White Lightning

White Lightning

Gator and Roy before a liquor run

Burt Reynolds had been a leading man for almost a decade at the time White Lightning came out. Usually in Westerns thanks to a long run on the TV show Gunsmoke. But when he was cast as "good ol' boy" Gator McKlusky, a moonshine bootlegger in White Lightning, sort of a cross between Billy Jack and Vanishing Point, it changed his career forever.

In White Lightning, Gator is serving a prison sentence for running moonshine when he discovers that his little brother has been killed by the corrupt local Sheriff (Warren Beatty). Gator cuts a deal with the Feds who spring him from prison in exchange for his cooperation in an undercover sting operation against the Sheriff. Gator however plans to get his own revenge against the Sheriff with the aid of a 1971 Ford LTD Galaxie 500 provided by the Feds.

White Lightning was the first in a string of films featuring Reynolds as a bad boy hot rodder, squaring off against a corrupt Sheriff. As such, it's the spiritual forerunner of Reynold's biggest film, Smokey and the Bandit, containing all the same tropes, including a blonde cowboy sidekick, played by Bo Hopkins here, but in succeeding films by Jerry Reed.


White Lightning is notable for it's authentic feel. Aside from Reynolds himself, nobody here looks like an airbrushed Hollywood type, and everything was shot on location in Arkansas.

While it was inevitably overshadowed by his later work, White Lightning is worth checking out for an example of Burt Reynolds in top form.

The Good:

• Every minute Gator is behind the wheel of the 1971 Ford LTD Galaxie 500

The Bad:

• A fair amount of redneck-ery (the price of authenticity) 

Stuff to Watch for:

• Diane Ladd's real life daughter Laura Dern in an uncredited cameo playing her daughter

Pairing: 100 proof Ole Smokey Moonshine

The Verdict:***1/2 out of *****