I was actually involved in the shooting of Moonrunners, but in a coincidental way. I was a police officer for Clayton County, Georgia and worked security for the film. It was shot in Clayton and Coweta Counties. The scene of the chase through the small town where the Fury is stopped at a railroad crossing was filmed in Haralson, Ga. There were three streets to block and four police officers. Since I didn't have a street to block, the director let me drive one of the police cars. In the overhead shot of the car that is my elbow sticking out of the window in the stopped police car. The final scene shows a Coweta County deputy who also helped with the security, but he didn't want to drive the car. We bought the video tape of the movie as soon as it was available and enjoy watching it for the local scenery as well as the movie itself. And although it is obvious to anyone familiar with Moonrunners that it was the basis for The Dukes of Hazard, it took a court action for the makers of the film to acknowledge the connection.

I've wanted to see this movie ever since I discovered it was the foundation for the Dukes of Hazzard TV show. I was not a die hard fan of the TV show, but I liked it, primarily for the Waylon Jennings narration. This movie has the same goofy, rollicking charm as the show. You know you're in B-movie land with low production values and no big name stars, but the movie works anyway for at least the first two-thirds anyway, then it sort of gets lost in itself. The three leads--James Mitchum, Kiel Martin, Anthum Hunnicut--easily fit into their roles, especially Hunnicut. The pretty girl they introduce early in the film is pretty much irrelevant for the remainder of the film. The TV show corrected this oversight by making Daisy Dukes a stronger presence. The gangsters from up north are another missed opportunity. They could have added a lot more danger and excitement to the latter half. But the Waylon Jennings soundtrack is divine; he gets to sing a lot and his fans will recognize most of the songs. Even with its shortcomings, Moonrunners is worth taking a look at. I've watched movies with far better reviews and enjoyed them far less.

I'd say this movie was as appealing as any episode of the TV show it inspired (Dukes of Hazzard); the characters a bit underdeveloped and the plot gets simplistic, at times, but it had enough pathos in it to hold my attention, even without the cars.What keeps this from being just a loosely-connected string of explosions and car chases is the movie's play on the moonshine men's code of ethics. Much like the Mafia, they're shown to have some very deep-rooted traditions and rules. They seem willing to accept and forgive double-dealing and acts of aggression, so long as it falls within that ethos. I don't know if this is truth or fiction, but it does give the characters an extra dimension for their motivations.And yes, the good guys DO drive Plymouths. The Haggs and Zeebo both run their shine in 1970 Plymouth Furys, while the bad guys chase them in 1971 Chevrolets. The primary bad guy drives a Cadillac, and there was nary a Ford to be seen. Only the borrowed '72 Chevrolet Jesse used to make a delivery breaks this pattern.Hey, you watch movies for YOUR reasons, I'll watch movies for MINE. Catch it on cable.

Moon Runners for some reason is almost NEVER mentioned as far as good decent 70's schlock and action movies, despite the "Dukes of Hazzard" connection. It's pretty rare - while it was shown on cable in the late 70's, it almost never shows up on TV at all nowadays. I caught it for the first time in many years early this year on cable (TNT I believe).Grady and Bobby Lee (later to become Bo and Luke Duke) run moonshine for Uncle Jesse, who prides himself on his old-school moonshining methods, and refuses to buckle in to the 'big business moonshine' of Jake, who controls these parts for New York mobsters. Fast-paced and entertaining, as the boys continue to get their moonshine through. Some excellent car chase action, and while the chase scenes aren't on par with say "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" and also aren't as numerous as I thought I remembered, still decent enough and forgivable since the film is just fun to begin with. Definitely a film to be seen!