Tom Rickman (who later wrote Coal Miner's Daughter and won an Oscar I think) absolutely knows southerners and their vernacular... he HAS to be from the south. John Alvidsen pulls all the colorful characters through a rapid-fire plot with plenty of funny, funny action.
Art Carney is perfect as "Deacon Gore" and the man who plays Elton O. Byrd almost steals the show as head of the S.O.S. Oil Enterprise. Jerry Reed, Conny Van Dyke, Don Williams, James Hampton and Richard Hurst are the perfect goof-ball country band from Georgia. Strangely Burt Reynolds never mentions this film in his printed biogs, perhaps because it wasn't a smash at the box office, but it's a total delight to see. You cannot even get a video of this...it was only released on that terrible RCA disc system, so it wasn't picked up for either VHS, Laser or DVD. I have the poster and I try to see it on cable but it's not there either. Too bad... it's a perfect film.
Art Carney is perfect as "Deacon Gore" and the man who plays Elton O. Byrd almost steals the show as head of the S.O.S. Oil Enterprise. Jerry Reed, Conny Van Dyke, Don Williams, James Hampton and Richard Hurst are the perfect goof-ball country band from Georgia. Strangely Burt Reynolds never mentions this film in his printed biogs, perhaps because it wasn't a smash at the box office, but it's a total delight to see. You cannot even get a video of this...it was only released on that terrible RCA disc system, so it wasn't picked up for either VHS, Laser or DVD. I have the poster and I try to see it on cable but it's not there either. Too bad... it's a perfect film.