The Windsplitter

I saw this movie in the theater...I am that old. It was full of the new ideas vs. the old establishment clichés. What is remember most was it was the first time I heard the word redneck used in a movie. Over all it was passable. The dialog and costumes were straight outta someone's bad 60's imagination. It was a pretty black and white themed movie as far as the ideas. The one side was right and the other side was always wrong. There was no middle ground of character to try to achieve a balance.It is kind of a poor man's easy rider. Not as well done and with just a lot of stereotypical hippie vs. southern backwoods morality. I was 13 when I saw it, so of course I was pulling for the hippies. Funny, now I am 50 and I still do...go figure.

In the early 90s when NYC's Channel 9 baseball broadcasts were rained out, or for any other reason, they showed this obscurity which I caught several times. I couldn't help but notice the appearance of Texas actor Jim Siedow who played The Cook in the mighty "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". I thought this might be some obscure film that Chainsaw director Tobe Hooper made previous to his 1974 classic. Imagine my surprise (after finding star Jim McMullen's name listed in a "Rockford Files" episode) seeing Hooper in the cast credits! He must have noticed Siedow and thought he'd be perfect as a demented BBQ chef. Anyway, I remember "The Windsplitter" as a typical early 70s generation gap film about a level headed Hollywood guy who rides a motorcycle back to his redneck home town where all the citizens hate his successful guts. Everybody has severe problems with communicating and rape and so forth and its all pretty dull, although the small town Texas atmosphere is ripe with gloom.

Bobby Joe moved away from town ten years ago, and got into acting in Hollywood. After one movie, he is famous, and is invited to speak to the high school students. When he arrives in town, the officials are floored to find that he is a long-haired hippy on a Harley motorcycle. The local minister does his best to make Bobby Joe go away.

Actually, Bobby Joes hair doesnt even cover his ears.

Bobby's family is afraid of what may happen to him, too.

An interesting little film. A fun look back at 1971.