The Calico Rock Museum and Visitors Center is searching for photographs, props, stories, or any item connected with the filming of the 1974 movie “Bootleggers.” The search is in preparation for Bootlegger Daze set for May 14 in the Izard County community.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas website notes the 115-minute film was shot on location near Calico Rock. Charles B. Pierce’s “Bootleggers” was later re-released as “Deadeye Dewey and the Arkansas Kid” and again as “The Bootlegger’s Angel.”
It chronicles two feuding families of bootleggers, the Pruitts and the Woodalls, in rural Arkansas during the 1930s. Its original poster contained the tagline “Revenge, Love and Liquid Dynamite!”
Significant is the billing of two of its minor cast members: “Introducing Jaclyn Smith” followed by “AND Slim Pickens.”
Variously categorized as an action/adventure, a revenge drama and a period comedy, the low-budget movie earned more than $4 million at the box office.
The Calico Rock Museum and Visitors Center social media post notes The Bootleggers was Smith’s first starring role, two years before Charlie’s Angels made her famous.
Pickens, already famous, gave the film credibility. And, the cinematographer went on to film The Silence of the Lambs but got his start in Calico Rock.
The museum is asking for help in telling the story of the only major motion picture filmed in the Calico Rock community.
Help museum officials by calling 870-297-6100 and sharing items or stories connected to the movie.
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