Like every self-respecting horror and cult cinema fanatic, I love to watch a good slice of "Hicksploitation" every now and then! In case you stumbled on this movie's page by accident and haven't got a clue what we're talking about, "Hicksploitation" (or "Rednecksploitation") are low-budgeted action movies/thrillers from the 1970's that are set in the American Deep South and feature violent backwoods folks and moonshining yokels with bad dental hygiene. Next to the biggest "classics" in this unofficial sub-genre ("Deliverance", "Southern Comfort", "White Lightning"), "Macon County Line" is supposedly one of the best efforts, but personally I can't help feeling a little bit disappointed.
Real-life brothers Alan and Jesse Vint are very likeable as the convivial Dixon brothers, and the lovely Cheryl Waters is stunning as the sexy hitch-hiker Jenny Scott, but the tone and the pacing of "Macon County Line" are wickedly - almost frustratingly - uneven. For more than a full hour, the film is a rompish comedy that almost solely focuses of the trio's jolly adventures whilst driving through Macon County, Georgia. Admittedly the grumpy and xenophobic Sheriff Reed Morgan warns the Dixon brothers to stay out of trouble, but the whole thing is very light-headed. Then, suddenly, the daffy plot becomes dark and disturbing, and by the time the finale kicks in, Macon County Line" feels like a totally different movie altogether. Practically out of nowhere, two random drifters also show up in Macon County and commit horrible crimes where then naturally Wayne and Chris Dixon get pursued for. "Macon County Line" is promoted as a true story, for example via the brilliantly compelling tag line ("It shouldn't have happened. It couldn't have happened, ... But it did"), but this was really just a trick to attract more publicity and audiences. That certainly worked, since it became of the most successful drive-in hits of all times. Good for director Richard Compton and his crew, but I can easily name a dozen of "Hickploitation" movies that are more enjoyable and impactful ("Jackson County Jail", "Cockfighter", "Race with the Devil", "Baker County USA", ...)
Real-life brothers Alan and Jesse Vint are very likeable as the convivial Dixon brothers, and the lovely Cheryl Waters is stunning as the sexy hitch-hiker Jenny Scott, but the tone and the pacing of "Macon County Line" are wickedly - almost frustratingly - uneven. For more than a full hour, the film is a rompish comedy that almost solely focuses of the trio's jolly adventures whilst driving through Macon County, Georgia. Admittedly the grumpy and xenophobic Sheriff Reed Morgan warns the Dixon brothers to stay out of trouble, but the whole thing is very light-headed. Then, suddenly, the daffy plot becomes dark and disturbing, and by the time the finale kicks in, Macon County Line" feels like a totally different movie altogether. Practically out of nowhere, two random drifters also show up in Macon County and commit horrible crimes where then naturally Wayne and Chris Dixon get pursued for. "Macon County Line" is promoted as a true story, for example via the brilliantly compelling tag line ("It shouldn't have happened. It couldn't have happened, ... But it did"), but this was really just a trick to attract more publicity and audiences. That certainly worked, since it became of the most successful drive-in hits of all times. Good for director Richard Compton and his crew, but I can easily name a dozen of "Hickploitation" movies that are more enjoyable and impactful ("Jackson County Jail", "Cockfighter", "Race with the Devil", "Baker County USA", ...)