Hick Flicks: The Rise and Fall of Redneck Cinema

150 Pages·2004·2.11 MB·English

by  Scott von Doviak

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword: Triumph of the Hick (Chris Gore)
Preface: Downriver
PART I: GOOD OL’ BOYS
1. Moonshiners
2. Smokey the Red-Necked Sheriff
3. Honky Tonk Heroes
4. Crackerjacks
5. Hick Chicks
6. Dixie DeMilles
PART II: ON THE ROAD
7. Around the Track
8. From Sea to Shining Sea
9. Fender Benders
10. Keep on Truckin’
PART III: IN THE WOODS
11. The Death of Bigfoot
12. Creepy Critters
13. Hillbilly Horror
Afterword: The End of Hixploitation?
Filmography
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Terms
Hick Flicks
The Rise and Fall
of Redneck Cinema
Scott Von Doviak

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Von Doviak, Scott, 1967–
Hick flicks : the rise and fall of redneck cinema / Scott Von Doviak ; foreword
by Chris Gore.
p. cm.
Filmography:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7864-1997-0
1. Rednecks in motion pictures. 2. Appalachians (People) in motion pictures. I.
Title.
PN1995.9.R33V66 2005
791.43'652—dc22 2004023952
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2005 Scott Von Doviak. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publisher.
Cover art: Moonshine Morning by Jana Christy
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To my parents, who never asked,
“When are you going to get a real job?”
Acknowledgments
Portions of Chapter 1 first appeared in different form on culturevulture.net (as
“Moonshine Movies”). Chapter 10 incorporates a reworked version of my
review of Convoy, which first appeared on the High Hat
(http://www.thehighhat.com). The Afterword incorporates reworked versions of
my culturevulture.net reviews of American Movie and Revelations: Paradise
Lost 2.
I wish to express my sincere thanks to the following individuals, even if some of
them have no idea why I’m thanking them. They all contributed in some way to
the completion of this project, and for that I am grateful: William Ambrico,
Merle Bertrand, Tom Block, Hayden Childs, Jana Christy, Chris Gore, William
Ham, Jennifer Hill, Christopher Jarmick, Christopher Kelly, Arthur Lazere, John
Mitchell, Phil Nugent, Andrew Osborne, Genevieve Van Cleve, Robert Wake
and Frank Weimann.
People wrote film studies before the existence of the Internet Movie Database
and eBay, but I’m not sure how. In any case, without these two valuable
resources, I’m sure I would have thrown in the towel long ago (and would have
far fewer grey hairs today). In addition, the folks who keep the shelves of Vulcan
Video and I Luv Video in Austin, Texas, stocked with the movies that time
forgot are to be commended for their good work.
Foreword: Triumph of the Hick
by Chris Gore I’m delighted to finally see hick flicks get their due. What you are
about to experience, through the words of Scott Von Doviak’s definitive book, is
the sheer delight of films featuring everyday hicks triumphing over evil. Or
sometimes these movies feature evil hicks triumphing over society. And then
there are those in which the members of the evil hick society battle the good hick
society in a whup-ass showdown. Whatever—my point is that hicks are finally
getting the acknowledgment they have long deserved.
However, as complete as this work is, Scott failed to point out the tremendous
influence of not only hick flicks, but of hick characters throughout the history of
cinema.
It’s a known fact that hicks, rural folks and everyday yokels are featured in the
most memorable, and yes, greatest films of all time. One need only look at
Orson Welles’ 1941 classic Citizen Kane to witness the rise and fall of one of the
biggest hicks ever, Charles Foster Kane, played by none other than Welles
himself. We’re treated to young Kane’s beginnings with his foster parents in the
sticks. Li’l Kane hasn’t a care in the world as he’s seen playin’ with his boyhood
pals in the backwoods. Sure, he’s got no running water or proper toilet, but he’s
happy. When through a surprise inheritance little Kane is suddenly plucked from
this happy life, sled and all, and plunged into the urban world of publishing,
politics and corporate culture, the result is a harrowing cautionary tale. Sure,
Citizen Kane is one of the most important movies in film history—it’s also the
story of what happens when you take a happy hick and force him to adopt the
values of city folk. And we all know that when that happens the results are never
pleasant.
Take another significant cinematic event like the original Star Wars from 1977.
That film (later renamed Episode IV: A New Hope, and ruined with unnecessary
additional scenes and digital effects) is often described as a space opera—a
simple story of good versus evil. But at its core is the story of a farmboy who
lives in the backwoods of the universe, torn from his home planet by a galactic
war beyond his control. Sure, Luke Skywalker was not content with his simple
moisture-farming life on the desert planet of Tatooine, but his adventures did
allow him to pilot souped-up space hotrods, blow up plenty of cool stuff and
even get to kiss his own sister. Okay, he may not have known then that Princess
Leia was, in fact, his blood relative, but anyone who saw the original film in the
seventies will tell you that there were most definitely romantic sparks between
the two. And the whole family affair got even more messy in The Empire Strikes
Back when Luke found out that the main bad guy, Darth Vader, was his very
own pa who walked out on the family to pursue the fortunes of galactic
conquest. Things went from bad to worse when dad gave Luke a lightsaber
whuppin’, leaving him one-handed. Yessir, Luke not only had to deal with nasty
elements in the galaxy, but an abusive father to boot. Pa redeemed himself in
Return of the Jedi when the emperor tried to beat up his son—that’s when Vader
made it clear that no one messes with his boy but him. I like to think that Luke
Skywalker was cinema’s first space hick. Come to think of it, there were other
hick characters in Star Wars; I mean, if you just threw a mustache on Han Solo,
he may as well have been Burt Reynolds from Smokey and the Bandit (and the
Millennium Falcon is just a warp-speed Trans Am). And looking at the Star
Wars prequel, what is the pod race from Episode I but a sci-fi version of
NASCAR? I could point out more hillbilly parallels in Star Wars, but there are
simply too many to mention.
A more recent successful fantasy film series also has hicks as its main heroes. Of
course I’m talking about the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Let’s face it, the hobbits
are the hicks of Middle Earth. They live way out in the country and are content
to party all day long, getting high smoking a pipe or through liquid refreshment
that may as well be moonshine.
And there are plenty more: Gone with the Wind—a true hick epic; Superman—
Clark Kent is a farmboy at heart and the world’s first superhick; Titanic—the
romance includes sex in a car and the male lead teaching a woman how to spit
(only a hick would teach his girlfriend how to spit); Forrest Gump—do I even
need to present any examples from this? (hick all the way!); E.T.—features an
alien who befriends a hick boy; and Signs—features an alien who attempts to kill
a hick boy.
And is anyone surprised that the aliens from Independence Day only killed city
folk and left all the hicks in the sticks alive? I’m not.
The Matrix Trilogy—okay, now that I think about it, I’m not sure of any actual
hick connections. In fact, I’m still not sure what those last two Matrix movies
were about, but there’s gotta be some hick influences there. (Anyway, if anyone
can figure out those movies, let me know.) Adam Sandler movies—all Adam
Sandler movies somehow feature hick characters. The Waterboy has all the
makings of a hick-flavored Horatio Alger classic.
I could go on and on, but my point should be very clear to you now—all the
important movies in the history of cinema are really about hicks. I think the
evidence proves my theory to be absolutely true. I guess I could go to some
fancy city college and write some academic dissertation proclaiming this view,
but frankly I’d rather spend that time watching hick movies. And you best do the
same.
Chris Gore
Fall 2004
P.S. I want to offer a very special thanks to the author of this incredible work,
Scott Von Doviak. He did a tremendous job on this book. Thanks a lot, Scott.
And if you ever make it out to Los Angeles from your state of Texas, allow me
to show you the less purty parts of California. Some o’ them places are sure a lot
of fun.
Chris Gore is the editor-in-chief of FilmThreat.com, and the author of The
Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide and The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made.
He is the producer and co-writer of My Big Fat Independent Movie, and the
host of Ultimate Film Fanatic on the Independent Film Channel, and lives in Los
Angeles.