Bobby "Gator" McKlusky is serving time in an Arkansas prison for running moonshine when he learns his younger brother Donny was murdered and that Sheriff J.C. Connors was the one behind it. Gator knows the sheriff is taking money from local moonshiners, so he agrees to go undercover for a federal agency to try to expose the sheriff. His handlers force him onto Dude Watson, a local stock car racer and low-level whiskey runner. Watson has no choice but to cooperate because he himself is on federal probation or parole. To infiltrate the local moonshine industry, Gator lands a job running moonshine with Roy Boone. He also starts an affair with Boone's girlfriend, Lou. When the sheriff discovers Gator is working for the federal government, Connors sends his enforcer, Big Bear, after him. Gator decides to go after the sheriff, leading to an epic car chase finale.
The film was originally called McKlusky. It was announced by Levy-Gardner-Laven in October 1971 as part of a seven-picture slate they intended to make for United Artists over two years. It was an original script by Norton, who often wrote for the producers. The villain of the script was based on the real life Sheriff Marlin Hawkins. Burt Reynolds' casting was announced in February 1972. He had worked with the writer and producers previously onSam Whiskey. Reynolds called the film "the beginning of a whole series of films made in the South, about the South and for the South. No one cares if the picture was ever distributed north of the Mason-Dixon line because you could make back the cost of the negative just in Memphis alone. Anything outside of that was just gravy. It was a well done film. Joe Sargent is an excellent director. He's very, very good with actors. And it had some marvellous people in it whom nobody had seen before. Ned Beatty for example. I had to fight like hell to get Ned in the film." The film was almost directed by Steven Spielberg. He had made Duel, Something Evil and Savage and decided to direct White Lightning the same year. "I spent two-and-a-half months on the film," said Spielberg, "met Burt once, found most of the locations and began to cast the movie, until I realized it wasn't something that I wanted to do for a first film. I didn't want to start my career as a hard-hat, journeyman director. I wanted to do something that was a little more personal." So he quit White Lightning and went to do Sugarland Express, which he found more challenging for three reasons, "the changing relationships among the trio in the car, the nature of 'the chase,' and how to handle the digressions." Joseph Sargent signed to direct in May. Filming began July 15, 1972. Shooting took place in and around Little Rock, Arkansas. Hal Needham did stunts on the film. The film's music was written by Charles Bernstein. Some of this score was also used by Quentin Tarantino in his 2003 film and his 2009 film Inglourious Basterds. Bernstein's score was released by Intrada Records in May 2010.
Reception
The film has a score of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 6 reviews. Roger Greenspun of The New York Times called it "a fairly awful movie" with "endless car chases, which are a crushing bore." Variety characterized the film as "hit-and-miss," adding, "Reynolds is quite up to all the demands of his smashing role, as he forges toward his goal. Too often, though, too much footage is devoted to incidentals that detract." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote that "what sets 'White Lightning' apart from a demolition derby is the special work of the entire cast in creating a totally believable world out of characters that we've seen countless times before... Only an abrupt ending keeps 'White Lightning' from achieving some level of greatness." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called it "that scarce commodity, a stirring, satisfying summer-weight entertainment... Reynolds delivers a varied, screen-commanding star turn which is a pleasure to watch." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that the film "begins straight and then starts messing around at random. The inevitable result is an expendable movie, neither straightforward crime melodrama nor consistent shaggy-dog comedy." Clyde Jeavons of The Monthly Film Bulletin declared, "Moonshine melodrama with a veneer of serious intent which is rapidly planed away by Burt Reynold's frivolous acting and Joseph Sargent's weakness for car chases." A sequel, Gator, was released in 1976.
Legacy
On the TV seriesArcher, the film and its sequel are favorites of the title character, Sterling Archer, though he believes Gator to be the stronger installment. He gets the films easily confused, though, as he believes several key scenes from White Lightning to be in the sequel. Reynolds later said the film "was a breakthrough in that area of blending comedy and action. And it made a lot of money, so other people began trying to do the same thing. They thought, 'Well, he smashed up sixty cars and it made a lot of money, so we'll do a hundred crashes.' But that had nothing to do with its success as a comedy."
