SWAMP COUNTRY (1966) *

Dave (Dave DaLie) is passing through the Okefenokee and stops to spend the night at a motel.  He finds the woman in the room next door strangled to death, and he is predictably wrongfully accused of murder.  Dave quickly takes off into the swamps and is pursued by sheriff Rex Allen.  Along the way, he bumps into a local girl (Carolyn Gilbert) who agrees to help him nab the real killer and clear his name.

There’s a lot of other subplots that gum up the works.  We also have to deal with a running feud between a mother and daughter (who look about the same age) and endless scenes of the sheriff’s love life, as well as some business with an unsavory gangster.  The scenes of DaLie struggling to survive in the swamp should’ve been the main thrust of the story.  I mean he saves a man from a grizzly bear, rescues a little girl from a panther, and almost gets bit by a snake.  This stuff should’ve taken center stage.  However, director Robert Patrick seems to rush through this stuff.  It’s almost as if he couldn’t wait to get back to the various love triangles and family squabbling.  All this shit really does is bring the movie down.  Heck, the long stretches of people slowly slogging through the swamp are preferable to much of the human drama in the film.

For a low budget, homegrown hicksploitation picture, Swamp Country has a pretty good cast.  In addition to Allen, we also have Lyle (Wonder Woman) Waggoner making his film debut as the deputy.  The best performance though is by Baker Knight (the songwriter responsible for “Lonesome Town”) in his only acting role, who sings a couple of songs in a Johnny Cash-type drawl.  His songs are pretty much the best thing about the movie, which is odd when you consider they’re only there to pad out the running time.