THE PLOT THUS FAR
When Baton Rouge police detective Bud Carter busts contract killer Jesse Weiland, he convinces Jesse to become an informant and rat out the South’s most powerful crime ring. So when the syndicate orders Carter’s death and Weiland’s ID’d as a snitch, the two team up to take down the mob and the crime boss who ordered the hit.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“Bad Country” is such a great Hicksploitation movie for the modern era. While it does have that “Boondock Saints” tinge to the story, I can forgive it. For the heart of the picture is in Reynolds’ films of the 1980s by way of Cannon. Dafoe, Dillon and Berenger eat this material up like they’re young again and trying to earn their keep on Cinemax’s monthly rotation. So much of the schlock presented here is honest in a way that I’ve yet to see any fanboy direct recreate. If that wasn’t enough, they managed to find a role for the legendary Bill Duke to slam home.
I have always loved playing backwoods cops off the Mafia. The push to have two largely stereotyped groups battling it out over nothing feels so 80s to me. Hell, I know that hicksploitation had been using other groups and means before the 1980s, but there’s something magical about that time. Hell, watching this movie made me wistful for Joe Bob Briggs introducing movies on The Movie Channel. Was the film any good? It depends on your definition of good. However, it was the right amount of schlock to keep me happy.
The Blu-Ray comes with deleted scenes and featurettes as the special features. The DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track is supportive enough. The same can be said for the 1080p transfer, which plays way cleaner than I expected. However, it’s not something that’s going to blow you out the back of your home theater. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to the curious.
RELEASE DATE: 04/29/2014