The Bootleggers (1974)

If there’s a redneck movie hall of fame, let me nominate Charles B. Pierce. If all he did was create The Town That Dreaded Sundown and The Legend of Boggy Creek, he’d make it. But he was also quite possibly the writer of Dirty Harry’s “Go ahead, make my day.” He also directed The Norseman, a movie that improbably placed Lee Majors into Viking gear. It’s as amazing as it sounds.

Here, he tackles a really familiar redneck movie trope: bootlegging. Did you think it’d be about something different from the title?

The movie starts in 1921, where 10-year-old Othar Pruitt watches as his dad is murdered by a rival family. Twelve years later, Othar (Paul Koslo, who was as redneck as an actor from Germany can get) and Dewey Crenshaw (Dennis Fimple, a redneck actor if there ever was one) are running hooch across statelines.

When Other’s Grandpa Pruitt (Slim Pickens) is murdered by the Woodall clan, Othar and Dewey go to war. Along the way, Jaclyn Smith shows up in one of her first roles.

Unlike Pierce’s other — and perhaps better — films, this one isn’t celebrated and won’t be getting a 4K reissue. But you can watch it on Amazon Prime. Drink up while you do.