White Lightning
Directed by Mark Anders
WHITE LIGHTNING is a gritty, funny, and uniquely American story about second chances, legacy, and what it takes to outrun your past. This feature-length documentary follows 18-year-old sprinter King Combest as he attempts to break his father’s 25-year-old national high school record–and the cycle of drugs, jail, and poverty that has shaped his Kentucky family for generations. King’s father Casey (aka “White… From TMDB
68 reactions from 2 sources (Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Oct 21, 2026 · last updated Oct 23, 2026 · How this works
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| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky * | 12 | 2 | 43 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 10 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
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Reactions
60 of 68 · most liked firstBack in the 70s, the BBC felt that Burt Reynolds in White Lightning was worth screening on national tv 4 times in 7 years; it's peak Burt, a credible lead long before he became a parody of himself. Corrupt sheriffs, good-old boys and car chases delivered-4 out of 5 film-authority.com/2026/06/18/w...
neutral · AI labelView post →I could be watching a good movie, but I'm looking at lobby cards for WHITE LIGHTNING (1953), a lost hockey movie made by Allied Artist/Monogram instead.
neutral · AI labelView post →Coming Jan 8th from @imprintfilms.bsky.social! This stacked Burt Reynolds box, featuring: --the greatest drive-in film ever (WHITE LIGHTNING--with a new commentary track by me); --a shockingly moody neo-noir (HUSTLE); --and pure Burtspoiltation action (GATOR). viavision.com.au/shop/film-fo...
neutral · AI labelView post →Burt Reynolds’ birthday. His 1973 film “White Lightning” was filmed in Arkansas. One of our Hendrix College professors* is in a few scenes as one of the police handlers for Reynolds’ “Gator” character. *Bob Meriwether
neutral · AI labelView post →Incredible how much more dark and less funny this movie is compared to Smokey and the Bandit; which reunited Reynolds and Reed. I loved it as a kid and decided to add it to the collection. I had no idea that this is a sequel to White Lightning, so I'll be getting that next. #filmsky #burtreynolds
positive · AI labelView post →It’s Burt’s birthday. Cop this Burt Reynolds box set from @imprintfilms.bsky.social—it features WHITE LIGHTNING, HUSTLE, GATOR, & the doc I AM BURT REYNOLDS, with commentaries & essays by @oneblakeminute.bsky.social, @patrickbromley.bsky.social, me, & more. YEEHAW: viavision.com.au/shop/film-fo...
neutral · AI labelView post →I’m so thrilled to provide the commentary track to my favorite drive-in movie of all time—WHITE LIGHTNING—for this *stacked* Burt Reynolds box set from Imprint Films, which also featurs the fantastic neo-noir HUSTLE and GATOR. Drops in January. US preorder here: www.orbitdvd.com/products/pre...
neutral · AI labelView post →IMPRINT COMPANION IS BACK at @ohmpods.bsky.social. Special guest @aheartofgould.bsky.social and I team up to unbox, Film Focus: Burt Reynolds (1973 – 1976) – Imprint Collection #374 – 376 (audio commentary by Travis on WHITE LIGHTNING and video essay by me on HUSTLE) open.spotify.com/episode/3c4F...
neutral · AI labelView post →They would watch “White Lightning” on VHS in our dorm lobby and invite Prof. Meriwether for the “Bob Meriwether Film Festival.” Good times.
neutral · AI labelView post →Worth noting that director Joseph Sargent also gave us Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), White Lightning (1973), and Jaws: The Revenge (1987).
neutral · AI labelView post →Now watching: White Lightning (1971) Gotta watch White Lightning (1971) if you’ve want any hope of understanding Gator (1976), the complex masterpiece that is it’s sequel.
neutral · AI labelView post →There is a BEVERLY HILLS COP/BEVERLY HILLS COP II thing going on with WHITE LIGHTNING/GATOR. Reynolds (like Murphy) became a bonafide movie star. Results in a sequel that’s more polished & more slight, with the star doing a calculated version of themselves & not the character from the first film.
neutral · AI labelView post →Not quite Hippy-sploitation but definitely the right era for it #ImpromptuTheater #WhiteLightning
neutral · AI labelView post →The whole “wait 30mins after eating to swim” is a myth but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t mean you should eat while swimming 🤢 #ImpromptuTheater #WhiteLightning
neutral · AI labelView post →That officer would never survive a single game of Wordle #ImpromptuTheater #WhiteLightning
neutral · AI labelView post →They couldn’t make “White Lightning” today b/c of the lack of brown cars and the ubiquity of antiperspirants #ImpromptuTheater #WhiteLightning
neutral · AI labelView post →This is one of the sweatiest movies I’ve ever seen #ImpromptuTheater #WhiteLightning
positive · AI labelView post →Posters for “White Lightning” from The USA, Japan, Germany and France #ImpromptuTheater #WhiteLightning #FilmNoir
neutral · AI labelView post →Favorite lesser-known film that starts with the letter "W" #FilmSky WHITE LIGHTNING (1973)
neutral · AI labelView post →I love both equally. I agree White Lightning is a "better" movie but Gator ups the trash quotient and that appeals to me.
positive · AI labelView post →The drive movie screen would show car motive features. All on grainy film. Things like: Christine. The Car. The Wraith. White Lightning. Vanishing Point. Mad Max 1 & 2. Dirty Mary Crazy Larry. Etc And we take requests.
neutral · AI labelView post →RE: https://mastodon.social/@rsmon77/116084299410123195 Concept: Gator reproduces asexually #ImpromptuTheater #Gator #WhiteLightning
neutral · AI labelView post →*mouth harp intensifies* #ImpromptuTheater #WhiteLightning
neutral · AI labelView post →Jennifer Billingsley in “White Lightning” (1973) (Also pictured: mustache-less Burt Reynolds) #ImpromptuTheater #WhiteLightning #JenniferBillingsley
neutral · AI labelView post →Watched "White Lightning". Basically a very sweaty car chase film (70s style, so not very exciting) and... that's it, really. Not a lot else here. It's OK, the acting's good enough to keep watching, but it's not gonna make anyone's must-watch list. #filmsky www.imdb.com/title/tt0070...
neutral · AI labelView post →My Favorite Movie Right Now: White Lightning (1973) Studio bosses are afraid to delve into regional cultures anymore. It’s almost like they’re a bunch of MBAs who don’t understand human connection. Also the car jump at the end is badass. What’s yours? #filmsky #scriptsky #cinema
positive · AI labelView post →I named her after Burt Reynolds' character Gator McKlusky from the movie White Lightning. A moonshiner who skirts the law.
neutral · AI labelView post →WHITE LIGHTNING 1973 is a sweaty humid southern action film with Burt Reynolds pre-mustache as magnetic as can be and his character’s own dad finds it unforgivable that he might talk to the FEDS as part of plan to avenge his brother’s death. Ned Beatty is 💯 as a very bad guy
positive · AI labelView post →Don’t be silly, we all know the greatest movie of the 1970s is WHITE LIGHTNING
positive · AI labelView post →I always enjoyed his earlier movies best—Deliverance, White Lightning, and The Longest Yard—where he played himself. Even if The Longest Yard was his transitional movie which led to the very likable Smokey and the Bandit. Unfortunately, that one led to a LOT of lazy and very sloppy movie-making.
neutral · AI labelView post →WHITE LIGHTNING '73, a top 5 Burt but more importantly a contender for sweatiest movie in the history of motion pictures. You can smell RG Armstrong.
positive · AI labelView post →Yes 🙌🏼 I agree! I think his best dramatic work was in Deliverance, but unfortunately then, as now, the more lucrative path lay in formulaic dreck like the aforementioned “good ol boy pics.” Done once in White Lightning that’s cool, done ad nauseum in all the rest bleach. The “Scary Movie” syndrome. 😡
neutral · AI labelView post →Beautiful, but it looks like the start of the 1973 Burt Reynolds movie, “White Lightning.”
neutral · AI labelView post →Next up NIGHTMARES (1983) Director Joseph Sargent who also directed WHITE LIGHTNING, a movie I love so hoping I love this, too.
positive · AI labelView post →On this day in movie history: White Lightning directed by Joseph Sargent released August 8, 1973. Cast: Burt Reynolds, Jennifer Billingsley, Ned Beatty, Bo Hopkins, Matt Clark, Louise Latham, Diane Ladd, R.G. Armstrong, Conlan Carter, Dabbs Greer, Lincoln Demyan, John Steadman, Iris Korn. #Noir
neutral · AI labelView post →Reactions?? If you haven't seen American Graffiti, it is well worth watching. A car is important to Badlands, which is a great film. There's also Two-Lane Blacktop and The Driver. For B-movies: White Lightning is underrated.
neutral · AI labelView post →Starting off tonight’s comfort movie with White Lightning… because fuck the man.
positive · AI labelView post →The sweatiest movie I can think of: White Lightning. Young Burt Reynolds up against the corrupt small town sheriff- Ned Beatty!
positive · AI labelView post →The script for BIG BAD MAMA was written by William Norton, who wrote the Burt Reynolds films SAM WHISKEY (1968) (with Dickinson) & WHITE LIGHTNING (1973). This was after New World's story editor Frances Doel wrote an initial draft she was so embarrassed by, she told Norton a film student did it.
neutral · AI labelView post →Films I watched yesterday! WHITE LIGHTNING (1973) 🍺🛻 LEPRECHAUN: BACK 2 THA HOOD (2003) 🍀 SUPER-RABBIT (1943) 🐰🦸 [Short film] HARE RIBBIN' (1944) 🐰🧜♀️ [Short film]
neutral · AI labelView post →This is gonna sound really silly, stupid and nerdy but from the time I first saw at nine years old the 1971 Ford Custom 500 Burt Reynolds drove in what I believe to be one of his best flicks, it’s always been one of those four door sedans I’ve always wanted to have. #MoviesOfMastodon #WhiteLightning #TurnerClassicMovies #CarsOfMastodon #Badassery #429
neutral · AI labelView post →I’m watching White Lightning and thinking a whole lot about how well Walton Goggins would fit into this movie.
neutral · AI labelView post →I read that, early on, Spielberg was preparing for White Lightning to be his first proper movie. Don’t know how long he was attached. Also it starts off deadly serious and gets much lighter in tone by the end. Whereas Gator starts off as a comedy and takes a sudden nasty turn and stays with tough.
neutral · AI labelView post →White Lightning is probably the sweatiest movie I have ever seen. Like, everyone is literally dripping the entire time.
negative · AI labelView post →Having an accidental Diane Ladd Film Festival over here tonight. Started with 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore' and continuing with 'White Lightning.' Also noticing how much 'Smokey & The Bandit' lifted directly from 'White Lightning.'
neutral · AI labelView post →25 August 1976 Gator, starring Burt Reynolds, premiered Reynolds also directed the film, which was a sequel to his 1973 movie “White Lightning.” #History #HistoryMatters
neutral · AI labelView post →Now watching: White Lightning
neutral · AI labelView post →@willmckinley.bsky.social Music/movie birthday. Byron Berline 1940-2021. Bluegrass fiddler played on the films Sometimes a Great Notion (1971), White Lightning (1973).
neutral · AI labelView post →I got about 15 minutes into White Lightning (A film I understood Burt Reynolds to have a starring role in) without recognizing Burt Reynolds. Has there ever been a more enduring bit of personal branding than Burt’s mustache?
neutral · AI labelView post →I think my boyfriend has seen this about 471 times. He would never admit it. It might be more. I like it too. My favorite Burt Reynolds movie is White Lightning.
positive · AI labelView post →#impromptutheater This movie has been referenced on the show ARCHER as Sterling Archer’s favorite movie (although he seems to mistake parts of this for WHITE LIGHTNING).
neutral · AI labelView post →This Monday at 9 PM Pacific, join #ImpromptuTheater for WHITE LIGHTNING! A convict is released to find who murdered his brother, and finds a town full of corruption! You can find the movie on Tubi and MGM+!
neutral · AI labelView post →Grab some #WhiteLightning and join #ImpromptuTheater tonight RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bhlaypj3itdyeoianu4wesi4/post/3mdwr34lj7224
neutral · AI labelView post →The (movie) White Lightning (HD) is available today on (iTunes)(US) for $4.99 Cast: Burt Reynolds, Jennifer Billingsley, Ned Beatty, Bo Hopkins, Matt Clark, Louise Latham Genre: (Action) Trailer & Reviews : www.rottentomatoes.com/m/white_ligh...
neutral · AI labelView post →Like the opposite end of the Burt Reynolds horseshoe from Bandit! Love this movie; White Lightning is a real great watch, too! 😁👍🎞
positive · AI labelView post →Wait, the country is at breaking point, anything could tip us over into perma-riots, it’s a tinderbox, IT COULD BLOW UP AT ANY MINUTE! Oh, no, sorry, that’s was a made up film I saw once, in my head, while I was tripping off my tits on White Lightning and Spice. As you were.
neutral · AI labelView post →Performative bullshit meant to protect Cheeto Jesus and his lawlessness "in the name of the law"... This guy is another J.C. Connor clown... Watch the movie White Lightning from 1973
neutral · AI labelView post →48. Gator (1976) Burt Reynolds stars and directs this sequel to White Lightning (which Spielberg was gonna direct as his 1st film!). Some shots (involving helicopters) and some stunts would no longer be possible! Gator takes on his friend who runs a town. Enjoyable film. 8/10 #filmsky
neutral · AI labelView post →Johnny WHITE Lightning '71 Mustang Movie Diamonds are Forever 1:64 Scale Diecast
neutral · AI labelView post →The (movie) White Lightning (HD) is available today on (iTunes)(Germany) for €4.99 Cast: Burt Reynolds, Jennifer Billingsley, Ned Beatty, Bo Hopkins, Matt Clark, Louise Latham Genre: (Action) Trailer & Reviews : www.rottentomatoes.com/m/white_ligh...
neutral · AI labelView post →
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