While some viewers might enjoy huffing Bad Georgia Road as a straight shot of
clichéd moonshine-cinema stupidity, the picture is unimpressive even by the low
standards of its drive-in-friendly genre. Yes, Bad Georgia Road has betrayal, brawls, chases, drunkenness, sex,
shotguns, skinny-dipping, and nearly every other signifier associated with ’70s
redneck flicks. What it lacks, however, is spunk.
Whereas the best moonshine flicks roar through the backwoods on overdrive, Bad Georgia Road ambles through the same
territory in a frustratingly low gear. Carol Lynley plays bitchy New Yorker
Molly Golden, who inherits an estate in rural Georgia. Told she can cash out
the estate for $100,000 if she shows up in person to sign papers, Molly quits
her job and drives to Georgia. Upon arrival, Molly realizes she’s been
duped—a lawyer persuades her to sign over the $100K to creditors, so her real inheritance
comprises a decaying house, a few acres of land, and a ramshackle moonshine
operation. Left with no options, Molly takes over the operation and clashes
with her driver, Leroy Hastings (Gary Lockwood), an alcoholic womanizer.
Predictably, other local moonshiners declare war on
Molly’s operation. As B-movie setups go, this isn’t bad. Unfortunately, Lynley
is shrill and uninteresting in the leading role, while Lockwood is questionable
as her loutish compatriot. His accent is dodgy, his mannerisms are cartoonish,
and he seems bored in most scenes. Everything in Bad Georgia Road
feels trite, and the Taming of the Shrew
dynamic between the leading characters is so retrograde as to seem grotesque.
After all, Bad Georgia Road is one of
those icky “lighthearted” movies in which the hero seduces the heroine by
raping her. Thanks, but no thanks.
Bad
Georgia Road: LAME
2 comments:
From "2001" to this dreck in a matter of a decade, Lockwood's career decline was sad to watch since he had genuine talent.
The thing is, this sounds like the seed of a reasonably good tongue-in-cheek action flick. It's A shame it was so badly put together. I wonder if an Amazon Prime remake wouldn't be a bad idea.
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