Date Watched: September 10, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play
Where the heck do I even BEGIN here?
At first glance, you might think this is a racially charged film, but no, “White” is the family’s last name. They allude to being racists but the documentary focuses more on their infamy in Boone County, West Virginia. Had to get that out there.
Anyway, there was a documentary made in 1991 called “The Dancing Outlaw” featuring Jesco White, and so you may have heard of him. But the rest of the family? Ohhhh boy. This reiterates why hillbillies are so scary. One of Jesco’s brothers, “Poney”, actually moved halfway across the country to get away from the stigma that came with the last name “White” in Boone County, citing that you often can’t get a job in the area because of your last name.
Not that it matters much, since the Whites don’t work. They sell drugs, they drink, they rob, they drink some more. It’s a pretty decent sized family, and only two of them – the “founders” Bertie Mae and D. Ray White – weren’t insane.
Among the White family is Jesco, “The Dancing Outlaw”. His older sister is Mamie White, now known as Mamie Warner, since her husband started the fight that killed her father in 1985. She has a daughter named Mousie who is released from prison during the filming of the documentary. She goes in search of her “cheatin’ ex husband” Charlie, finds him living at his pregnant mistress’s house, he leaves with Mousie, and doesn’t return to live with the mistress, though we are informed that he still sleeps with her on occasion.
Then there’s Susan Rae, known as Kirk. She’s the granddaughter of D. Ray and Bertie Mae, daughter of Bernadine “Bo” White. During the filming, she has a baby and then proceeds to snort a few lines off the bedside table in the hospital. When she’s released, the baby is kept for “additional testing”, and when she goes to pick up the baby, she finds out that she’s in protective custody. She goes to court, but her petition is denied and she has to go to rehab. The night before rehab, she goes out partying with her aunt Mamie and aunt Sue “Bob” (another of Bertie Mae and D. Ray’s daughters). Bob, incidentally, has a 19 year old son Brandon who is sentenced to 50 years during filming for attempted murder when he shot his aunt Mamie’s boyfriend in the face three times at point blank range. Bob also says she was a stripper, and mind you, she has a voice deeper than any of the men in the family. Anyway, Bob, Kirk, and Mamie all go out and get stupid drunk, and then the next day, embark on a family trip, hungover, to take Kirk to rehab.
Altogether, Bertie Mae and D. Ray had 13 children, of which only 5 are still alive. One died as an infant. Among the others, two died at age 19, one of which was murdered by an ex husband. One died at 23 by accidentally shooting himself. Another died at 25. Another died at the age of 14 in a car accident. She was pregnant at the time.
This delightfully frightening and sobering family documentary is directed partially by Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame, and is sprinkled with hillbilly songs by Hank Williams III — accompanied by a mountain dancer on a picnic table behind him, in the style of D. Ray and Jesco’s famous dancing.
This is truly an epically horrible and wonderful documentary. You don’t know whether to love them or hate them. But you know you’re of better stock than them, and you inevitably end the movie feeling a bit better about yourself as a human being.
Queue it on Netflix
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