Theme Song: Who knew John Schneider of Dukes of Hazzard fame had parlayed some of that talent into a lengthy career in country music?
“It’s Gonna Be Alright” and “Forever More”
Both of these songs include plot details that are glossed over on screen, making them somewhat key pieces of information, but due to their being pretty schlocky, they become easy to overlook.
Social Context: With a leading role and multiple appearances on the soundtrack, this movie was definitely produced as a vehicle for Schneider, who was fresh off his Dukes’ stint at the time.
Summary: We meet Eddie Macon (Schneider) in a mid-prison rodeo escape which is executed with such casual confidence it’s borderline absurd. 10 minutes into the film, he hops off a semi and digs up a backpack, and we then see a flashback revealing this has all been meticulously planned.
Over the course of a year, Eddie has been arranging for his family to meet him at the Mexico border on a specific time/date. It’s also revealed through flashbacks within flashbacks that Eddie had previously tried to escape only to be captured on the front porch of his home as his children shrieked.
Chasing after Eddie during both of these escapes is Carl Marzack (Kirk Douglas), a hard-worn detective or marshal of some type. Douglas is entirely too wooden in the role and his relentless enthusiasm for Eddie, a blue-collar worker who was arrested for punching his boss, seems misplaced. Schneider is similarly clunky in the role, making it hard to engage with either lead.
But holy cow, the secondary cast is amazing. JT Walsh in his first screen role as a scummy bar patron! John Goodman in his first screen role as an uptight job site foreman! Lee Purcell as a down-on-her-luck prostitute who takes a naked shower with Eddie!
And then there’s Tom Noonan and Jay O. Sanders as Daryl and Rudy Potts, a pair of sweaty farmers who abduct Eddie and torture him for hours in an entirely out-of-place scene that almost makes the whole movie worth it.
Eventually, Eddie gets a final pursuit from Marzack, but once the detective is injured, he tells Eddie to shoo off over the border with his wife because that’s the only ending that would make sense.
Worth Mentioning:
– Directed by Jeff Kanew who also handled Natural Enemies and Revenge of The Nerds.
– Overall, this plays like a made-for-television movie when it would have been more successful as a gritty ’70s thing.
Poster and Box Art: There’s too much going on with this poster. It was shooting for ’70s high contrast but got lost in an ’80s photo montage along the way.
