Bad Georgia Road (1977)

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