Scott von Doviak - Hick Flicks: The Rise and Fall of Redneck Cinema

Table of Contents

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
791.43'652dc22 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 Im 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 Im not sure how. In any case, without these two valuable resources, Im 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

Im delighted to finally see hick flicks get their due. What you are about to experience, through the words of Scott Von Doviaks 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. Whatevermy 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.

Its 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. Were treated to young Kanes beginnings with his foster parents in the sticks. Lil Kane hasnt a care in the world as hes seen playin with his boyhood pals in the backwoods. Sure, hes got no running water or proper toilet, but hes 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 historyits 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 operaa 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 sonthats when Vader made it clear that no one messes with his boy but him. I like to think that Luke Skywalker was cinemas 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 Im talking about the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lets 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 worlds 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? Im not.

The Matrix Trilogy okay, now that I think about it, Im not sure of any actual hick connections. In fact, Im still not sure what those last two Matrix movies were about, but theres 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 nowall 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 Id rather spend that time watching hick movies. And you best do the same.