Macon County Line

One of the most profitable independent films ever made relative to its cost, and nastier than its reputation. Two brothers and a hitchhiker run afoul of a Southern deputy who wrongly blames them for his wife's murder, and the film builds to a grim, unfair reckoning. It claims to be based on a true story, which it mostly is not.

Max Baer Jr, of all people, produced, co-wrote and stars as the vengeful lawman, and the sense of dread as the misunderstanding curdles into violence is genuine. The ending offers no comfort.

A bleak, effective drive-in hit that punches above its budget.