Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Robert Walker Jr. | ... | Johnny Warder (as Robert Walker) | |
Diane Varsi | ... | Carol Warder | |
Dick Clark | ... | Roger (as dick clark) | |
Norman Alden | ... | Guthrie | |
Maureen Arthur | ... | Elvira Sweeney | |
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Tony York | ... | Tony |
Merle Haggard | ... | Charlie | |
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Bonnie Owens | ... | Singer |
John 'Bud' Cardos | ... | Bates | |
William Alspaugh | ... | Lester Meed | |
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Douglas Barger | ... | Felix |
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Beach Dickerson | ... | Scotty |
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Lorene Klepacki | ... | Mrs. Reed |
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Barbara Page | ... | Mrs. Sweeney |
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Jerry Petty | ... | R.C. |
Two backwoods North Carolinians (Robert Walker, Jr., and Dick Clark, who also produced) rob a bootlegger's safe, kill several people in the process, and head for California with Walker's wife (Diane Varsi). Merle Haggard appears as a sheriff and sings the title song and "Mama Tried." Written by alfiehitchie
This movie has more going for it than a B grade script and a bunch of B grade actors. It's got swamps and hillbilly types who look like they came straight to the set without stopping off first at make-up. Diane Varsi is an X-rated, truly titillating Daisy Mae type who holds nothing back from the camera, or from Robert Walker Jr. The scenes of violence are almost accidentally realistic and moving. It's as if the director, writer, and cast were drinking with Sam Peckinpah and Robert Aldrich every day after filming. As the movie progresses, and the plot spins out, the characters seem to all gather a mix of momentum and resignation which effectively adds to the miasmic, depressive swamp-like feeling of the movie.
Some movies are just bad. This movie is bad, and it's good, and it's so bad it's often good. Like Dick Clark on acid (or moonshine)!