"Gator" just doesn't cut the mustard...

There's talk of Quentin Tarantino doing a remake of "White Lightning." I gave my opinion on that in a previous post, and a lot of people consider "White Lighning" not only a great action film and a "cult classic" but perhaps Burt Reynolds' best work besides "Deliverance."  I agree. "Lightning" was a lean, mean revenge thriller with a great cast and great action. It opens with "Gator" being visited in prison by his cousin, telling him that his college-student younger brother has been murdered in Bogen county and that they think the corrupt sheriff was involved. After a botched escape attempt, Gator cuts a deal with the feds to get the Sheriiff on income-tax evasion and bribery charges in exchange for getting out of prison. Burt was at the top of his game-this was when he still acted-before "The Longest Yard" and "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Cannonball Run" where he began phoning in his "Good Ol' Boy" persona in lighweight comedies. Ned Beatty-was awesome as the Corrupt Sheriff Connors-his scary performance rivaling Strother Martin's in "Cool Hand Luke". ( "What we have here is a failure to communicate." ) Since he was the meek businessman raped in "Deliverance" his portrayal of an evil, sadistic southern badass shows exceptional range as an actor. Bo Hopkins and R.G. Armstrong were excellent as corrupt moonshiner's, as was Matt Clark as a tragic government informant who reluctantly helps Gator. Jennifer Billingsley just oozed sex as "Shake a Puddin'"-her dark brown roots showing in her bleach-blond hair, barefoot in that skimpy mini-sundress for most of the movie, nailing the southern slut that men die and kill for. Others have tried it-Kim Basinger in "No Mercy", Teri Hatcher in "Heaven's Prisoner's" and most recently Reese Witherspoon in "Mud", but none come close to Jennifer's performance. Anyhow-Matt Clark's advice to Gator early on plays out. "If you want to get that Sheriff, your gonna have to kill him." "Gator" opens after the events of "White Lighning", with Gator out of prison and living in a Swamp with his father and teenage daughter. Ok-here's a cutesy twist- and a big plot hole that just doesn't fly. In the first film, there's no mention of Gator having any kids. He visited his mother and father on a large family farm. His dad-who had apprently retired from making illegal moonshine and was living happily on this farm, was angry at Gator for working for the Feds and refused to speak to him further after finding out he was turning "liquor people" over to the Feds. His mother was sad, and didn't want him to get killed like his brother. So what happened to his mother? There's no mention of her dying or leaving the old man. And what happened to the family farm? There's no mention of it being lost to foreclosure or back taxes. And where did this teenage kid come from? There's no mention of her mother, ever. So the Feds tell Gator they'll throw him back in Jail and take his kid away unless he helps nail "Bama Mc Call"-a gangster who runs drugs and prostitution and extortion all over the State of Georgia. Why Georgia? "Gator" was set in Arkansas. Jerry Reed does a fair job as a sawed-off shotgun toting crimelord. The rest of the movie is a wreck. It's like the director-Reynolds in his directing debut-couldn't decide if he wanted to make a badass southern fried revenge tale-ala-"A Small Town in Texas" or a dipshit comedy. There's the lard-ass, bumbling New Yorker Fed "Irving Greenfield" and the crazy cat lady, who get involved in the investigation. There's also model Lauren Hutton-who's best work was spending a lot of time naked in "Little Fauss and Big Halsy" as a TV reporter who senses a big story-but comes off as a too-old and too feminist Nancy Drew. Her and Burt have no chemistry whatsoever-unlike the white heat he and Billingsly had in "Lightning"-you really can't care about their by-the-numbers romance that can't go anywhere. Even the fight-to the finish between Bama and Gator on a beach isn't that good. It's just a mess. They tried to do too much very late '70's social issues laced with inane comedy. They should have delved into Gator and "Bama's relationship more. Did they go to high school together?  Serve in the Army together? Do time in prison together? Why do they have this great mutual respect even though their on opposite sides of the law?  Anyway-people ask often why there wasn't a "Lightning" sequel. There was, it just wasn't very good!  Mastermind