29 Nov 2017

The Gator McKlusky duology (USA, 1973 & 1976)

The Gator McKlusky duology : two films starring Burt Reynolds wherein he played a character named Gator McKlusky. They are White Lightning (1973) and Gator (1976)...

White Lightning (USA, 1973)
Director: Joseph Sargent.  Starring: Burt Reynolds, Jennifer Billingsley, Ned Beatty, Bo Hopkins...

Skeeter (Gator's grandpa) plays a Rack-A-Ball (Gottlieb, 1962) on the porch of the family home...

There are flippers, but he doesn't seem to use them much, preferring to nudge the machine like in the days before flippers.

Skeeter: Just can't beat one of these Sears-Roebuck pinball machines, no siree!
Sheriff Connors: You gotta hit the flippers there once a while.
Skeeter: I hit the flippers all the time!



Sears-Roebuck may possibly have distributed Gottlieb pinball machines. The only info I could find on this is that they sold a bagatelle table called "Happi Time" in the 1930s.

Gator  (USA, 1976)
Director: Burt Reynolds.  Starring:  Burt Reynolds, Jack Weston, Lauren Hutton, Jerry Reed...

Scene 1: Southside Shuffle Disco... Jerry Reed goes in to collect his protection money and we can spot a couple of pinball machines in the background: on the left is a Pot 'O' Gold (Williams, 1965)  [although the cabinet might not be right.] On the right is a Playtime (Chicago Coin, 1968)...

On the right of the image, there seems to be an arcade game, which at the time would likely be a car-racing type or a rifle/shooting type?

Scene 2: Hard-Hearted Hannah's.  Reed shows Reynolds the ropes on collection. We can spot an animal-themed pitch & bat game,  Target Gallery (Midway, 1962).

Not getting the results he wanted, i.e. cash, Reed decides to take out the place's Wurlitzer 3700 - Americana jukebox (Wurlitzer, 1972/73)...



3 comments:

  1. Are you aware of any white lightning themed pinball machines after that movie came out. Btwy I had always wondered if that was a real Sears and Roebuck. lol

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    1. Sorry for the delay... this blog has been inactive for a while and I never got any notifications re comments. No, I am not aware of any such themed machines. Not even a "Smokey and the Bandit" which was probably a way more popular Reynolds movie.

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    2. Ha! I just stumbled upon this... a rifle/shooter arcade game called "White Lightning", which has nothing to do with the movie. It was made in 1970 by Midway, and it has a moonshiner theme... http://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/wlight.htm

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