I've lived in Arkansas for a while and I always enjoy watching this Movie. My cousin Susie is one of the unwedded Mother's in the movie! She was an extra! She has a pic of Burt Holding her in his arms! This movie is as southern as iced tea and dirt roads in the summertime!

White Lightning (1973) *** (out of 4) Gator McKlusky (Burt Reynolds) has a year to go in prison when he gets word that his younger brother was murdered. It turns out the crooked Sheriff (Ned Beatty) of their small town killed him so now Gator agrees to work with the Federal government to bring down some illegal moonshine. Gator's real plan to seek vengeance.WHITE LIGHTNING was a hit with fans and most critics when it was released and it helped keep steam in the Reynolds train that was burning pretty bright thanks to DELIVERANCE. This here is another one of those "good ol' boys" type of films where the South is shown as a dirty and corrupt place but to the rescue is a good looking and fun-nature man who knows how to drive really fast and knows how to make it with all the pretty ladies.If you're looking for ground-breaking entertainment then you're not going to find it here but WHITE LIGHTNING does offer some good laughs, some nice car chases and of course Reynolds doing what he does best. It's always fun watching these early performances by Reynolds because you can tell he's having a lot of fun and he certainly has no trouble bringing that charm across. I'm sure the ladies would say it was his looks. The guys would say it was his attitude. Perhaps both would agree that the legendary laugh is what did it.Whatever the reason Reynolds is certainly a lot of fun here playing the good guy and Beatty gets to really have fun playing the creep. There's no question that the two of them worked magic when together. We also get a nice supporting cast here including Bo Hopkins, Matt Clark, Jennifer Billingsley as the love interest and R.G. Armstrong as one of the big moonshiners. The film offers up a great mix of comedy and action and there's no question that the car chases are its main entertainment. There are a lot of wrecks and crashes and all of this was perfectly captured and it makes for a pretty entertaining slice of Hollywood's thoughts of what the South was.

While serving time in an Arkansas prison for running illegal moonshine, "Gator McClusky" (Burt Reynolds) is told that his younger brother has been killed by a corrupt sheriff named "J. C. Connors" (Ned Beatty). He also finds out that this particular sheriff has been receiving money from the local bootleggers so that they continue their illegal operations. With that in mind, Gator decides to cooperate with federal agents who are only too willing to grant him an early release from prison in order to nail this crooked cop. First, however, Gator has to worm his way into the local moonshine operation of that particular area and because of the high degree of paranoia by those involved in the area this is not an easy thing to do. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a solid action film which relied heavily on violence and car chase scenes. Likewise, the acting was decent and the Southern scenery also benefited this picture to a certain degree as well. In short, while this certainly wasn't a great movie by any means it was still somewhat entertaining and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

The Retro channel bills itself as the place where memories are made. Well this film brought back some memories. Not the good ole boy, or the corn likker, or the sweet Arkansas babes - it had all of those - but the memories of the town I lived in from the Sixth grade through High School.White Lightening, starring Burt Reynolds as Gator McKlusky, was filmed in Benton, Arkansas. It was Saline County, not Bogen as the film states. It brought back memories of the Saline County Courthouse, where a lot of the action took place. Of course, I was off in Vietnam when they were filming, so I didn't get to see ole Burt.This isn't quality film-making or dramatic acting, although it was rumored to be Steven Spielburg's directorial debut. I wonder what happened there.Hey, it's OK for a rainy Saturday afternoon and it was a trip back home.