When you've played hillbilly hunk Jethro Bodeine for almost a decade it's kind of
hard for folks to take you seriously in the casting department. So Max Baer, Jr.
decided to take charge of his own future by writing a screenplay and selling it
with him in a juicy role. He's so good in the role of the Deputy Sheriff that not
for one minute will you think of The Beverly Hillbillies while you watch Macon
County Line.
The film is set back 20 years before Macon County Line's debut in 1974 and it's
a picture without any nostalgic longing for Dixie before the Brown vs. Board of
Education decision. Two good old boy brothers are having a road trip to kill
time before one has to go into the Air Force. Real life brothers Alan and Jesse
Vint play our rover boys and they pick up Cheryl Waters for a bit of amusement.
These two aren't choirboys that's pretty clear. When their car breaks down they take shelter in a barn not knowing it belongs to Max Baer, Jr. They also
don't know that a pair of psychopathic drifters are at the house terrorizing
Baer's wife Joan Blackman.
The conjunction of these happenings lead to some horrible conclusion and
god awful tragedy.
A few familiar faces you will spot in the cast, some old names and some who
hadn't quite made it yet. A really stand out scene is with Baer and young
Leif Garrett before he became a bubblegum pop star as Baer tries to tell his
son that he shouldn't be playing basketball with a black kid he's become
acquainted with that this violates social taboos.
The film has become a deserved cult classic and Max Baer, Jr. must thank God
that it is as associated with him as Jethro Bodeine.
