Bootleggers (1974 film) explained

Bootleggers
Director:Charles B. Pierce
Music:Jaime Mendoza-Nava
Country:United States
Language:English
Gross:$5.3 million (US)[1]

Bootleggers is a 1974 American comedy-drama film directed by Charles B. Pierce and starring Paul Koslo and Dennis Fimple.

Plot

Bootleggers is a period piece crime comedy drama set in rural Arkansas. The first quarter of the film is set 1921, where 10-year-old Othar Pruitt witnesses his bootlegger father being murdered by a member of a rival bootlegger family. The film then skips forward to 1933 which details the adult Othar Pruitt and his partner-in-crime, Dewey Crenshaw, who make a living as moonshiners and cross-state bootleg runners. The film follows an episodic plotline which details Othar and Dewey's work with interacting with Othar's grandfather's distillery, harassing the local sheriff who demands bribes from the bootleggers, flirting with various women at local social ho-downs, and continue to clash against the rival Woodall family and their chief competitors for control of the bootlegged trail runs. When Grandpa Pruitt is murdered by the Woodall clan, Othar and Dewey decide to take matters into their own hands, leading to a climatic shootout with the Woodall family. In the end, Dewey is killed, and Othar kills the remaining members of the Woodall family, only to be arrested by the sheriff for murder.

Cast

Reception

The film grossed over $5.3 million in the United States.[1] [2]

Notes and References

  1. Variety. 14 May 1975. Moonshine Whiskey... (advertisement). 8. April 12, 2024. Internet Archive.
  2. Book: Donahue, Suzanne Mary. American film distribution : the changing marketplace. 1987 . UMI Research Press . 293. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada