Mel Tillis Movies

This program features over 16 performances by some of country music's most famous and beloved musicians including George Jones, Tammy Wynette, and Lee Greenwood, all recorded live at Orlando, Florida's Church Street Station Theatre. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

In the 1930s, musician Bob Wills took his love for the blues and jazz, fused it with the country sounds that dominated his native Texas and Oklahoma, and created a whole new form of music -- Western swing, in which big bands (complete with horns and strings) played up-tempo dance tunes that moved Western music in a brand new direction. Bob Wills and his band the Texas Playboys became massively popular in the Southwest, and the Western swing sound they pioneered is still championed today by groups such as Asleep at the Wheel and the Hot Club of Cowtown. Fiddlin' Man: The Life and Times of Bob Willis tells the story of this musical maverick and features vintage film clips of Wills and his band performing some of their biggest hits. Songs include "San Antonio Rose," "Time Changes Everything," "Sittin' on Top of the World," "Lone Star Rag," and more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Though the anti-war sentiments of Hamburger Hill come through loud and clear, the film is squarely on the side of those courageous, much-maligned Americans who fought and died in Vietnam. Based on a true incident, the story takes place in 1969, as the 101st Airborne Division confronts the Vietcong in a bloody battle over Hill 937 (aka "Hamburger Hill") in the A Shau Valley. During the next ten days, both sides incur heavy losses, but the Cong refuse to surrender the hill. The ultimate American "victory" turns out to be a hollow one indeed. Scripted by Vietnam War vet Jim Carabatsos, Hamburger Hill not only underlines the futility of the war but also the pressures brought to bear upon the troops by an insensitive, often hostile media. By utilizing a cast of unknowns, director John Irvin deftly avoids the Hollywoodized slickness of such bigger-budgeted efforts as Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

(Burt Reynolds) as J.J. McClure takes off across the country again in this rickety sequel to Cannonball Run. A sheik has offered $1,000,000 to the first driver to reach a destination in Connecticut from Redondo Beach, California, inspiring J.J. and others to go for the gold. With cameos from more name performers than any dozen films together, (Frank Sinatra and the rat pack, Telly Savalas, Susan Anton, Shirley MacLaine, Jackie Chan, Sid Caesar, Marilu Henner, Catherine Bach, etc., etc., etc.), the movie becomes a pastiche and is executed as though no rehearsals were required, or ever happened. A disparate group of people racing to get a lot of money was first successfully exploited in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, a much better film, and with just as many cameos, in fact. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) oversteps his bounds once too often when he arranges for a new state highway to bypass three nearby counties. Outraged over being denied the opportunity to shake down passing drivers for ill-gotten gains, a trio of rival country bosses--Sharkey (Earl Montgomery), Hopkins (F. William Parker) and Bowman (William Bramley)--target Boss for extermination, forcing him to hide out on the Dukes' farm. The outcome of the story hinges on a covert tape recording, courtesy of Vance Duke (Christopher Mayer). Singer Mel Tillis, who'd previously shown up in character role in the episode "The Rustlers", herein appears as himself. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Former stuntman Hal Needham made his directorial debut with the first Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and repeated his success with the sequel, a virtual remake that substituted a live elephant for a truckload of beer. Burt Reynolds returns as law-defying anti-hero Bandit, now a washed-up alcoholic whose girlfriend Carrie (Sally Field) has left him. When a pair of eccentric, wealthy brothers named Big Enos (Pat McCormick) and Little Enos (Paul Williams) approach Bandit with an offer of work, he and trucker pal Cledus (Jerry Reed) jump at the chance. The gig involves transporting an elephant to the Republican National Convention in twenty-four hours. The wrinkle is that the pachyderm is about to give birth -- any minute. Enter "Doc" (Dom DeLuise) a bizarre medical man who joins the team to care for the expectant mother, and Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason), who has not forgotten the humiliations that he suffered during Bandit's last "mission." Needham's films were instantly forgettable cocktails of car chases, car crashes, and lowbrow humor. Reynolds and Needham teamed up over a dozen times in various action comedy pictures. Audiences of the late Seventies loved their anti-authority redneck humor and made their early collaborations into box office smashes. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Mel Tillis, who'd later show up as "himself" on Dukes of Hazzard, is here cast as horse-farm owner Burl Tolliver. Mr. Tolliver owns an extraordinarily fast stallion, which Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) plans to steal and enter in the "Mrs. J.D. Hogg Stake Race"--after framing Bo (John Schneider) and Duke (Tom Wopat) for the crime, of course. Unfortunately for all concerned, the prize horse has also attracted the attention of some professional rustlers who have a bad habit of killing people. Seen as Burl Tolliver's wife Sherri is Dorothy Collier, who later married series regular James Best (Roscoe P. Coltrane). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Burt Reynolds stars in this fast-paced "road" picture as W. W. Bright, a 1950s Southern con man. He takes over Takes over the Dixie Dancekings, a two-bit country-western act headed by Dixie (Conny Van Dyke). Bright wheels and deals to get the Dixie Dancekings into the Grand Ole Opry. Meanwhile, he robs the gas stations of an oil company which he feels has cheated him, and is pursued by Bible-thumping lawman Deacon Gore (Art Carney). W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings is highlighted by musical renditions from Conny Van Dyke, Jerry Reed and Furry Lewis--and from Ned Beatty, playing an image-conscious Porter Wagoner type. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi