Whether it’s in movies or everyday life, rednecks generally get a bad wrap. In terms of cinema, bucktoothed yokels can blame films like Deliverance, the disturbing 1972 thriller in which a despicable country dude makes Ned Beatty squeal like a piggy as he sodomizes him from behind. Yeah, an image as heinous as that could certainly sully a reputation or two.
Fortunately, we’re here to help out our (possibly inbred) brothers in all the backwoods across the country. With today’s release of the gritty, violent, John Hillcoat-directed Lawless, it’s as good a time as any to point out that both film and television have given pop culture junkies plenty of badass bumpkins over the years.
Lawless, in fact, introduces us to three of them: the bootlegging, gun-toting, seemingly invincible Bondurant brothers, played by Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, and Jason Clarke. When they’re not romancing the prettiest ladies in Franklin County, Virginia, the rugged siblings, all of whom really existed during the Prohibition and were immortalized in Matt Bondurant’s 2008 historical novel The Wettest County in the World, are busting shots at corrupt lawmen and defending their legacy.
Inspired by Lawless, we’ve put down the moonshine momentarily to rank The 10 Coolest Hicks In Movies And TV. The days of squealing like oinkers are officially of the past.
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Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone) and Jason Serafino (@Serafinoj1)