{{Short description|1974 American independent film directed by Richard Compton}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = Macon County Line | image = Film_Poster_for_Macon_County_Line.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster | director = Richard Compton | producer = Max Baer Jr.<br>Roger Camras<br>{{small|(executive producer)}}<br>Richard Franchot<br>{{small|(associate producer)}} | writer = Max Baer Jr.<br />Richard Compton | narrator = | starring = Alan Vint<br>Jesse Vint<br>Cheryl Waters<br>Max Baer Jr.<br>Geoffrey Lewis<br>Joan Blackman<br>Leif Garrett<br>James Gammon<br>Timothy Scott<br>Sam Gilman | music = Stu Phillips | cinematography = Daniel Lacambre | editing = Tina Hirsch | distributor = American International Pictures | released = {{Film date|1974|08|08}} | runtime = 89 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $225,000 | gross = $30 million<ref name="dvdtalk"/><br>$9.1 million<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/americanfilmdist0000dona/page/300/mode/1up|title= American film distribution : the changing marketplace|last=Donahue|first= Suzanne Mary|year=1987 |publisher=UMI Research Press |page=300}} Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada</ref> }} '''''Macon County Line''''' is a 1974 American independent film directed by Richard Compton and produced by Max Baer Jr. Baer and Compton also co-wrote the film, in which Baer stars as a vengeful county sheriff in Georgia out for blood after his wife is brutally killed by a pair of drifters.
The $225,000 film reportedly became the most profitable film of 1974 (in cost-to-gross ratio), earning $18.8 million in North America<ref name="numbers">[http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1974/0MCCL.php Macon County Line, Box Office Information.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413225022/http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1974/0MCCL.php |date=2012-04-13}} The Numbers. Retrieved July 7, 2012.</ref> and over $30 million worldwide.<ref name="dvdtalk">{{cite web | last = Mavis | first = Paul | author-link = | title = DVDTalk.com Macon County Line Review | publisher = | date = 6 May 2008 | url = http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/33142/macon-county-line/ | format = | doi = | access-date = 23 May 2012 | archive-date = 30 August 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110830103119/http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/33142/macon-county-line/ | url-status = live }}</ref>
The film is docudrama in tone. Though it was presented as "a true story" to attract a wider audience'','' the plot and characters are entirely fictional.<ref name="Macon County Line 1973">{{cite video | people = Richard Compton | title = Macon County Line (1973) | medium = DVD | publisher = Anchor Bay | date = 2000}}</ref>
==Plot== In 1954 Macon County, Georgia, brothers Chris (Alan Vint) and Wayne Dixon (Jesse Vint) from Chicago are on a two-week spree of cheap thrills throughout the South before their upcoming stint in the Air Force. Wayne entered the service when Chris was given the option of military duty in lieu of prison as the result of an earlier episode with the law. Driving through Louisiana, the brothers pick up hitchhiker Jenny Scott (Cheryl Waters), a pretty blond with a shady backstory that she would rather not discuss.
Meanwhile, local backwater town sheriff Reed Morgan (Baer) is preparing to bring his son Luke (Leif Garrett) home from military school. Hunting season begins the next day and he buys Luke a new shotgun. When Chris, Jenny and Wayne experience car trouble, they must wait in Sheriff Morgan's town. Unable to repair the car themselves, they scrape together enough money to get it patched up by garage owner Hamp (Geoffrey Lewis).
Waiting at the garage, they are informally threatened by Morgan, who says they could be picked up for vagrancy if they decide to stick around. Not interested in trouble, the brothers and Jenny head out once their car is running, but after another breakdown, they take refuge in Morgan's barn. Inside the house, Morgan's wife is brutally raped and murdered by two men who then kill a cop when pulled over. When Morgan returns home to find his wife dead, he pursues Chris, Wayne and Jenny, believing they must have been responsible. There is a running firefight during the chase.
With Wayne and Jenny holed up in a boat hiding from Morgan, Chris sneaks out to try to start the boat's motor. A gunshot is heard, and Wayne and Jenny fear that Chris has been killed. Young Luke Morgan then enters the boat's cabin and shoots Wayne and Jenny. It is revealed that Morgan was killed during the firefight. Afterwards, a wounded Chris comes back to the boat to find his friends killed, and Luke being held by another policeman. The last scene is Chris in his car, finally repaired by Hamp, with the locals and police then watching him leave. The epilogue shows that Chris became a master sergeant in the Air Force, with a wife and three children. Luke spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital.
==Production notes== While the poster advertising the film included the tagline "It shouldn't have happened. It couldn't have happened. But it did," and the title card states that it is a true story (and several reviewers have stated the same), director Richard Compton and producer Max Baer have said that they wrote the original story without any basis in historic events.<ref name="Macon County Line 1973"/><ref name="Macon County Line">James Newman. "[http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue09/reviews/maconcountyline Macon County Line] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509142233/http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue09/reviews/maconcountyline/ |date=2008-05-09}} ", imagesjournal.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-29.</ref> The film is one of several so-called "drive-in" films that were presented as true stories (à la 1972's ''The Legend of Boggy Creek'', 1974's ''The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'', and 1976's ''Jackson County Jail'' and ''The Town That Dreaded Sundown''). In each case, most, if not all, of what was portrayed on screen was fictional (with the exception of ''The Town That Dreaded Sundown'', which was inspired by the Texarkana Moonlight Murders of 1946).
Alan Vint and Jesse Vint, who played brothers Chris and Wayne Dixon onscreen, are brothers.
==Reception== The film earned $10 million in rentals in North America.<ref>"All-time Film Rental Champs", ''Variety'', 7 January 1976 p 44</ref>
The film's critical reception was mixed. ''Macon County Line'' holds a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on eight reviews.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/macon_county_line |title=Macon County Line |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=April 4, 2024}}</ref>
==Home video releases== Anchor Bay released the film on both VHS and DVD in February 2000. The Anchor Bay DVD release included an audio commentary with director Richard Compton and the featurette, ''Macon County Line – 25 Years Down the Road.'' Both the VHS and DVD have been out of print since 2007.
The Warner Home Video DVD was issued on May 6, 2008. It uses the same transfer from the 2000 DVD release and is single-layered including subtitles - with no extra features.<ref name="Macon County Line"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/33142/macon-county-line/ |title=Macon County Line: Review |last=Mavis |first=Paul |date=May 6, 2008 |website=dvdtalk.com |access-date=23 May 2012 |archive-date=August 30, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830103119/http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/33142/macon-county-line/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
The film was released on Blu-ray disc by Shout! Factory on January 16, 2018.<ref>{{Citation|title=Macon County Line Blu-ray|url=http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Macon-County-Line-Blu-ray/190432/|access-date=2018-05-21|archive-date=2018-05-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522111446/http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Macon-County-Line-Blu-ray/190432/|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Legacy== Richard Compton directed the film ''Return to Macon County,'' released theatrically in 1975. Despite its title, the film is not a sequel, although it loosely follows a similar plot of mistaken identity.
==See also== * List of American films of 1974
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == *{{IMDb title|0071788|Macon County Line}} * [https://www.nytimes.com/1975/01/16/archives/screen-macon-county-line-arrives.html Screen: ''Macon County Line'' Arrives] by Vincent Canby, ''The New York Times'' (January 16, 1975)
Category:1974 films Category:1970s action drama films Category:American action drama films Category:American International Pictures films Category:Films set in 1954 Category:Films set in Texas Category:Films shot in California Category:Southern Gothic films Category:1974 drama films Category:Films scored by Stu Phillips Category:Films directed by Richard Compton Category:1974 English-language films Category:1974 American films Category:English-language action drama films Category:Macon County, Georgia