SOUTHERN FRIED ACTION PT. 2
(a continuing series on great Southern action films of the 1970s)

I screened a bootleg copy of Dynamite Women the other night -- aka The Great Texas Dynamite Chase -- with some local actors and filmmakers here in Oxford, Mississippi. Some were skeptical of the choice of the 1976 cult classic but all walked away not only loving the movie but in love with the great Claudia Jennings.

So much has been made of Thelma and Louise being a female version of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid that Dynamite Women -- produced by the king of the Bs Roger Corman -- is always over looked as the real inspiration.

Jennings plays Candy Morgan a confident outlaw on the run who meets up with Ellie Jo Turner -- Jocelyn Jones -- a mousy bank teller who's just been fired. During a robbery -- Jennings' heist pulled with what else but a stick of dynamite --  Ellie Jo decides to join up and the two women go on a crime spree across Texas.

There's even a Brad Pitt-like character who gets roped into the fun, complete with a sexy romp at a roadside motel.

The whole film is played with a light hand and wink to the camera, making the most of the biggest trend in Hollywood -- Southern action. While no one will confuse the California landscape for Texas, the actors give a credible feel to the picture and the quick action, many good laughs, and sexiness make it a top pic of the genre.

Jennings -- Playboy Playmate of the Year 1970 -- ruled the B movies of the early 1970s appearing in such classics as Unholy Rollers, Truckstop Women, and Gator Bait. In interviews, Roger Corman has said she was due a break out into mainstream films, her Playboy past blocking her for too long.

In Dynamite Women, she's tough and sexy, playing the heist scenes and sex scenes with so much confidence. (One sex scene with original Mouseketeer Johnny Crawford!)

Her breakthrough almost came as a replacement to Kate Jackson in Charlie's Angels but again Playboy turned off network executives.

Still working the Hollywood scene in 1979, she was killed in an auto accident at 29. While not a top star at the time, she's become a cult siren in some of the most loved drive-in classics. And an absolute favorite of mine.

When Claudia appears on screen, no matter how the outrageous story, no one can stop watching.

Even bloggers need a vacation. And after two months on the road to promote Infamous, I definitely needed a break. But now I'm back with a few updates and a new post. In the news, Infamous was just picked as a Summer Must-Read by the Chicago Tribune -- a huge honor. And G.P. Putnam's Sons has announced my next novel -- #9 -- will be out next spring . . . more details on that later. I appreciate all the emails I've gotten about Infamous and all my books in the last few months. There is much more to come . . .




SOUTHERN FRIED ACTION PT. 1
(a continuing series on great Southern action films of the 1970s)

I've never been a fan of movies like Steel Magnolias or Sweet Home Alabama. If you think those films reflect the real South or that's the South you want to see, read no further.

I'll take a solid trucker movie or a good shot-em-up of the 1970s anytime. These films have often been called Hixsploitation films after the Blacksploitation Films -- like Shaft, Superfly -- of the same time period. But I'd like to define the genre a little more and call them Southern-Fried Action.

The movies can be about truckers, outlaws, defiant swamp girls but must be made in the 1970s and contain a strong element of crime. They most often star the legendary Burt Reynolds or the late Jerry Reed -- Reed himself took the lead in a fine Southern Fried Action with High Ballin' co-starring Peter Fonda. My favorite female lead would be the gorgeous Claudia Jennings, who although not Southern, looked better than anyone in a pair of Daisy Dukes shooting guns or blowing up the law.

Some of my favorites Southern Fried classics include: White Lightning, Smokey and the Bandit (the king of 'em all), Dynamite Women and Moonrunners . . . a film that introduced us to the Duke boys and Uncle Jessie before the hugely successful television show.

These kind of movies would inspire a kid of this period to play with a lot of cars and trucks in the dirt and take some pride that the South was once again a cool place to call home. 

Some say the genre exploded under Burt Reynolds and died a hard death with the release of Stroker Ace. But we'll always have Burt looking at the camera while hiding from the law, giving that shit-eating grin to the audience, and kicking that Trans Am into gear.

More on these films in the next post. And please let me know any films I've left out.

-- Ace