Moonshine County Express

Plot synopsis:
A man (Geoffrey Rush) wanders through a heavy rainstorm finding his way into a restaurant. The restaurant's employees try to determine if he needs help. Despite his manic mode of speech being difficult to understand, Sylvia learns that his name is David Helfgott and that he is staying at a local hotel. She returns him to the hotel and despite his attempts to engage her with his musical knowledge and ownership of various musical scores, she leaves.
As a child, David (played by Alex Rafalowicz) is growing up in suburban Adelaide, South Australia and competing in a local music competition. Helfgott has been taught to play by his father, Peter (played by Armin Mueller-Stahl), a man obsessed with winning who has no tolerance for failure or disobedience. David is noticed by Mr. Rosen, a local pianist who, after an initial conflict with Peter, takes over David's musical instruction.
As a teen, David (played by Noah Taylor) wins the state musical championship and is invited to study in America. Although plans are made to raise money to send David and his family is initially supportive, Peter eventually forbids David to leave and abuses him, thinking David leaving would destroy the family. Crushed, David continues to study and befriends local novelist and co-founder of the Communist Party of Australia, Katharine Susannah Prichard (Googie Withers). David's talent grows until he is offered a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London. David's father again forbids him to go but with the encouragement of Katharine, David leaves. In London, David enters a Concerto competition, choosing to play Rachmaninoff's enormously demanding 3rd Concerto, a piece he had attempted to learn as a young child to make his father proud. As David practices, he increasingly becomes manic in his behavior. David wins the competition, but suffers a mental breakdown and is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he receives electric shock therapy.
David recovers to the point where he is able to return to Australia, but is still rejected by his father. David relapses and is readmitted to a mental institution as a young man. Years later, a volunteer at the institution recognizes David and knows of his musical talent. She takes him home but discovers that he is difficult to control, unintentionally destructive, and needs more care than she can offer. She leaves him at the hotel from earlier in the film. David has difficulty adjusting to life outside the institution, and often wanders away from the hotel. David wanders to the nearby restaurant.
The next day David returns to the restaurant, and the patrons are astounded by his ability to play the piano. One of the owners befriends David and looks after him. In return David plays at the restaurant. Through the owner David is introduced to Gillian (Lynn Redgrave). David and Gillian fall in love and marry. With Gillian's help and support, David is able to come to terms with his father's death and to stage a well-received comeback concert presaging his return to professional music.

Tags: revenge, murder

Review:
Another classic 70s B film by Roger Corman..
Take some gorgeous gals, good 'ol boys, creepy villains, fast car chases, and throw in some gratuitous sex scenes.
Put it all together, and you have another classic Roger Corman 70s B movie.
Corman churned-out these low-budget films like mad, back then.
And Moonshine County Express is a fast-and furious tale, of moonshiners in the backwoods of the south.
The plot revolves around the three luscious Hammer sisters (played by Susan Howard, Claudia Jennings, and Mareen McCormick).
Their father was a legendary moonshiner.
And he gets brutally murdered by the local thugs, in a moonshine war.After their father is murdered by Starkey, the local crime kingpin, the Hammer sisters are determined to beat Starkey at his own game.
The sisters discover a huge stash of pure bootleg liquor, stored away in a secret hiding place.
They've inherited it from their father.
And they plan on selling it right under Starkey's nose, and making a fortune.
But Starkey proves to be a formidable foe, who'll stop at nothing to shut-down the Hammer sister's liquor business.This film boasts a talented cast of actors.
Especially William Conrad, as the cigar-chomping, nefarious Starkey.
John Saxon co-stars as the wily, ace moonshine runner, JB.
Saxon has a tumultuous, eclectic chemistry with co-star, Susan Howard.
Susan plays the eldest sister, Dot Hammer.
Most of the time, Dot can't decide whether to kiss JB, or strangle him.Claudia Jennings, was known as the queen of 70s drive-in movies.
Claudia plays the stalwart Betty Hammer, who defends her family with gusto, from Starkey and his thugs.
Claudia's only in a supporting role though.
So she never gets to become the center of attention, like she does in her films where she's the main character.
Maureen McCormick, known to most as Marcia from the Brady Bunch, is Sissy Hammer, the youngest sister.
Maureen doesn't shine as brightly as the rest of the cast.
That's mainly because her role as Sissy, isn't very well-developed.
This move was part of a sub-genre of 70s B movies, that featured good 'ol boys and gals in the sticks, as the main protagonists.
These films always seemed to have the hero(s) running from either the law, the bad guys, or both, in souped-up muscle cars on dirt roads.
Other 70s movies of this ilk, included Moonrunners (which spawned the TV show, the Dukes Of Hazzard), Smokey and The Bandit, Gator, etc.
Moonshine County Express, is a top-tier film of this genre.
So you'll enjoy it, if these kinds of films are your cup of corn-squeezins..
Marcia,Marcia,Marcia!.
i thought this was a pretty enjoyable film.3 pretty country sisters discover their murdered fathers moonshine stash and decide to cash in.they have to battle local crooks who don't want the competition.not too much plot(this ain't the godfather!) but Maureen McCormick aka Marcia Brady is absolutely beautiful and very sexy as the wild daughter in this seldom seen and hard to find film..
Good enough to be in print.
I have seen a John Saxon Film recently, was not MSCE (Moonshine County Express), but kept thinking about this film that I foundly remember from the 70s when I seen him recently.
I came to IMDB to do a search to see if I could find the name of the film(found it here) to see about buying it on DVD, but to no avail, not even on VHS!
That is awful :-(  Couple fun things about the film, Three pretty sisters, One of them always using dynamite to blow up things, I think it was Maureen McCormick, and Claudia Jennnings being the brains of the three I think.
John Saxon drives a muscle car, a cherry red Dodge Challenger, a real sweet car.
A buddy of mine used to own one down the street from me at the time I seen this back in the late 70s.
Hopefully, this gem will come out on DVD soon.
If you like this film, you may also like "Duel", Steven Spielbergs first film..
excellent flick, still no DVD release.
This is directed by Gus Trikonis, well known for directing so many series.
This flick here is still unavailable on DVD and is only to catch on NTSC ex-rental VHS.
It's made in an era were car chasing was the big thing and coppers were the stupid ones.
Smokey And The Bandit (1977) was also a perfect example and the series The Dukes Of Hazard (1979) also picked in on that success.But it's strange that a flick with this cast and a good director still is collector to find.
It's also one of those many flicks that involved John Saxon and is still unreleased on DVD.
Further it also has William Conrad famous from Jake And The Fatman series as main lead.
Claudia Jennings is also here to see and we all know how sadly see died two years later.
Too many faces to recognize in this well made flick.If you like coppers hunting fast cars and flicks about rednecks than this is surely one to pick up.
Don't be mislead by the fact that it was said that the nudity had to left out, it do has one shower scene but it was told about the nudity because many females here in this flick were known to go nude in their flicks.
Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5.
1970s moonshine running movie.
The moonshiner father of three women is killed by a rival bootlegging syndicate, and the three daughters carry on the family business.
In this movie are Susan Howard from Petrocelli and Dallas, Maureen McCormick from The Brady Bunch, and Claudia Jennings from some rather trashy movies.
John Saxon plays J.
B. Johnson, a hot rodder who, Dot says, is interested in only cars and women and goes as fast as he can with both of them.
teaches Dot how to run shine in a nice hot Mustang, but she drives it into a body of water.
drives a Dodge Challenger.
It seems a rival runner drove a '70 Roadrunner with an "auxillary fuel tank" for hauling shine.
And there was a hypocritical preacher who was really out to make money on shine.
Well, the law enforcement is on the lookout, and if one shine business doesn't go out of business, the other one will..
Decent movie with an interesting cast.
After their moonshiner "pa" is killed by a rival bootlegging outfit, three sexy sisters (Susan Howard, Claudia Jennings, and Maureen McCormick) band together to continue his business, which quickly brings them into conflict with same group of thugs.
So they team up with a local good 'ole boy and stock-car driver/rum-runner (Jon Saxon) to fight back.This is yet another Roger Corman produced "hicksploitation" film from the 1970's, but actually a pretty good one (despite its PG rating).
Most people today will probably seek it out to see Maureen "Marcia Brady" McCormick, but I personally find it more interesting in that it features two of my favorite 1970's drive-in queens, Claudia Jennings and Candice Rialson.
The PG-rating, of course, precludes both actresses' usual gratuitous nude scenes, but Jennings was actually a genuinely talented actress (a veritable Meryl Streep for someone who was once a Playboy Playmate) and she's pretty good here as the feisty, shotgun-totin' middle sister.
Rialson has a smaller role as the local tart, but she's just sexy as hell even with her clothes on.
The main stars though are Jon Saxon and Susan Howard, both of whom are a little too old for these kind of roles (Saxon especially), but they're both pretty good (again Saxon especially).
There's also some very decent character actors in the cast including Dub Taylor as the girls' drunken and treacherous uncle and Les "Uncle Leo" Lesser as a very near-sighted store owner.
Which, of course, brings us to Marcia, I mean Maureen McCormick.
She's definitely cute and appealing as youngest, animal-loving sister, and the scene were she gets bound to a column and (very mildly) tortured by the bad guys might fulfill some people's more perverted "Brady Bunch"-related fantasies, but others might prefer her later film "Texas Lightning" where she has nude scenes (sort of).
She does basically hold her here as an actress against thespians a little more talented than Robert Reed, Florence Henderson or Ann B.
Davis.This movie certainly has an interesting cast, and I found it to overall be a pretty decent flick..
They shouldn't have killed their dog..
Roger Corman and 1970s era New World strike again with this engaging formula hicksploitation action flick.
Susan Howard ('Dallas'), Claudia Jennings ("Gator Bait"), and Maureen McCormick ('The Brady Bunch') play the Hammer sisters, whose moonshiner father (Fred Foresman) is killed by goons representing a big time sleazy criminal (William Conrad, 'Jake and the Fatman').
The gals are as tough and sassy as they are sexy, and prove to be formidable adversaries, especially when they team up with J.B. Johnson (John Saxon), a racing enthusiast and ace delivery man."Moonshine County Express" doesn't set out to reinvent the wheel, and shows that movies of this ilk do deliver the goods by scrupulously following a formula.
The vehicular action is first rate, there are mild doses of sex (there's a hilarious "fishing" scene), and the movie is violent without ever getting particularly gory.
It's all played with humour and panache, thanks to screenwriters Hugh Smith & Daniel Ansley, and director Gus Trikonis ("Nashville Girl", "The Evil").
What truly brings it to life is the work of a colourful and interesting cast.
Saxon is an amiable hero (if maybe a tad too old for his role), Howard a strong and independent minded heroine, and Conrad is an effective bad guy.
He's somewhat blustery, but Conrad never makes him a one-dimensional cartoon.
Morgan Woodward ("Cool Hand Luke") is also a good villain, playing Conrads' primary thug.
If you're a fan of Jennings, be aware that she doesn't get that much to do.
McCormick is cute as the youngest of the gals.
The cast is rounded out by other familiar faces like Jeff Corey ("In Cold Blood"), Dub Taylor ("The Wild Bunch"), Albert Salmi ("Empire of the Ants"), Len Lesser ('Seinfeld'), the lovely Candice Rialson ("Hollywood Boulevard") as a town floozy, and E.J. Andre ("Magic").Set to an irresistible bluegrass music score by Fred Werner, and shot by legendary B movie D.P. Gary Graver, this is a fun example of its genre, guaranteed to leave you with a smile on your face.Eight out of 10..
Backwoods babes become successful businesswomen.
The three comely daughters of a backwoods moonshiner are left orphaned after their pappy and his crew are murdered by the goons of their fat cat competitor, who also blow the production still to smithereens in the hopes of running off the girls and taking over the property himself.
Unfortunately for him, the ladies discover an underground stash of prime Prohibition-era bootleg whiskey--and they know just the right guy to act as their muscleman, the top-finishing stock car driver at the local speedway who runs "shine" between races.
Cheap, barely-competent drive-in entry from Roger Corman and New World Pictures, amateurishly directed by Gus Trikonis.
John Saxon (in flannel shirts and jeans) seems curiously misplaced as a good ol' boy, though William Conrad (with muttonchops) is a dandy villain and the ladies, Susan Howard, Claudia Jennings and Maureen McCormick, are spunky and attractive.
The picture looks muddy and sounds terrible--and, with a PG rating, seems a little tame for the hillbilly genre--but B-movie completists will probably be satisfied by the energy and fast pace.
Drive-in trash goodness.
The Hammer Sisters are the kind of tough Southern girls that deal with their daddy's murder by taking over his moonshine business, grabbing some weapons and being way tougher than any of the men they battle.
Is that enough to get you to watch this movie?What if I told you that it was directed by the same man who brought us The Evil, The Side Hackers and the movie based on the song Take This Job and Shove It?Not yet?
How does John Saxon playing a Southern stock car racer and moonshine runner sound?
Not yet?How about Susan Howard, former Dallas actress turned 700 Club host and NRA supporter?William Conrad?
Jeff Corey?
Len "Uncle Leo" Lasser?
Maurine "Marcia Brady" McCormick?
Still not sold?I get it.
John Saxon was enough for me.
But then I thought, I bet this movie has Claudia Jennings in it.
And I was right.
And that's all it took.What was it about American pop culture that took hicksploitation from the drive-in to the mainstream?
I remember it myself - everyone had a CB radio, we all turned in to The Dukes of Hazzard and watched Smokey and the Bandit on HBO.
Heck, I even had a silver NASCAR jacket that made me look like a 5-year-old pit crew member.From the very first moment that John Saxon appears on screen and does his best version of a Southern accent, I was thoroughly entertained by this silly trifle of a film.
It's a Roger Corman 1970's drive-in movie, so you're going to get plenty of cars getting smashed up, scummy bad guys and "100 proof women" like Candice Rialson (Chatterbox, Pets)..
Old-fashioned fun.
MOONSHINE COUNTY EXPRESS is a long-forgotten 'hillbilly' adventure full of illicit alcohol and car-chasing mayhem.
The plot is simple in the extreme and involves a moonshiner being offed by a dastardly rivals.
Said moonshiner's trio of sexy daughters decide to take over daddy's business and soon take the fight to the villain, as played by a moustache-twirling William Conrad.
Shoot-outs and surprisingly tame snippets of exploitation follow.
One thing I can say is that the cast give enthusiastic performances here, particularly the girls who do a sterling job of portraying drive and determination.
John Saxon plays the good ol' boy helping them out although he's a little old for the role.
Code Red have done a splendid job of restoring this for DVD release..
Hugely enjoyable 70's hicksploitation romp.
Moonshiner Pap Hammer gets bumped off by vicious rival Jack Starkey (robustly played to the slimy hateful hilt by William Conrad).
Hammer's three spitfire daughters -- headstrong Dot (a fine'n'feisty performance by Susan Howard), sassy Betty (luminous 70's drive-in goddess Claudia Jennings), and perky Sissy (adorable Maureen McCormick, Marcia on "The Brady Bunch") -- join forces with ace stock car driver J.B. Johnson (a lively and likable portrayal by the always reliable John Saxon) to get revenge on Starkey.Director Gus Trikonis, working from a compact and eventful script by Hugh Smith and Daniel Ansley, keeps the entertaining story hurtling along at a snappy pace, presents a flavorsome downhome Southern-fried atmosphere, and stages the exciting vehicular action with rip-roaring gusto.
Moreover, it's acted with zest by an excellent cast of familiar faces: Morgan Woodard as no-count flunky Sweetwater, Jeff Corey as drunken priest Hagen, Dub Taylor as the raucous Uncle Bill, Albert Salmi as bumbling Sheriff Larkin, Len Lesser as sleazy store owner Scoggins, and Candice Rialson as brash tart Mayella.
Gary Graver's typically proficient cinematography provides an impressive polished look.
Fred Werner's twangy score hits the sprightly harmonic spot.
A really fun flick.