Customer Reviews

Dancing Outlaw

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dancing Outlaw is a classic documentary of a tap dancer and Elvis impersonator from Boone County, West Virginia. The documentary is both comical and sad but it gives a glimpse of life that you probably would not believe unless you saw it. I've first saw a dubbed version of this video several years ago that was of rather poor quality. I recently found "Dancing Outlaw" as well as "Dancing Outlaw II, Jesco Goes To Hollywood" both on a single DVD. The DVD is available for $49.95 on www.dancingoutlaw.com. I purchased the DVD and have now viewed the recently released DVD and it is of much better quality that the VHS tape and offers all the advantages of DVD including the viewing quality not diminishing with use and time.

What Amazon does not tell you in the above description is this DVD includes both "Dancing Outlaw" and "Dancing Outlaw II: Jesco Goes to Hollywood" and the video viewing time is 101 minutes. Still $99 is too much to pay when you can get the identical video directly from the producer for 1/2 the price.

I own a copy and I highly recommend it.

The Dancing Outlaw is a great video documentary which goes through the quotidian routine of a very abnormal man--Jesco White. He has coined himself the "last mountain dancer" and does a form of tap dancing set to old-timey country music (mainly, The Wildwood Flower.) Where the video is so interesting is in its portrayal of his obvious mental illness(es) including his split personality syndrome (Jesco/Jesse/Elvis,) his dysfunctional and somewhat abusive relationship with his wife Norma, and his brain damage from huffing too much lighter fluid in his troubled youth. You'll see what he does for fun (mud bogging, etc) and basically explore all the areas of this man's life. Even with the obvious humor, it is presented in a very artistic fashion, leaving an intelligent viewer to question how someone from dirt poor roots with this level of mental illness could still exist in this day and age. Yet even more puzzling is that he seems very happy with what most people would consider a pathetic life.

However, most people with whom I've seen the documentary totally miss the social commentary and treat it as a comedy. "Ha ha look at those dumb hillbillies" and "wow West Virginia must be a really weird place" kinds of reactions. If that's all you take from the documentary, you're the unsophisticated one. Do not make broad generalizations about the people of Appalachia or of working-class and rural populations based on the film.

I had the world DVD premiere for this film in February 2005 at the South Charleston Museum in South Charleston, WV. Hundreds showed up - and for good reason. It is the best selling film ever made inside West Virginia - about a West Virginian. It is also the best short documentary about an unusual man and his life ever made, making my Top Ten list of all times - in Facets Multimedia. The director, Jacob Young, watched films by Les Blank and Errol Morris, and using some of their style and his own, created a masterpiece. At one time the state library of West Virginia had at least 8 copies of this film, loaning all of them out for a decade or more. It is hilarious, sad, tragic, insightful - and about everything else one can show in a film. It stands with any film, including Errol Morris' masterpieces like THE FOG OF WAR.

This is not the traditional version of "Dancing Outlaw" that is available on Amazon and others for around $50. The other reviewers were wondering why this is so expensive when it is available for less on the developers' web site. It is acutally $175 on the developers web site with only a few copies left. If you are a hard core Jesco fan -- you'll want this very limited edition. If not -- stick with the OG version for $50. As others have said -- this film is amazing. You'll quote it for years. The only comparable film is "My Brothers Keeper". However, Jesco has a great deal more humor to it -- in the fashion of a WV Mackenzie brother.

I was given a copy of this program several years ago, together with a 30-minute segment containing clips that never made it into the original. Since I no longer own a VHS machine, I came looking for a DVD version, and even though I did not find one, felt compelled to correct a quote in the previous review (Stu, July 16, 2004). A review was born.
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"Dancing Outlaw" is the story of Jesco White and his family, all living in rural West Virginia. It is never clear what Jesco actually does for a living, though his identity certainly hinges on Elvis impersonation and filling the shoes (literally) of his now-deceased father, whose tap dancing skills are legendary in "the holler", where they all live.

It is an oversimplification to say this film is funny and engrossing because it showcases hillbillies. If that's all you're looking for, there is probably something more shocking and comic on "reality TV". "Dancing Outlaw" succeeds because it is a story first and foremost, and because that story is told by the participants.

My objection to Stu's partial quote is that it completely strips the intensity from the scene. Jesco (referring to an incident with his wife, Norma Jean): "...I took the butcher knife and put it up to her neck, and said, 'If you want to live...to see tomorrow...you better start fryin' them eggs better then what you been fryin' em. I'm tired of eatin' slimy, sloppy eggs'"

And that is by no means the most memorable Jesco quote from the film. I was a bit more interested in his mother, the self-described "Miracle Woman" who seemingly has buried more children than most of us will ever even raise, and who hosts Saturday night parties in her house that would instantly draw police attention in your neighborhood or mine.

Ultimately, "Dancing Outlaw" is too rich to describe in this small space. The film engrossed me in the same manner as "Hands on a Hard Body" and "Brother's Keeper" did. In each, I learned of a subculture I could not comprehend living right here in my own country. And each is compelling human drama. Jesco's story stands out in that I can always be talked into watching it one more time.

For the uninitiated, this is a documentary about Jesco White, "the last of the mountain dancers," and his wild and crazy family. This little acre of Mulletland is pervaded by gasoline huffin', whiskey drinkin', shotgun shootin' madness, as well as loyalty to family, love for Elvis and naivete about just what the filmmaker, Jacob Young, is doing.

"The Dancing Outlaw" is a masterpiece in a genre all its own. Its strength is found in the tension between the absolute hilarity of the dialogue from its main characters (Jesco, Norma Rae, Mayme, Birty Mae and Dorsey) and the guilt one feels about having fun at someone else's expense. It is uncomfortable for most of us to like people and laugh at them at the same time, but it is a powerful mix perfected in this gem. Guilty pleasures are sometimes the best ones, right?

Phrases, sentences, and stories from "The Dancing Outlaw" will stick in your mind for years to come. I guess you could call this genre "comedic ethnography," as it comes in a public TV, Appalachian anthropology package. But seriously folks, no one watches this to learn tap dancing steps...

I am proud to have tracked Jesse, Mayme and kin down in Boone County back in 1994, and spent an enjoyable afternoon with them. Friendly folks with great stories and a penchant for unforgettable conversation. I didnt even get shot at. In the neck, I mean.

Jesco had a brief shot at stardom (he guested on "Roseanne" back in the 90s), but it seems fame and fortune have now passed him by. It is a shame that he and the White clan (and Jacob Young, for that matter) did not profit more from this wonderful film.

I noticed two main differences between the "Dancing Outlaw" DVD with "Dancing Outlaw II" by Jacob Young and the original documentary as shown on WV public television. In the original, when Jesse is relating the "tragety" of the shooting that killed D.Ray and wounded Dorsey and Jesse, he says "That was the first time I had been shot in the neck before." The DVD has a different cut in which Jesse leaves out "before". The second difference I noticed was that Bertie May, in the first version said about D. Ray "He knew 52 more steps than any other." That was the whole sentence. In the DVD a different take is used in which she says "He knew 52 more steps than any other mountain dancer." Better English but both changes take away the quirky eccentricity of the original versions.

They seem like minor differences but to us purists they are significant.

For the uninitiated, just don't watch "Dancing Outlaw II, Jessco Goes to Hollywood." It will destroy the fresh honesty that still shows through in the new "Dancing Outlaw."

This is an absolute gem of a documentary and will have you clutching yourself in hysterics. However, I'm stunned at the price. I can't imagine why the DVD price is in the stratosphere. I'm not pleased because it means fewer people are going to see a cult classic. I'm from WV so this film bowling me over really is saying something. Unfortunately, even with how awesome it is, I'm not sure I would pay $100 to see it. Good thing I have my copy off of PBS from years ago. I bet this is why it may be so expensive. They certainly didn't see any profit from the first go around when it unexpectedly took off. It was all off bootleg videos circulating.

Now this is more like it! I first saw this documentary on VHS in a copy making the rounds with my friends in West Virginia.

Just so you don't think that all of West Virginia, the good folks I know in northern West Virginia love this film and shrug while saying, "Well, it is Boone County we're talking about...." (My point is: no matter where you go, someone will find someplace else to goof on...unless it's Boone County).

In lesser hands, this film could've been just a freak show slapped together, but I found it as earnest and sympathetic as it was outrageous and hilarious. I don't know if it's because my family originally came from the hills but I couldn't help but like Jesco (although the evil Jesco was spooky) and the Elvis personality (might be a regional thing when it comes to Elvis).

An essential addition to Appalachian culture. And funny too.

As a fellow West Virginian (I live in North Central WV, in a college town)I can say that everything you see is 100% real. In my youth I played in several bands around West Virginia, and played my share of "house parties" and "outdoor parties" - this is exactly how it goes down in rural WV. I personally know (or knew) guys just Like Jesco and his family. Some are dead now, and some haven't changed in the last 30 years. Many of these types aren't tortured by their own demons or environment, but just like to have fun! I have attended "trailer parties" out in "the country" as we refer to even more rural WV locations, and a few of them I remember make the "mud-boggin'" segment seem like croquet in the Hamptons. However, not to take away from this very true and excellent documentary, if you want a picture of rural Appalachian "Americana", then by all means get this video. You can even Google Jesco White and find an address to write him! P.S.: this lifestyle isn't near-extinct as you might think. You could drive 20 miles in any direction from North Central WV and find carbon copies of guys like Jesco & family!