It's obvious with the 1932 presidential election coming up that Roosevelt will be in and Hoover (and thus prohibition) will be out, but with the need for corn moonshine still abundant, the industry of bootlegging is booming. Realizing that his days as a federal prohibition agent are numbered, Patrick McGoohan decides that he's going to make some last-minute money by getting involved in the industry he's been fighting against and turns to old army Buddy Alan Alda who owns one of the biggest stills in Kentucky. Sheriff Will Geer (always looking the other way with the illegal bootlegging going on around him) has a hysterically funny description of a man's right to do whatever he wants with the corn he grows, anf when McGoohan fails in his attempts, he brings in dr. Richard Widmark who brings along his own kiss of death in infiltrating this industry which result in a ton of violence and death.
Fast moving and always enjoyable but with some very bizarre sequences (one involving a scene in a restaurant where McGoohan and his girlfriend are forced at gunpoint to give up their clothes), this is nevertheless a good film on a historical level about the months of a failed amendment. Fortunately it doesn't overdo the twangy accents in a way that is cartoonish (although that twang is still prevalent), and the bluegrass music in the background isn't overpowering either. Alda, not yet at the time associated with "MASH", plays against the good-natured type that he would become known for, and McGoohan and Geer are very good as well, with Richard Widmark, now a fabulous Silver Fox, returning to his fun loving bad guy image. Only Suzanne Zenor as Alda's dizzy girlfriend, is annoying, but that's based more on the character than her performance. This was obviously influenced by the period crime films that became popular after "Bonnie and Clyde", and while not a classic of that nature is still worth seeing.
Fast moving and always enjoyable but with some very bizarre sequences (one involving a scene in a restaurant where McGoohan and his girlfriend are forced at gunpoint to give up their clothes), this is nevertheless a good film on a historical level about the months of a failed amendment. Fortunately it doesn't overdo the twangy accents in a way that is cartoonish (although that twang is still prevalent), and the bluegrass music in the background isn't overpowering either. Alda, not yet at the time associated with "MASH", plays against the good-natured type that he would become known for, and McGoohan and Geer are very good as well, with Richard Widmark, now a fabulous Silver Fox, returning to his fun loving bad guy image. Only Suzanne Zenor as Alda's dizzy girlfriend, is annoying, but that's based more on the character than her performance. This was obviously influenced by the period crime films that became popular after "Bonnie and Clyde", and while not a classic of that nature is still worth seeing.