White Lightning

Bobby "Gator" McKlusky is serving time in an Arkansas prison for bootlegging when he learns that his younger brother was killed by J.C. Connors, a corrupt local sheriff. Federal agents offer Gator a way out of his sentence if he will inform on his former partners in the moonshine trade, and he accepts, though his own motive goes beyond the deal: he intends to gather evidence against Connors and settle the score. Working with another informant and a reckless driver, he sets out to expose the sheriff while staying ahead of the men who want him silenced.

Joseph Sargent directed the film, released in August 1973, from a screenplay by William W. Norton. It sits between his earlier Colossus: The Forbin Project and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, among the ten features listed for him. Burt Reynolds plays Gator, with Jennifer Billingsley, Ned Beatty as Sheriff Connors, Bo Hopkins, Matt Clark and Louise Latham in supporting roles; the production credits 26 cast members and 51 crew, and it was made by United Artists with Levy-Gardner-Laven.

The film holds an IMDb rating of 6.4 from roughly 6,600 votes and a TMDB rating of 6.1 from 118 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 5.7 from nine reviews, so audience and critical responses land in similar territory.