Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

WELCOME! Use the search engines on this site (or your own off-site engine of choice) to gain easy access to the complete MAKSQUIBS Archive; more than 5500 posts and counting. (New posts added every day or so.)

You can check on all our titles by typing the Title, Director, Actor or 'Keyword' you're looking for in the Search Engine of your choice (include the phrase MAKSQUIBS) or just use the BLOGSPOT.com Search Box at the top left corner of the page.

Feel free to place comments directly on any of the film posts and to test your film knowledge with the CONTESTS scattered here & there. (Hey! No Googling allowed. They're pretty easy.)

Send E-mails to MAKSQUIBS@yahoo.com . (Let us know if the TRANSLATE WIDGET works!) Or use the Profile Page or Comments link for contact.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

THE MOONSHINE WAR (1970)

Elmore Leonard’s novel tone of narrative authority, delayed menace, side-swiped humor & pop-up violence has proved elusive to catch on film. Even when Leonard does the adapting, as he does here. This Depression Era piece has a devilishly clever scam, mean & funny, that puts Patrick McGoohan’s Federal Agent back in touch with army bud (Alan Alda), a hillbilly brewmaster with a cache of moonshine. It’s 1932 and McGoohan is betting on FDR taking the White House, lifting Prohibition, and opening a window of opportunity for a ready-to-go booze backload before the legit distilleries get up & running. And, should Alda refuse to deal, McGoohan’s partnered up with Richard Widmark & his trigger-happy bootleg boys. Elmore runs his story structure and reveals character quirks with cagey craftsmanship, playing close to the vest to make the most of every plot reversal. But director Richard Quine loses the beat every time the film switches locations, falling back on a dusty Southern Fried Depression patina that’s generic when it needs to be specific. McGoohan does finds a note of cracked authority that's missing from Alda’s slouch, but their cornpone accents are something to wonder at. Heroically awful. Widmark’s really no better, but at least it’s fun to hear him reprise the psychotic whine of his early, showstopping villains. Overall, not enough convinces. But look fast for the naked backside of young Teri (Terry) Garr and for the great jazz vocalist Joe Williams in support as Alda’s protector. His accent is spot on.

DOUBLE-BILL: Elmore was revisiting this territory as late as JUSTIFIED/’10-15.

No comments: