Movie review: ‘White Lightning’

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Today I’m reviewing “White Lightning,” which is a Burt Reynolds action flick from the early 1970s. I first reviewed its sequel “Gator” (click here to read my review), but I went back and watched “White Lightning” and wanted to review it because it is actually a better film than “Gator.” I don’t know if it had anything to do with what quality there is in “White Lightning,” but it was reported to be Steven Spielberg’s first film as director, but he dropped it two months in to direct “The Sugarland Express.” It doesn’t matter, “White Lightning” is decent cinema and has, for the most part, solid work from its cast. You simply cannot ask any more from your average film.

‘White Lightning’
(1973; 101 minutes; rated PG; directed by Joseph Sargent and starring Burt Reynolds, Jennifer Billingsley, Ned Beatty and Bo Hopkins)

BURT’S ON THE ROAD OF VENGEANCE

A theme throughout “White Lightning” is how hot it gets in the South. From Burt Reynolds’ early scenes in prison and then throughout his work with moonshiners in the rest of the film, the actors sweat … and sweat a bunch! However, the visual is totally in context and gives “White Lightning” verisimilitude beyond what you might expect from an action film featuring Reynolds.

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In “White Lightning,” Reynolds plays “Bobby ‘Gator’ McKlusky” and he’s on a vengeance track when a racist sheriff, “J.C. Connors” played by excellent character actor Ned Beatty, drowns his brother simply because the boy was liberal and protesting the status quo (remember, this is an early 1970s film). It’s an expressly cruel killing since the sheriff sinks a small boat with the young man tied up and helpless in it.

Reynolds’ “Gator” starts out in prison as he serves a sentence for moonshining (that is, the smuggling of illicit, untaxed liquor … or “white lightning”). He decides the best way to revenge is to break the criminal creed and become an informer and use this avenue to infiltrate the moonshiners’ business in the sheriff’s territory and get him close to the sheriff.

Reynolds is given the name of a contact in the sheriff’s county who will help him infiltrate the moonshining gang. He begins to get a picture of the operation and takes notes of names and places, but ultimately gives this up and just focuses in on personally getting the sheriff.

Sadly, the film has its ups and downs. You’ll find solid banter between the characters and some decent scenes, but this is offset by the crude use of “action” … especially at the end because it appears the screenwriters ran out of creativity and went with a silly, contrived climax to the film.

In any case, here’s a look at the top of the cast …

  • An Oscar nominee and two-time Golden Globe winner and three-time nominee (not for this one), Reynolds does his usual solid job in this one. No, he’s not Olivier at the Royal National Theatre in any film, but he’s versatile and competent, especially in this kind of film. Although he is failed by the storyline in what could have been a wonderful showdown with the sheriff, that miscue by filmmakers doesn’t detract any from his effort. Of course, Burt did drama (“Boogie Nights” about the porn industry – his Oscar nomination and one of his Globes); and he did TV with “Evening Shade” (a Primetime Emmy win and one nomination). I liked his work in the caper film “Rough Cut” with screen legend David Niven (click here to read my review) and he was excellent in both the original “The Longest Yard” and, naturally, “Deliverance.” His watchable efforts include “The Cannonball Run” and its sequel (click here to read my review of the original … or click here to read my review of the sequel) and another football film called “Semi-Tough” with Kris Kristofferson and Jill Clayburgh (click here for my review). He was especially bad in a NASCAR-themed flick “Stroker Ace” (click here for my review). Oh, he was solid, too, in the “reboot” film of the TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard” (click here for my review). Burt died at 82 of a heart attack in 2018.
  • An Oscar nominee and a Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Ned Beatty plays the cruel, racist sheriff “J.C. Conners.” He does a near-perfect job in showing the sheriff to be a small-town cretin with a homicidal bent to those who seek change. He goes easily from “good ol’ boy” to nasty killer very easily. This film is near the top of his resume, but he does good work. Beatty was also in “Deliverance” to “Superman” to “Charlie Wilson’s War” (click here to read my review). He was nominated for “Network” and he tried in the simply putrid “Stroker Ace” with Burt (click here to read my review) and did great work in a dark role in the crime drama “The Big Easy” (click here to read my review). He was also nominated for two Primetime Emmy awards and he died at 83 in 2021.
  • Bo Hopkins plays “Roy ‘Rebel Roy’ Boone” and is the moonshiner who Reynolds works with in the film. Hopkins is quietly solid in the flick and plays the character with near perfection. Hopkins is just as good here as his work as a supporting actor in much more recognized films including “American Graffiti” and its sequel; “Midnight Express;” and in three of Sam Peckinpah’s efforts – “The Getaway” (click here to read my review), “The Killer Elite” (click here to read my review); and the western classic “The Wild Bunch.” Hopkins died at 84 of a heart attack in 2022.
  • Matt Clark plays “‘Dude’ Watson” and he’s the parolee who is forced to help Reynolds infiltrate the local moonshiners. Just like Hopkins, Clark does quietly solid work as the running-scared one-time-criminal who races cars. Clark’s most effective tool is his voice and he manages to make his character as memorable as any other than Reynolds’ character. He has been in one of my all-time favorite films with “The Outlaw Josey Wales” with Clint Eastwood (click here to read my review) as well as “Back to the Future Part III” and “Jeremiah Johnson” among his 119 acting credits spanning six decades since the first in 1964 and the last in 2014.
  • Jennifer Billingsley plays “Lou” and she’s Hopkins’ not-so-faithful girlfriend who comes to enjoy Reynolds’ company (especially in a scene in a lake). Billingsley, like other supporting actors, does a admirable job in projecting the character to the audience. She offers a bit of depth with apparent ease. Billingsley had a short career in movies and tee-vee with just 34 acting credits from the first in 1964 and the last in 1979 with a single episode for TV’s “The Amazing Spider-Man.” She even did a double-episode (“The Double Affair” as “Taffy” … season 1, episode 8) on TV’s classic “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”

Legendary director-to-be Steven Spielberg was set to direct “White Lightning” as his first film. However, after just two months of preparation, he bolted to do “The Sugarland Express.” Well, “The Sugarland Express” is a far better motion picture than “White Lightning,” but I’ll never be able to find out if any of Spielberg’s influence carried over when Joseph Sargent took over as director.

Sargent was better known for his work on tee-vee and earned two Primetime Emmy awards and three nominations as well as two wins and three nominations from the Director’s Guild of America for work on television projects. I thought his best work was the original movie “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” (click here to read my review) and he even directed an episode of the original “Star Trek” series on TV (season 1, episode 10 in 1966 … “The Carbonite Maneuver”).

Sadly, Sargent’ll also be remembered for making one of the worst-ever films released by Hollywood: “Jaws: The Revenge” (click here to read my look at the film). He died at 89 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2014.

I couldn’t find where “White Lightning” ranked at the U.S. box office in 1873. Even Wiki didn’t have a total for the year, just an estimate on later rentals in the U.S. and Canada. Ah, well. The No. 1 film of the year was “The Exorcist” with $193 million in ticket sales. Next came “The Sting” with Robert Redford and Paul Newman with $159.6 million and then “American Graffiti” at $115.2 million, according to The Numbers website. Here are the other films from 1973 that I’ve reviewed for my blog:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • “White Lightning” was chosen to be in the first Quentin Tarantino Film Festival in Austin, Texas, in 1996. Tarantino selected the film himself.
  • Although supposed to be set in Georgia, the filming of the movie was mostly done in Arkansas.
  • From Wiki: “On the TV series Archer, the film and its sequel are favorites of the title character, Sterling Archer, though he believes Gator to be the stronger installment. He gets the films easily confused, though, as he believes several key scenes from White Lightning to be in the sequel.”
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “This was originally slated to be Steven Spielberg‘s first theatrical feature and he spent over two months on pre-production. He then decided he did not want to do this film and quit to go do The Sugarland Express (1974).”
  • Later, Spielberg was quoted as saying, “”I spent two-and-a-half months on the film … met Burt once, found most of the locations and began to cast the movie, until I realized it wasn’t something that I wanted to do for a first film. I didn’t want to start my career as a hard-hat, journeyman director. I wanted to do something that was a little more personal.”
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “At about 15:43, a car chase passes by a theater featuring local spectators watching the filming. Skyjacked (1972) starring Charlton Heston is on the marquee.”
  • Of course, stuntman and stunt coordinator extraordinaire Hal Needham did the stunts in the film and would go on to direct Burt in what I consider to be Reynolds’ best “action” film – “Hooper” (click here to read my review). He was also the stunt coordinator for “Gator.”
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Laura Dern: This was her uncredited film debut. She was just six years old in this brief non-speaking walk-on. She plays the daughter of her real-life mother Diane Ladd who appears in this movie as Maggie.” Oh, Diane spelled her last name Lad in WL.

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