FFB: The Moonshine War

Elmore Leonard (1925-2013) penned dozens of novels and a large number of stories, garnered many awards and had his work adapted for film and television, including the series Justified, formerly part of the FX Network lineup. As I mentioned in a recent Media Murder for Monday post, Justified executive producers Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman are returning to the literary creations of the author, optioning three of the late author’s praised Detroit novels, Unknown Man #89, Pagan Babies, and Mr. Paradise,

Leonard's 1969 novel, The Moonshine War, had a subject of peculiar interest to me. Prejudice can take many forms, and I will never forget my trip to New York City some years ago when I was around 13, and a taxi driver, upon learning I was from Tennessee, sincerely wanted to know if I had a moonshine still in my back yard (and if we went barefoot a lot, but that's another story.) Moonshine holds a certain fascination with many people to this day, as evidenced by the recent Moonshiners reality-TV show on Discovery. Of course, you can buy moonshine legally these days, and there are several distilleries in East Tennessee now.

The "war" of the book's title refers to the days of Prohibition in the back hills of Kentucky that pits a hell-raising country boy named Son Martin against a gang of city slickers hoping to to steal thousands of dollars worth of homemade whiskey made by Son's father. The gang is hired by Son's old war buddy, Frank Long, now a crooked prohibition agent, who was willing to look the other way in exchange for a percentage of Son's business. But when Son wouldn't play ball, Long called in the big guns in the form of Dr. Taulbee, who is not afraid to use violent methods such as busting up the stills of Son's neighbors. But after Taulbee and his goons go too far by committing a double murder, Long decides to help Son fend off the gang.

The Moonshire War is something of a crossbreed between Leonard's westerns and his crime fiction, but it has Leonard's trademark tough outlaws, sharp dialogue, twist ending, and he sets up the stakes in a concise, sharp way:

"People did crazy things where whiskey was concerned. It being against the law to drink wasn't going to stop anybody. They'd fight and shoot each other and go to prison and die for it..."

Like many of Leonard's books and stories, The Moonshire War was adapted to the screen in the form of a star-studded 1970 movie directed by Richard Quine with Alan Alda as Son Martin (!), Patrick McGoohan as Frank Long, and Richard Widmark as Dr. Taulbee.

Comments

[Mathew Paust]

Alan Alda v. Richard Widmark, ooooweee!
Bad as John Boy v. Jack Palance.

[BV Lawson]

I know, what a casting! I definitely have to look this one up.

[George Kelley]

I remember reading THE MOONSHINE WAR (and enjoying the movie) many years ago. Elmore Leonard wrote many good books and this novel is one of them.

[BV Lawson]

I'd be interested in hearing your take on the movie adaptation, George. I couldn't find what Leonard thought about it, but that would have been fun.