Red-Barracuda This very low budget action movie came out at a time in the late 70's when there was a definite fashion for what can best be described as good ole boy movies, i.e. films set in the American deep south involving chirpy criminals, dumb cops and lots of car chases. In Hot Pursuit certainly is another one from this general bracket. Its plot-line is really quite negligible, it is mainly about car chases and the like.The heroes are improbably a gang of drug smugglers who continually attempt to evade the local authorities. This of course leads to a plethora of extended car chase sequences. In the end credits, it states bluntly that 'no stunt men were used in this film' and this looks very probable given scenes such as the one where a couple of guys hang off a helicopter flying at a great height after a jail break busts them out of prison. It's pretty obvious that we are seeing the actual two main actors from the film do this very dangerous activity but then having said that, these guys are hardly actors either given the standard of acting in the movie – no one involved in this seems to have did anything else! Still, the dangerous looking stunts do make for interesting viewing. Aside from the helicopter stuff, there are many car destruction scenes and a point-of-view shot of a plane take-off where I swear it must have clipped the trees. So, for sure, health and safety wasn't a priority during the making of this one that is for sure. It is essentially the various stunts and the authentic rural south location setting that elevates this one from being a total dud, as other than this it is pretty monotonous. My best advice would be to watch it as a curiosity piece and you might get at least something out of it.

zardoz-13 This vintage drug smuggling crime saga set in rural Georgia doesn't seem to rate much respect from most who have watched it since it came out in 1977. One time director Jim West and scenarist Jim Clarke have contrived an action packed, gear-jamming comedy without heroes. Indeed, this amoral opus scrapes the bottom of the barrel in most instances. Half of the acting is execrable, while the principal players are so credible looking and sounding with their regional, redneck accents that you buy them point blank for what they are. Meantime, "Polk County Pot Plane" qualifies as a one of a kind thriller that stages one preposterous stunt after another with a modicum of skill and a maximum of audacity. The story revolves around a group of low-lifers who take the ultimate risk in smuggling illegal narcotics into rural Georgia with State Troopers, local authorities, and villains running circles around themselves in this trim 90-minute outing to nab them. Indeed, for those worried about morality, this is an example of big villains eating little villains, except the little villains win this one. The kingpin villain is a slimy, little gopher in a fedora who puts Sorrel Brooke's Boss Hogg on "The Dukes of Hazzard" to shame. Movies like "Smoky and the Bandit" have more polish, but they cannot touch the spontaneity of director Jim West's memorable epic. I watched it at least a dozen times and I've shown it to my friends. If you read the end credits, it states: "No stunt men were used in this film." Homegrown hokum that works!

davepitts Boy, this one is realllllllllllly a chore to sit through. I am glad I read up on the film here, though, because when I watched it I thought Oosh's brother was "Doosh." It sure sounds like that on the soundtrack. I'm kind of sorry he wasn't; Oosh and Doosh are perfect names for these two. The film: if there is any way at all to shoot car chases imaginatively, this crew didn't find it. Long, lame set-ups to gags: a house is being hauled down the road with a drunk hillbilly asleep inside, on a dirty pallet. Cut to the weed haulers and the cop cars. Cut back to the hillbilly, who twitches in his sleep. Cut back to the weed haulers. Cut back to the hillbilly. Gee, I wonder if the weed haulers will crash through the house, and the drunk hillbilly will wake up to find the house in pieces? He's bound to have a really funny reaction to that. Look, they crashed through the house and the hillbilly woke up. Other things to love: the drug kingpin who wears a little businessman's hat inside his house -- the pot plane ballad, sung over the freeze-framed plane at the end -- the pilot telling Oosh and Doosh (sorry, that's his ideal name), "Now, I'm going to get to the meat of the coconut!" as he lays out his big scheme.

cudacade This movie is also called "In Hot Pursuit." It's available on a 50 pack DVD collection of similar BAD movies called "Drive-In Movie Classics." Great cheap movies good for many nights of fascination brought on by incompetence. Most of these movies evolved out of someone's dream of making great entertainment. That's what I think about when I pop in the DVD and hit play. I'm ever so hopeful. There are a few gems included in the collection are worth seeing. Most are for when you're drunk and bored. Drive-In indeed. Still, not enough movies about the South have a true Southern origin, too bad. I hope some day that will change. The South is a beautiful place and the people are genuine. These are facts that Hollywood likes to distort. I only recently purchased this movie and have not yet watched it. I am scared of what I might see.