Eddie Macon’s Run Blu Ray Review (Mill Creek Entertainment)

Eddie Macon’s Run is a 1983 thriller film written, edited, & directed by Jeff Kanew (Revenge of the Nerds, Tough Guys, V.I. Warshawski, & Troop Beverly Hills). It’s based on the 1980 novel by James McLendon. It was produced by Martin Bregman (Scarface, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, Sea of Love, & Carlito’s Way). Eddie Macon (played by: John Schneider from The Dukes of Hazzard, Smallville, The Curse, Cocaine Wars, & Lake Placid 2) escapes from prison. Macon is a man that has relocated from Florida to Texas in order to better provide for his wife (played by: Leah Ayres from The Burning, Bloodsport, All That Jazz, & The Player) & young son who suffers from a blood disorder. His temper leads him into a few minor infractions that land him in jail. After an unsuccessful escape attempt, he finds himself with an excessively harsh prison sentence in light of his original offenses.Feeling that they are facing injustice, Macon & his wife Chris put together an elaborate escape plan. After initially becoming involved with the prison rodeo & stowing away in a cattle truck in a cross-country run across the Texas wilderness in an attempt to reach the U.S. – Mexico border in Laredo where he plans permanent escape to south of the border.

He is being chased & hunted down by by Marzack (played by: Kirk Douglas from Spartacus, Paths of Glory, Greedy, & The Fury). He has already re-captured Macon once before. Macon is captured & nearly hanged by a dysfunctional ranching family known as the Potts. The Potts consists of Daryl (played by: Tom Noonan from Manhunter, Heat, Monster Squad, & Robocop 2), Rudy (played by: Jay O. Sanders from Edge of Darkness, Kiss the Girls, Crime Story, & JFK), & Kay (played by: Lisa Dunsheath from The Prowler, Deadly Nightmares, & They All Laughed), they are all very dangerous. Barely escaping the group of psychos he meets the niece of the governor, Jilly Buck (played by: Lee Purcell from Summer of Fear, Stir Crazy, Due South, & Persons Unknown), niece of the governor. He kidnaps her at first but she ends up agreeing to help him without any problems. Marzack finally catches up with Macon & all hell breaks loose between the two rivals. Can Eddie make it in time to meet up with his family? or Will he be doomed in a prison cell facing more time????

Eddie Macon’s Run was much better than expected. John Schneider was mainly known as an television actor but back when he was popular he did a few action films on his time off from The Dukes of Hazzard. He was perfect for these type of movies & I thought he actually showed off more skills with these features compared to his more known work. He had great chemistry with both Douglas & Purcell here. You actually felt sorry for his character because he got screwed over so you were rooting for him to get away. Kirk Douglas had the best performance in this, he was looking for revenge & relentless on his search for Eddie. He would do anything to catch him. I loved the scenes where he acted like a F.B.I. agent to track him down. It’s a shame Lee Purcell didn’t do much with her career because I enjoyed her in this plus Summer of Fear which was one of the first things I ever reviewed. She was beautiful plus she could hold her own with any actor in the scene. This had more than a few familiar faces especially from horror films in the supporting roles such as Leah Ayres, Tom Noonan, Jay O Sanders, Lisa Dunsheath, Mark Margolis (Breaking Bad), J.C. Quinn (Maximum Overdrive), J.T. Walsh (Breakdown), & John Goodman (10 Cloverfield Lane) plays a ruthless scumbag here in a cameo. It was more drama than anything but it had some thrills every once in awhile. The action was very entertaining when it was there. This was fun plus it had a solid story to it with a lead that you wanted to win, RECOMMENDED!!!!

Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Mill Creek! This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer is definitely an upgrade compared to all the older home video releases out there. It appears to be an older master but it’s currently the best version available for this feature. Don’t expect perfection here, it’s solid for a back catalog title. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. This is actually more impressive than the picture quality for the release. It sounds great for an older & more unknown title from the Universal vaults. The dialogue is very clean, the action has a nice boost to it, & the music is elevated here. It also has English SDH subtitles. There’s no special features on the disc. As always, Mill Creek has great prices for their products so this can be picked up for pretty cheap. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!