though usual techniques for this such as hand-held cameras are kept to a minimum. (There are some clearly carefully planned camera movements.) This near documentary style might also explain why several of the moments involving gunplay pack somewhat of a punch for a PG-rated movie. On the other hand, the car chase sequences, while expected for a redneck movie, really didn't do anything for me. They just seemed like they were executed with the barest amount of effort; every time there was a vehicle pursuit, it didn't take me long to think, "Oh, just end this padding already!" There's a lot more padding in the movie that clearly has no other purpose, such as the scene where the character of Starkey goes "fishing". This is a script that needed a bit more work before filming started, not just with the padding. The movie gets off to a good start, managing to introduce the setting, the main characters, and the MacGuffin within the first fifteen minutes. After that opening, while the movie still has an almost amiable spirit, all the same I didn't really care what was happening, who would triumph, and who would be defeated. There were really no interesting twists to this pretty predictable story, and I wasn't that all interested in the lead characters for the most part. Moonshine County Express makes a major mistake with the depiction of the Hammer sisters, that being that they are 99% interchangeable with each other. Except for Dot's budding romance with the character of J. B. Johnson, there is nothing to differentiate the three sisters from each other except for their physical features. They are a kind of pre-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

While I am talking about "physical features", I might as well add that despite what you might be expecting for a movie released by New World Pictures of this era (especially one with actress Claudia Jennings), except for a fleeting look at a black and white photograph of an anonymous woman, there is no nudity at all. Boo and hiss. The three actresses' performances as the Hammer sisters can be best summed up this way: workmanlike in spite of the little material they had to work with, and that's all. Lead actor John Saxon is even worse than they are, because judging from his almost constant hostile tone and lack of smiles, seems to be absolutely furious that his agent got him into this movie. Seeing his clear unhappiness really drains a lot of potential entertainment people still might find in Moonshine County Express. There's a little acting compensation with the actors who play the heavies. While William Conrad as chief heavy Starkey does seem to be phoning it in at times, he does all the same have a lot of effortless charisma coming out of him that adds some life here and there. And actor Morgan Woodward (Speedtrap), as Starkey's number one enforcer, not only brings his own personal charisma, he manages to be genuinely creepy and menacing at times. But positive touches like that are definitely outweighed by the flaws found in Moonshine County Express. While this is not so badly brewed that it will make you blind as you chug it down, just one or two sips will definitely let you know that the mash should have been much fresher and much better cooked before being available for consumption.

(Posted July 7, 2025)