Search - Dixie Dynamite on DVD

Makes 'Dukes of Hazzard' Look Thought-Provoking

John Ashley Nail | Decatur, GA United States | 06/17/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There's just something about watching good ol' boys stick it to "the man," whether it's "Smokey and the Bandit" or TV's "Dukes of Hazzard." But before Burt Reynolds tore through the South in his Trans Am or the Duke boys flipped a metaphorical finger at Boss Hogg, exploitation partners Lee Frost and Wes Bishop gave us "Dixie Dynamite." This time, it's good ol' girls (one with blond, wig-like hair; the other brunette) who take on their town's evil patriarch. When their daddy's still is busted, and daddy is subsequently shot and killed in a high speed chase, our heroines try to lead law-abiding lives. But there ain't no work in town and when the bank forecloses on their house, well, maybe it's time to start fightin' back! The girls get ahold of a truckload of TNT and start blowing up everyone who's done them wrong--becoming folk heroines in the process! Yeeee-haw!Not exactly thought-provoking entertainment, but it's entertaining nonetheless. As usual, director Lee Frost (who also has a bit part as a pathologist) keeps the action flowing, so even if the movie's quality lags behind, the pace doesn't. Acting ranges from passable to wooden (Jane Anne Johnstone, the brunette Dixie, has only two facial expressions: a furrowed brow and sternly set mouth for anger/grief/concern; a bemused smile for everything else). Producer Wes Bishop plays a trigger-happy deputy and Warren Oates is the girls' platonic pal whose primary interests are alcohol and motorcycles. Standing in, unconvincingly, for the state of Georgia is Southern California.Given the sado-sexual bent of most of Frost's other movies ("Love Camp 7," "Hot Spur," "The Defilers" and the hardcore "Climax of Blue Power"), "Dixie Dynamite" is surprisingly lighthearted and tame. That PG rating ensures nothing goes too far. Still, Frost is generally a safe bet when you're looking for trash entertainment, and "Dixie Dynamite" is trash the whole family can enjoy."

A tale of southern fried revenge, complete with exploding to

cookieman108 | Inside the jar... | 07/14/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Certainly cheap and trashy exploitation films were a dime a dozen in the 70s, but few did them as well as director/writer/sometimes actor Lee Frost and writer/producer/actor Wes Bishop, whose contributions include (but aren't limited to) Chrome and Hot Leather (1971), Chain Gang Women (1971), The Thing with Two Heads (1972), Policewomen (1974), The Black Gestapo (1975), Race with the Devil (1975), along with this film, Dixie Dynamite (1976). Co-written and directed by Frost (Bishop shares the credit), the film would appear to star Warren `Quaker' Oates (Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Race with the Devil), but the fact of the matter is he just happened to be the most recognizable name, but not necessarily the most prominent character in this production...appearing with Oates are two relative unknown `actresses' in Jane Anne Johnstone and Kathy McHaley, along with Christopher George (Grizzly, The Day Santa Claus Cried), Stanley Adams (Nevada Smith, Thunder Alley), and R.G. Armstrong (Children of the Corn, Dick Tracy).

As the film opens we meet the Eldridge family in Pa and his two, very ripe, somewhat comely daughters Dixie (Johnstone) and Patsy (McHaley), who, incidentally, look nothing alike, but whatever...apparently Pa makes a living producing white gold (moonshine), while the girls seem to be a couple of sponges...anyway, while the girls are away on an errand, the sheriff (George), his trigger happy deputy (Bishop), and a couple of IRS men show up to arrest Pa and shut down his still...which causes Pa to take off in the family station wagon leading to an exciting car chase sequence and the obligatory, wanton destruction of a fruit stand and a chicken coop...ending up with Pa biting it big time in a fiery crash. Turns out the G-Men weren't really feds but goons disguised as such, set upon Pa by a rich and influential competitor named Dade McCrutchen (Adams) in an effort to eliminate the competition (McCrutchen also has the sheriff in his pocket). This is actually only a small part of his master plan for the area, as McCrutchen knows something about the inherent value of the land, and intends to get as much of it as he can...anyway, the girls soon lose the homestead, turn to a friend of the family named Mack (Oates), who's probably the world's oldest motocross racer. He gives them what assistance he can, but he has to leave town to follow the work. The girls, tired of being on the short end of the stick, decide to take matters into their own hands by stealing a gun, some motorcycles, and a truck full of dynamite for use in McCrutchen's local interests, including holding his stores up at gunpoint and blowing up his moonshine delivery trucks. As a result the girls become outlaw hero types as no one likes the greedy and opportunistic McCrutchen, especially since he's not even originally from the area. It's an all out hick war as the girls continue to up the ante, setting their sites on one, last, big score (settling a lot of scores along the way)...

The one thing that surprised me the most about this film was the PG rating, as I was expecting a bit more sleaze and profanity, of which there was little, comparatively speaking in terms of some of director Frost's other films. The movie was certainly cheap and trashy, but nonetheless entertaining throughout. One thing that worked well was using professional actors (Oates, George, Armstrong, and Adams) to offset the inexperience of the two main characters, played by Johnstone and McHaley, who weren't great by any means, but did better than I would have expected...not hurt by the fact they were easy on the eyes, and often dressed in skimpy clothing...Johnstone was particularly hot, half the time appearing in a denim shirt which she would neglect to use the buttons, rather just tying the tails off at her waist, providing a nice dose of cleavage. Could she act? I didn't care (had she sported some boobage, I would have cared even less). Sadly there's no real T or A in this film, unless you count the scene with a shirtless Adams eating clams by the pool of his stately manor...by this point the man hadn't aged well, and his bulbous gut was not a pretty sight. I'm not entirely sure what the point of Oates' character of Mack was, as the story could have proceeded without him, but his gruff and boozy presence in general would have been missed. While the story was meant to take place in Georgia, the scenery would indicate Southern California (rolling hills, scrub brush, etc.), but then I saw the bank in the town sported a rebel flag, proudly flown next to the American flag, so we must be in the South, right? One aspect I really liked was Frost kept the pacing quick, rarely letting the film slow down...highlighted by a particularly exciting car chase sequence not even ten minutes into the film. There was an interesting element of the sheriff character in that, even though he was on the take, he wasn't necessarily a bad man as circumstances presented would have us believe this was due to a moment of weakness, rather than out and out greed. Subsequently, his actions tend to fall more towards a character trying to do what's right despite past indiscretions. This was a bit more character development, especially in a supporting role, that one would normally expect from a film like this...some of my favorite scenes included one with the girls teaching themselves the finer points of detonating high explosives, and the subsequent ways they use said explosives to get back at those who done them wrong. The ending was particularly goofy, but it seemed to fit in with country bumpkin nature of the characters. All in all, a decent effort (although Bishop and Frost have done better), and worth checking out if you're into this kind of thing.

VCI Home Entertainment provides a relatively decent, full screen (1.33:1) picture presentation on this DVD, but not without flaws. The colors, especially at the beginning, seemed saturated, and there are noticeable signs of wear and age throughout, but nothing to lose any sleep over. The Dolby Digital audio comes through pretty well, and I had no complaints. There aren't really any extras, except for two trailers spliced together, the first being for this film and the following for an Italian westerner titled Any Gun Can Play (1967), starring Edd `Kookie' Byrnes, who, I believe, dropped the `Kookie' moniker in 1996 with the release of his autobiography `Kookie No More'.

Cookieman108
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