The Legend of Hillbilly John (1974)

Boring

An Exercise In Nonsense

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I remember seeing "The Legend of Hillbilly John", in my 8th grade year. I went, primarily, to see the "Ugly-Bird", a stop-motion animated creature that promised that the film could be a great ride. I believe that the animated special effects were done by Gene Warren, who would later helm the effects in the fondly remembered Saturday morning opus; "Land of the Lost". Silver John is able to destroy the creature by hitting it with his guitar, one strung with pure silver strings, the only weapon to defeat the Devil( according to this film ). It strongly reminds me of "Equinox" in places, a similar, occult/adventure flick, but "John" is much more a spiritual journey, more akin to "The Silent Flute'(aka; Circle of Iron).

I have seen this movie and consider it a gem. I am a fan of Manly Wade Wellman's fiction and found the portrayal of Silver John to be "dead on". Definitely a movie that deserves a release on DVD. While the budget was low, the emphasis on a real and genuine portrayal of Silver John was there. I found this movie to be well acted and genuine...definitely something that people today need to see, given the sorry state of cinema. I saw this film in the early 1980's. It had been released on video tape and a friend, a collector of rare movies, told me I needed to watch it. I had never heard of Manly Wade Wellman, but I instantly became a fan after seeing this movie. That should be incentive enough for anyone to at least want to watch this movie.

Hampered by a tiny budget and a lack of subtlety, Hillbilly John does an earnest job of bringing Manly Wade Wellman's silver-stringed guitar hero's adventures to the screen. Nice use of music by Hoyt Axton and some effective moments in two of the stories directly adapted from Wellman's fantasies. The last third of the film departs from its source material and grows tiresome. Definitely good enough to justify someone releasing it on DVD.

A dark magical fantasy based on several of Manly Wade Wellman's stories about a guitar player who wanders across the rural American Southeast, confronting evil magicians, monsters, and perhaps the Devil himself.The special effects are of only medium quality, even for 1973, and I can only suggest looking past them to the down-home, country-flavored fairy tale being told, woven together from fireside stories and folk traditions Wellman heard and adapted.It's always hard to put on film what a poetic writer has described - the charm and mystery of Wellman's beloved Carolinan countryside, the old-fashioned courtesies and customs of the mountain people - and this movie does not quite succeed, perhaps because it did not really try. The magical creatures are put in the foreground, and the setting (Wellman's true love) is made a generic Southern backdrop. John in the book is a devout Christian (more, he might could be a friend of Christ); John in the movie is darkly hinted to be a son of the Devil.My own enjoyment of this movie was very mixed: I felt frustrated by how often and how far the movie fell short of the books, and tantalized more by what the movie *could* have been than by what it *was*, but I'm glad I didn't miss seeing it.If you also enjoyed the movie and want to see more of the character, read Wellman's "Silver John" books: "Who Fears the Devil?" (or "John the Balladeer"), "The Old Gods Waken", "After Dark", "The Lost and the Lurking", "The Hanging Stones", and "The Voice of the Mountain". There are also Wellman fan sites on the Web.