White Lightning

Friday, May 12 - Saturday, May 13, 2017

35mm print!

“In form, WHITE LIGHTNING is straightforward revenge melodrama. Gator McKlusky (Burt Reynolds), a convicted Arkansas moonshiner, is let out of prison so he can help establish evidence for a Federal case against a particularly evil and law-breaking small-town sheriff (Ned Beatty). But Gator has his own reasons, the sheriff’s killing of his college-student kid brother mainly because the boy wore his hair long and espoused good government, and he means to get more than evidence.

“Burt Reynolds may by now have a bare-chest clause in his contract, because you see a lot of his bare chest—for example, in flirtation scenes with Miss Billingsley where you don’t see any of hers. What you do see of her is a rather complex and subtle characterization of a girl more vulnerable than she seems. In fact, all the local types, like Matt Clark, Bo Hopkins, or R. G. Armstrong (all in the moonshine business) are more complete and more resilient than the situation strictly demands.

“Ned Beatty makes of Sheriff Connors one of those… phlegmatic manifestations of evil that have from time to time been such a specialty of the South as shown in American movies. And there are sequences involving him—some of the best take place inside the sheriff’s office — that seem unexpectedly intricate and cleverly paced, and on the way to rather exciting film making.” –New York Times

Screening as part of Waverly Midnights: Road Rage

• Year 1973
• Director Joseph Sargent
• Cast Burt Reynolds

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.