Throwback Movie Review
The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
Director:Julien Nitzberg

So every other week I’ll be doing a “Throwback Movie Review.” This means obviously that the movies that I’ll be reviewing on these weeks will be movies that you can go out and rent yourself.

This week I reviewed a documentary that was produced by Johnny Knoxville, “The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia.” Now don’t let the name of the film fool you, this is about a family of mountain tap dancing, “rebels,” so to speak, from West Virginia. The movie takes place in the family’s home turf and follows all of the Whites around, including Jesco White, the most famous White, who was the subject of his own PBS special in 1991 titled “The Dancing Outlaw.” To say that this is the most MESSED up family that I’ve ever witness would somehow be an understatement. I mean, this family makes my family look like the Brady Bunch, which, is not an easy task. Their lives are constantly teetering on the brink of insanity, from extreme and explicit drug use to tales of near-fatal attacks on people they call family. The music that twangs in the background is almost unbearable, and complete with cutscenes of Hank III (Grandson of country music legend, Hank Williams and son of Hank Williams Jr.) performing while Jesco White mountain tap dances to the beat. Honestly though as bad as the music is the movie wouldn’t be the same without it. This is a dive in to Hillbilly/Whitetrash USA, so don’t be surprised if your wearing flannel by the end of the movie. Even if you dont like documentaries, I implore you to give this one a shot, no pun intended.

 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ysuG2O0zw[/youtube]

 

 

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