source: Hot Summer in Barefoot County

Hot Summer in Barefoot County

I have to admit that HTIBC is really a train wreck of a movie if you consider its low budget and shoddy cinematography. The fact that the movie doesn't take itself seriously makes up for these shortcomings. Don Jones' character is that of a state investigator who is sent down to a remote, hick inhabited county named "Barefoot". The county Sheriff evidentally has a problem containing the proliferation of local moonshing which is pretty much done out in the open and sold at the only establishment in town that you can buy anything. The incompetence of the sheriff and deputy in not being able to see the forest for the trees makes up the comic element of the film. After watching HSIBC one seems to sympathize with the main character's dilemma and long for the simplicity of the rural life he has enjoyed during the course of the investigation. An academy award winner it's not but its not a waste of time either.

Jeff Wilson (a solid and engaging performance by Don Jones), who's a big city cop with country roots, goes undercover in a sleepy small podunk town to get the goods on a moonshine operation run by a feisty woman with three hot young daughters. Director Will Zens offers a flavorsome evocation of the downhome backwoods setting complete with a neat array of colorful redneck characters, maintains a likeable lighthearted tone throughout, keeps the slight, but enjoyable story moving along at a fitful pace, and stages a few lively car chases with aplomb. Moreover, the presence of several hot hillbilly gals certainly doesn't hurt matters in the least. Charles Elledge contributes an amusing turn as the bumbling fat sheriff. W. Henry Smith's jaunty banjo score hits the sprightly spot. Pretty insubstantial stuff, but a pleasant enough diversion just the same.

This movie is NOT good. But for a fan of late night crap flicks I guess it has some merit. It kind of takes me back to those days when people really believed that state investigators were sent down to some insignificant place to investigate crimes that aren't important. The sheriff was a hoot - "Gotta go do some sheriffin..." and the character of "Cluuy Joe" was mildly humorous. All the gals in the movie are not remarkable and in one scene of the leading female character we see a partial * shot revealing untoned flabby hips. The stereotyping of backwoods folks in this movie is unapologetic to say the least. I gave it 5 stars.

HOT SUMMER IN BAREFOOT COUNTY is a great title for a very much nondescript 'moonshine' exploitation picture, a film that feels surprisingly tame given the genre and description. A city cop hunts for a redneck moonshine operation and chases women for most of the running time in unfunny scenes, but there's next to no nudity and few violent elements either. Troma's attempts to make this sound like a skin flick are close to false advertising. It's very boring, anyway, more romance-flavoured than anything, and feeling a little like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre without the horror.

Released by Troma from the `Preacherman Corporation", who were also responsible for the 1971 release Preacherman. Like its older cuzzin, Hot Summer... doles out fried white trash of the Southern variety, made for rubes by rubes without an ounce of so-fistication. Farmboy-turned-lawman from the Capital goes undercover in Hicksville to bust an undercover bootleggin' operation, run by a tough-talkin' mama and her halter-topped teensters. He falls.for the more homely of the three daughters and rediscovers his country roots, but runs into opposition from the local Three Stooges, and the yokel sheriffs out to make their own bust. Pained acting all round from the gals who all wear Levis cut off just below the navel (!), and the guys with guts hanging near their ankles. Yep, it shore is a pretty picture postcard from Pauline Hanson country, and about as funny as the one about the dog who limps into a Wild West saloon looking for the man who shot his paw...

The film's title makes it sound like a porno but it's not even a sex comedy. Instead, Hot Summer in Barefoot County is about an official sent from a southern state to a small town to locate and arrest moonshiners. The moonshine though is coming from the farm of an old woman with three beautiful daughters. Almost anyone can guess what happens next but oddly, the film is very tame. It hardly even qualifies for a PG rating. What's more, the low budget is obvious in pretty much every shot and the acting is sooooo amateurish. This film was probably intended for the drive-in crowd but it's unlikely that it satisfied them, even in 1974.

'Nuff said. An undercover cop from the state capital is sent to a small county where moonshine running is rampant. He ends up getting run off the road by some local hicks who have no idea he's an undercover cop (so they just drive away as blissfully dopey as ever). He is soon being taken care of by a woman and her three daughters who all wear low-cut tops and short shorts (gotta luv the '70s). He falls in love with one of the girls but in the meantime he still has to find out who's making all the moonshine and driving it to all the local bars and restaurants. He also has to contend with a fat sheriff and his incompetent deputy who think he's the moonshiner 'cause he's new in town. Life in small town America, 70s style. YEE HAAAAAAAAAAA.

Combination white-trash moonshiner romp/dramatic love story is pretty watchable considering it was probably produced on a pocket-change budget. Undercover cop is sent from the city to "Barefoot County" to investigate the illicit moonshine operation of a widow and her sexy daughters. Complications arise when the cop falls in love with one of the white lightnin' gals. Sort of fun, really...but nobody's ever going to call it "good"...it has that grainy, poorly lit quality that reminds one of grade school educational filmreels. 3.5/10