Yes, an intimidating amount of movies take place in either New York or Los Angeles. But you can only tell the “kid with gumption trying to make it in the big city” story so many times before you get bored. Movies are best when they are exposing you to a new world. Below are 6 stories about the Bible Belt. About the backroads. About the honky tonks. About Tennesse…Williams that is!
Wealthy family patriarch returns to the home of his son/daughter-in-law, struggling with their marriage, to divulge some family wisdom and secrets.
Most Southern Moment
The patriach is literally named Big Daddy, and his wife is Big Mama, and they made their money in the cotton business.
Why This Movie Rocks!
Stories about repressed feelings are really hard to make compelling without resorting to melodrama. This movie is a master class in the opposite of melodrama, unfurling slowly, and simmering until boiled over moments, then going back to stasis while the Williams adaptation digs deeper and deeper. It helps that two of the greatest actors of all time are your leads. Elizabeth Taylor proves she’s more than tabloid fodder, giving a great frustrated wife performance, and Paul Newman shows how versatile an actor he is, playing someone who’s life is lived in his head, walking this tricky line of being a jerk that somehow deserves empathy.
Racecar driver tries to bootleg alcohol from Texarkana to Atlanta, while getting mixed up in with a runaway bride and her sheriff father.
Most Southern Moment
We meet The Bandit in a hammock at a rodeo and he gets $80k for bootlegging mediocre beer across state lines in a Pontiac Trans Am. Yee haw! But who are we kidding it’s gun crazy Buford T. Justice, sheriff “extraordinaire.”
Why This Movie Rocks!
There’s zero stakes to this movie. Normally, that’s a death knell for a film. But for this movie? It frees it up to go crazy with its car stunts! Flying! Crashing! Speeding! Burt Reynolds is charming as hell playing The Bandit, the coolest guy in the room distracting the cops from the bootlegging truck and wreaking havoc across the South. His scenes with Sally Field’s runaway bride sizzle and make you blush (and cringe, sadly, aging poorly by the second). Plus Jackie Gleason is cartoonishly awesome as an the evil sheriff trying to stop booze from being drunk.
Newspaper writer sees chance to become a big thing after a man gets trapped in a cave, and he’s first on the scene.
Most Southern Moment
The writer chooses this story after he leaves covering a rattlesnake hunt.
Why This Movie Rocks!
Another brilliant cynical story from Billy Wilder. He accurately predicts the uncomfortable relationship between news and ratings/publications, as Kirk Douglas’s journalist inserts himself into the story to make it just a little bit better, day by day. We see how a small little story, if interesting, can take off and become a phenomenon, and how anyone will try to cash in on the action. Douglas is also really great here, making his character an unlikable but wholly compelling individual, as we see how far he’s willing to take the “news.”
A group of friends, visiting a relative’s house, stumble upon a family of psychopaths living next door.
Most Southern Moment
This movie’s more weird than Southern. Maybe the “family” dinner? Or empty pumps at a remote gas station.
Why This Movie Rocks!
This is a movie that I admire more than I was entertained by. Tobe Hooper should be commended for making a movie this good on the cheap. Using documentary style camerawork, he gives the movie a feverish disorienting style that would be used forever after in many a horror flick. Plus, most importantly, he put a chainsaw in the hands of a skin wearing monster, Leatherface, terrifying and captivating, the minute he steps onscreen.
A day in the life of politicans, stars, and singers, as life unfolds in The Country Music Capital of the World.
Most Southern Moment
The intimidating amount of country music performances at fairs, in bars, and at The Grand Ole Opry, the best venue of them all.
Why This Movie Rocks!
The scope of Robert Altman’s masterpiece is quite expansive. We get all sorts of glimpses into the lives of all sorts of people. On the surface, Altman creates these inspiring quests for American dreams. But underneath, he’s subverting each scene with something, showing how the quest for fame can create delusions of grandeur in everyone. Helping Altman do this is a sprawling cast of amazing actors, and some of the best music montages to fill in the gaps.
Southern belle moves into seedy New Orleans apartment with her sister and her volatile husband.
Most Southern Moment
Nothing will top the main character being named Blanche Dubois, perfect for the Nawlins setting.
Why This Movie Rocks!
Marlon Brando’s legend starts here. You can’t take your eyes off of him here, as he’s equally attracted to and repulsed by Vivian Leigh’s Blanche. Tennessee Williams’s play helps a lot as well, doing the emotional onion peel to perfection, while giving us more than a few interesting, three dimensional characters besides Brando and Leigh. Elia Kazan’s direction paints the city in shadows, giving it a surreal feel, trapping us in Blanche’s mind and emotional state.
