White Lightning (1973)

So when Archer mentioned two awesome-sounding Burt Reynolds movies that we hadn't heard of on last week's episode, it was clear what we had to do. We had to watch White Lightning, wherein the taciturn Gator (Burt Reynolds) negotiates his way out of jail so that he can avenge his brother's murder. He works his way into a circle of bootleggers with the intention of taking down the ringleader, a powerful and ruthless sheriff (Ned Beatty).

Here we have pretty much everything you'd want in a Burt Reynolds movie: he drives a car fast, he has a mustache, he romances a chatty lady, he's shirtless a few times, he's surrounded by jangly music, and he sticks it to the man. Cool. There are a lot of fun action-y scenes coupled with ridiculous dialogue, but for the most part this is a straight crime drama as the corruption and mistreatment running rampant under the sheriff's rule becomes more apparent. There are a lot of problems in this town! But there's only so much Gator can fix!

To be honest, while I did enjoy White Lightning quite a bit, I just don't have much to say about it. It's slow at parts and the tone is a bit uneven, but overall it's a pretty cool movie. There's nothing too special about it, though, except that everyone has this irrational hatred of hippies.

3.5/5

Pair This Movie With: Well Archer thinks the sequel Gator is actually the better film- I haven't seen it yet but I'm going to assume it would make a fun double feature. It's got Jerry Reed!