How Rednecks Saved Hollywood, An Evening with Joe Bob Briggs
Now for something a little Horror adjacent as we drove two hours north to Ash J. Williams’ choice retirement spot, Jacksonville, Florida, to attend an evening of Redneck film history with everyone’s favorite horror host, Joe Bob Briggs.
First and foremost, a few things I want to get out of the way right off the bat: I made a promise to Joe Bob at the meet and greet preceding the event that I wouldn’t giveaway any of his best jokes when writing my report for the site. Serious or not, out of respect for him, I definitely won’t be doing a play by play of the evening’s topics, so that if you plan on seeing this very special event any time in the near future yourself, and I wholeheartedly recommend you do, you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. Besides, as we were asked not to use our mobile devices or take any pictures, I was resigned to taking notes on the back of my e-ticket, with a pen, in the pitch-black darkness of the theater, so I don’t even know how much I’ll be able to make out anyway. Imagine my surprise, when the lights came up and I could actually make out 60% of what I had written:
Yeah, you try taking notes in total darkness on the back of a folded single sheet of paper.
Let’s start with a little bit about the location: Sun-Ray Cinema is located in the hipster-centric neighborhood along the St. John’s river called Five Points. Nestled alongside various craft beer bars, mom & pop coffee shops, and farm to table eateries, the Sun-Ray is a ninety-year-old, one screen theater, renovated, then opened, by Jacksonville native, Tim Massett back in 2011. The small, 200-person venue features a nice blend of first run blockbusters, cult classics, and indie films year round paired with an eclectic menu of non-traditional movie food, craft beer on draft and bottles (purchasable in buckets if you so desire), and a few theater staples like popcorn and boxed candies, of course. The place reminded me a lot of our own little art house theater here in town, The Enzian. Cool vibe, great selection of beer, I partook in a couple of the People’s Pale ale from local brewery, Intuition Ale Works, and although we ate just before the event (more on that story in a second), my wife indulged on some kind of gluten free puffed rice “treat” with dairy free chocolate and peanut butter that I took a hearty bite out of and thoroughly enjoyed.
We only visit Jacksonville a handful of times a year, for our friend’s annual tattoo convention, the occasional Dolphins game (on the rare instances their schedule pits them against Jacksonville’s Jaguars), or any other must-see event that has no other date in our neck of the woods, like the one in question here. We always head out as early as we can because the traffic once you get into downtown Jacksonville is always a headache, and since we both took the day off we hit the road early enough to arrive and grab a bite to eat at a little trendy diner just down the street from the Sun-Ray. We were not there fifteen minutes when the man himself walked in and sat at a table in the corner by himself. Of course, my wife freaked out and immediately wanted to run over there and say hi, but I discouraged her long enough to at least let him finish his meal before heading over. In the meantime, she couldn’t help but take this secret picture:
As we got up to leave, Joe Bob was paying and so we bid him a quick hello, where we had driven from, noticing a leftover piece of rye bread on his plate, asked if he had the patty melt (he actually had the Reuben, but I was close), and told him we’d see him in a bit over at the venue.
Up there with the likes of Pixar and Marvel. Not bad for a redneck from Texas.
We got in line back at the theater and were luckily only ten people back or so when the meet and greet started an hour and a half before show time. We were led into the theater proper where Joe Bob sat behind a table with various wares featuring his likeness. Much like a convention environment, each person placed an order for various goods with a handler/money person as Joe Bob spent more than an adequate amount of time with each fan discussing the likes of film and redneckery among other things. We picked up some fan favorite tees before getting our free selfie. Halfway through the completion of the line, a video presentation consisting of varied country music videos, all of which contained lyrics in the chorus involving the words “redneck,” “country boy,” “country girl,” or “redneck girl,” began to play on the screen while Joe Bob finished out the line. I found it entertaining and appropriate to set the mood. Finally! We were both surprised at how perfectly whoever was in charge had timed the end of the meet and greet line to coincide with the scheduled start time of the main event.
Once he got started, the thing that I really loved is that he began with some Jacksonville specific commentary on rednecks, a little bit about the history of the city and how it is definitely considered The South (and by his standards, the most redneck city in the whole state), and how in fact, a lot of Florida is prime redneck country, with the exception being South Florida, to which I laughed out loud, having lived in Miami for fifteen years. I’m sure Joe Bob spouts out all kinds of info specific to each city he’s lecturing in. I can’t imagine a guy so obsessed with history wouldn’t. But this one little city specific intro lent itself to a feeling of uniqueness that you might not get with your run of the mill comedian just spitting out the same routine night after night or city after city. Even throughout the evening, when a certain film or movie star had some connection to the state of Florida in some way, he would immediately find an attachment to the crowd and our more intimate knowledge of the place.
Then he launched into a lengthy and entertaining history on the Redneck, where they came from, when they got here, how they got their names. Listen, if you’ve read any of my stuff on this site, specifically my Asian Horror series or any of my comic book related stuff, then you’ll know I love to always add a little bit of history to everything I write, just because, that’s what I do. This is what I’ve always loved about Joe Bob: whether it’s about how new technology used in one film became the norm in the future, or how this director liked working with that actor for whatever reason or how Thanksgiving is just a holiday started by a bunch of bigots, Joe Bob is a very learned scholar on all these things. The other thing I always look forward to in any Joe Bob broadcast is his rants. Again, he can wax poetic on the nuisance of gluten and gluten-free products or how whiskey should never taste like mangoes, a rant he went off on for a few minutes when discussing local distillery, Manifest distilling, and their Manifest Whiskey Project. Anyway, I was amazed to find that Rednecks originated from Presbyterians living in the borderlands between Scotland and England in the 1700’s and were then relocated to Ulster, Ireland before they left of their own accord to set up camp in the Appalachians of Pennsylvania. Who would have guessed? Then of course they made their way down south from the mountains and then west into Texas.
Then the history of Rednecks in film was the next topic of discussion, starting with comic strip Li’l Abner, its movie adaptation, then eventual musical in 1959. That craze then led to the three most successful Redneck television shows of the 1960’s, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and Petticoat Junction. There were also a ton of Moonshine movies during that decade as well and this was the part of the night we learned about the accuracy of some actors in their Redneck portrayals like Robert Mitchum in 1958’s Thunder Road, despite their non-hillbilly upbringing. Except for Gary Busey, who apparently had no trouble playing hillbilly-driving racer in 76’s The Gumball Rally, because according to Joe Bob, he’s a Redneck in real life. And so, with the moonshine movies always consisting of some kind of high speed car chase from the law, this then led to the rise of the Redneck car movie, or rather, vehicle movie because apparently there were a string of eighteen-wheeler, tractor trailer Redneck movies all throughout the 70’s, including 1978’s Convoy, based on a hit country song released just a year earlier by C.W. McCall.
Picked up this fan favorite at the meet and greet.
Then it got dark as Joe Bob spoke about the Redneck as a villain and Hollywood’s continuing portrayals of country folk portrayed as inbred, violent, gun toting villains, at the same time distancing itself from any and all other ethnicities or nationalities in the wake of increased sensitivity involving portrayals of other cultures and cultural appropriation, as if the hillbilly had no feelings of their own to speak out on against their own exploitation (or hicks-sploitation as Joe Bob likes to call it). One only need watch Easy Rider, Deliverance, or Pulp Fiction to see where this all began and still continues today.
Then finally, as if taking cue from the reference to Deliverance, Joe Bob ended the evening highlighting the accomplishments of probably the single most famous redneck actor to have graced the silver screen… Burt Reynolds. Although born in Michigan, his family moved to Riviera Beach, Florida when he was around ten years old, then Jupiter, Florida, a small town just north of Palm Beach. But Burt always embraced the roles of the simple country folk he portrayed in films like White Lightning, Stroker Ace, and of course Smokey and the Bandit. Joe Bob was quick to mention that Burt was the only actor to have a number one film for five consecutive years starting with 77’s Bandit. And with that, Joe Bob closed the show with his favorite scene from that very movie.
So though not a mention of a single horror film, aside from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, because c’mon, everything about that movie says Redneck, a fun time was still had by all. Our seven o’clock show had sold out months ago, so we had to leave the theater pretty fast in order for them to get the second ten o’clock show rolling. Through the long ride home, we recounted some of the evening’s best lines and what we loved most about the whole thing. Both agreeing that the long ride and budget ticket price were well worth the whole experience. Again, I really only but scratched the surface here of what was covered throughout the course of the night. Was it really about how Rednecks save Hollywood? I don’t think so, although Joe Bob did point out two large film franchises that made the studios a ton of money. But rather, it was a celebration of the Redneck on film and how this one character trope paved the way for so many sub-genres, rolls, series, careers, etc. I repeat, if you get a chance to catch this presentation in your hometown, or even a few towns over, it would behoove you not to treat yourself. I guarantee you’ll have a ball, no matter what type of cinephile you happen to be.
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