Taglines: You’re never too young to learn the score.
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia movie storyline. All alone in the world, siblings Travis and Amanda Child have been traveling the American south for six months. Travis, once on the brink of country music stardom, plays a one night gig after another in honky-tonks singing songs that he and Amanda wrote, while Amanda is his manager. Amanda, despite being only seventeen, has to be the responsible one, often pulling out her .357 Magnum – unloaded, it being the only thing left to her by their deceased father – to get Travis out of jams.
Their ultimate goal and destination is to get a record deal in Nashville. While Amanda wants Nashville to happen sooner than later, Travis is content with their current on the road life – living out of their makeshift trailer and staying in motels along the way – as he feels this life will stir his creative juices, Amanda knowing that it is really because he gets sidetracked by his two vices: alcohol and women.
Their stay in Garnet, Georgia ends up being longer than they expected due to circumstances beyond their control, their encounters with a few of the residents there which fundamentally alter their Nashville plans and their lives overall: a young woman named Melody who Travis views as different than all the one night stands he’s had on the road; Melody’s boyfriend, Seth, the corrupt Deputy Sheriff who hides behind his badge to get what he wants personally; Andy, the kindly local barkeep; and Conrad, a State Trooper who can see that someone needs to take care of Amanda, and not her taking care of others like she has been doing with Travis.
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia is a 1981 American musical drama film starring Kristy McNichol, Dennis Quaid, Mark Hamill and Don Stroud, directed by Ronald F. Maxwell.
It was very loosely inspired by the 1972 Vicki Lawrence song of the same name (it shares almost no plot elements with the original song). In 1981, Tanya Tucker recorded a different version for the film’s soundtrack and new lyrics related to the plot of the film were written. These altered lyrics were based on the plot line of the movie, which is not the same as the story of the original song.
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (1981)
Directed by: Ronald F. Maxwell
Starring: Kristy McNichol, Dennis Quaid, Mark Hamill, Sunny Johnson, Don Stroud, Barry Corbin, Arlen Dean Snyder, Ellen Saland, Elaine Falone, Elijah Christopher Perry, Lulu McNichol
Screenplay by: Bob Bonney
Production Design by: Gene Rudolf
Cinematography by: Bill Butler
Film Editing by: Anne Goursaud
Costume Design by: Joseph G. Aulisi
Set Decoration by: Rochelle Moser
Makeup Department: Tom Miller, Jo Ann Phillips
Music by: Keith Allison, Bobbie Gentry, Mark Lindsay, David Shire
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: AVCO Embassy Pictures
Release Date: May 29, 1981
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