MOONSHINE MOUNTAIN (1964)
Article 2165 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-18-2007
Posting Date: 7-17-2007
Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
Featuring Charles Glore, Gordon Oas-Heim, Bonnie Hinson

A country singer from New York goes to hillbilly country to research and find new songs. He ends up meeting a hillbilly family with a still, and has problems with the local sheriff.

The story is pretty bad, the acting is poor and the sound quality stinks, but if you’ve seen Herschell Gordon Lewis movies before, that shouldn’t surprise you. Still, there’s something likable about his movies and Lewis isn’t without talent. For one thing, he has a nice ear for country music; the tunes in this one (and in 2000 MANIACS) are actually a lot of fun. He also has a sense of humor that occasionally clicks; check out the hilarious beginning and ending credits in hillbilly lingo (my favorite is his own credit, which says “he should know better, but don’t”) and an amusing moment involving sound and a hangover. He also is capable of clever shots on occasion; check out the scene where the sheriff holds a conversation with the country singer’s city girlfriend in her car where we only see the girlfriend as a reflection of her mouth in the rear-view mirror, for example; it happens so smoothly that it feels more like a lucky accident than anything else. All in all, it helps to make his movies fairly watchable. Still, I don’t think this movie is genre; it’s really a comedy/drama with a few light horror elements (an ax killing and the method of body disposal are the most obvious touches). It isn’t near as bloody as Gordon’s horror movies, either. Extremely marginal.