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FILM MASTERS

MOVIE INFO

Director:
John Clayton
Cast:
Geoffrey Land, Sydney Rubin, Steve Jones
Writing Credits:
W. Henry Smith, Joseph A. Alvarez

Synopsis:
When DJ Miller's motorcycle is stolen and used in a drug deal, he faces off against local thugs and unsavory characters to clear his name.

MPAA:
Rated R.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA Monaural
Subtitles:
English
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English

Runtime: 89 min.
Price: $29.95
Release Date: 9/24/2024

Bonus:
• Audio Commentary with Film Historian Justin Humphreys
• Trailer
• Booklet


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RELATED REVIEWS


Redneck Miller [Blu-Ray] (1976)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (October 3, 2024)

In all my years, I never heard of “Hicksploitation” as a film genre. Today launches me into a new cinematic universe via 1976’s Redneck Miller!

Radio personality DJ Miller (Geoffrey Land) drinks hard and loves to drive his beloved motorcycle. A crisis emerges when lowlife Ray (Paul Walsh) steals his chopper.

Ray uses DJ’s bike to steal drugs from gangster Supermac (???), a factor that then puts DJ in the crosshairs. These events lead DJ on a crusade.

Although I never heard the term “Hicksploitation” – or “Hixploitation” - until now, a little research into the genre indicates that it covers a variety of flicks. For instance, apparently horror movies like Motel Hell and Texas Chain Saw Massacre fall under the “Hicksploitation” banner.

Whatever the case, Miller brings something that turns into firm cheap drive-in fare. Apparently little-seen until noted “grindhouse” aficionado Quentin Tarantino championed it circa 2007, this movie went largely unknown for decades.

Does Miller deserve to emerge from obscurity? Heavens no – it winds up as a submediocre piece of grindhouse nonsense.

Tarantino often touts his love of obscure genre efforts, and I occasionally think he does so as a goof. Someone with his talent must understand that Miller offers poorly-made junk, so it feels as though he wants to fool his public into praise for terrible films.

Though my synopsis implies a tight little tale of a manly man on a mission, Miller offers an oddly rambling narrative. Rather than pursue the story at its core, the filmmakers prefer to wander about aimlessly instead.

Even at a mere 89 minutes, Miller feels padded. It comes with little actual development and simply tends to meander.

None of this ever becomes even vaguely compelling. Oh, it can feel oddly intriguing to watch the “Hicksploitation” genre butt heads with “Blacksploitation”, given that Supermac and his cronies feel like outcasts from the world of Super Fly who make no sense in this flick’s universe.

Even those elements don’t ever seem more than cheesy, and not in a “so bad it’s good” manner. Miller leans toward parody when it gets into its Blacksploitation side, though I don’t think the filmmakers did so intentionally.

Instead, I believe they simply made tacky stabs at “the Black experience” without any awareness how racist and tacky these moments looked. Granted, those elements seemed less egregious in 1976, but nonetheless, Supermac and his underlings never become more than cheap stereotypes.

At least they show some personality, which is more than I can say for our title character. As played by Land, DJ becomes a dull, charisma-free role.

It doesn’t help that Land sounds more like he’s from the Midwest than from the deep south. It also turns into a problem that he never shows any form of “Good Ol’ Boy” side that would make sense for a character called "Redneck”.

Perhaps I wouldn’t mind those issues if Land didn’t seem so flat and dull the whole time. He makes for a completely blah leading man, as he can’t pull off any of the movie’s demands in terms of romance or action.

DJ needs to be a charming cad who seems irresistible to the ladies and aspirational to the men – ie, someone akin to Burt Reynolds in the 1970s. Instead, he comes across as an unpleasant jerk with no charm or redeeming qualities.

Miller boasts some fine eye candy at times, mainly from the unnamed actor who plays DJ’s semi-girlfriend Jenny. Otherwise, this becomes an amateurish and forgettable stab at an 1970s action-thriller.


The Disc Grades: Picture B+/ Audio C-/ Bonus C+

Redneck Miller appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a surprisingly strong presentation.

For the most part, the movie offered appealing accuracy. Occasional soft shots materialized, but the film boasted solid delineation the majority of the time.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain seemed light but acceptable, and I witnessed no source flaws.

The film opted for a fairly natural palette, albeit with a bit of a brown/amber vibe. The Blu-ray reproduced the colors well and gave them nice punch.

Blacks felt dark and dense, while shadows offered positive clarity. Th flick brought much better visuals than one would anticipate for a long-forgotten drive-in effort like this.

Unfortunately, the DTS-HD MA monaural audio of Redneck Miller failed to exceed expectations. Speech always remained intelligible, though the lines could seem pretty edgy and sibilant at times.

The score lacked much range and could lean toward roughness. Effects also came across as flat and displayed occasional distortion.

Nothing here seemed awful for a mix from 1976, especially given the low budget. Nonetheless, the audio still felt iffy at best even with these caveats.

The set provides an audio commentary from film historian Justin Humphreys. He offers a running, screen-specific look at story and characters, genre domains, cast and crew, sets and locations, production elements and his thoughts about the film.

Given the movie's low budget and "regional" origins, Humphreys acknowledges he found it difficult to fully research the project. This means that while he does his best, he can't provide a lot of facts about the flick - or even a fully accounting of cast/crew since so many participants went uncredited and didn't seem to work in films again.

All this means we get a decent commentary but not one that sheds as much light as we might hope. Still, Humphreys does his best and he makes this about as good a chat as we could expect.

In addition to a newly-created trailer for the film, we find a booklet. With some art and an essay from Humphreys, it finishes the set well.

At the very least, I hoped Redneck Miller would provide an enjoyably campy slice of 1970s drive-in cheese. Instead, it ends up as a dull tale without much to make it watchable. The Blu-ray boasts surprisingly solid picture and a fairly positive commentary but audio quality seems meh. Maybe genre fans will get something from this movie but I found it to deliver a dud.

Viewer Film Ratings: 1 Stars Number of Votes: 2
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