The best thing about the movie is the opening scene. The most enjoyable part is watching John Goodman in his first movie. Those two things take a total of about two minutes. There really is no other reason to watch, though it did have some potential. Alert viewers might also spot the not yet ready for prime time J.T. Walsh and Dann Florek.

Watching Eddie Macon's Run and seeing what John Schneider had to go through in flashback in what landed him in Huntsville State Prison and his efforts on a second escape attempt, I concluded someone really does not like the great state of Texas. It's important to remember that Schneider moved his family from Florida to Texas because of promised good paying jobs with the oil industry. At that time Texas was booming because of oil, a lot of people went there like Schneider. But Schneider who needs money badly because his young son has a rare blood disease finds himself working for peanuts because of some kickback scheme. When he protests and gets nasty about it, he gets tossed in jail for a five year rap. On his second attempt to escape he breaks out during the prison rodeo and he's got a good plan.He's also got like Richard Kimble his own Lieutenant Gerard in Kirk Douglas who is less than impressed with the cowboy mentality of the place. He's from a civilized land called New Jersey and he brought in Schneider before and can do it again if for no other reason than to show the rest of the hicks good investigatory police work.One of the few people that Schneider gets some sympathy from is heiress Lee Purcell. And she's helping him essentially for the thrill.Schneider with his devotion to his family was one of the more noble heroes of the Eighties cinema. We the audience hope that he makes it on his run from Huntsville to the Laredo border town. Eddie Macon's Run compares most favorably to those classics from Warner Brothers in the Thirties, The Life Of Jimmy Dolan and They Made Me A Criminal. And if you're familiar with those films you know how Eddie Macon's Run will turn out.

I remember reading the book on which this film is based a long time ago – before the film was made, that's for sure. Ever since I discovered it had been made into a film I've wanted to watch it, but it seems to be one of those films that is only rarely shown on the box. Now that I have, while I'm not exactly disappointed with what I saw, it's fair to say that so much more could have been made of the source material by a more accomplished writer than journeyman Jeff Kanew. I remember the tone of the book being quite dark, almost noirish, but none of that comes across in the film. For the most part, it has the look of a TV movie and some producer made a monumental mistake when he decided to allow John Schneider to sing his own syrupy songs on the soundtrack. But then, it has to be said that the music matches perfectly those early sickly scenes of domestic bliss between Macon (Schneider), his wife (Leah Ayres) and son Bobby (Matthew Meece).Pretty soon, it's Bobby, not the scenes, that becomes sickly, which is where Eddie's plight begins. It's where Schneider's plight begins too because, every time the script asks him to emote, his TV credentials come right to the fore. The fact that the script is downright awful doesn't help either.Macon's run takes him across a deep south populated by stereotypical rednecks, stereotypical small-town cops, stereotypical floozies, stereotypical bar-room drunks (including an impossibly young J. T. Walsh) and a stereotypical tart with a heart. Despite this, the film manages to remain entertaining, and motors along when it's focusing on the darker aspects of the tale rather than trying to pull at your heartstrings. Hot on Macon's heels is grizzly cop Marzack (Kirk Douglas). Douglas is too old for the part, and his judgment when it came to choosing roles was all shot to hell by the 80s, but he still shows Schneider up in their few scenes together.For all the hardships Macon is forced to endure, you know there will be a happy ending. It turns out that Marzack, like Lee Purcell's tart-with-a-heart, simply envies Macon his picture-perfect family, something he managed to keep well-hidden from us all for all but the last five minutes of the film

For a movie labeled chiefly as an action-adventure, some of the dialogue and plot gets quite syrupy (especially that one soundtrack song which airs when Eddie Macon is 'retro-daydreaming' past life events). However, the story line is good without being TOO predictable and the characters are well thawed out. It holds interest well. I first saw it about a year after it's initial release date and it has been a mild favorite of mine ever since. Worth checking out.