The Weaver Brothers and Elviry are a strange and forgotten act from the 1930s to 1950. The trio were popular on radio and made a few films...mostly awful ones such as "Swing Your Lady". Abner (Leon Weaver) played a judge who was the heart of the trio, Elviry was the lady and Cicero (Frank Weaver) was a mute who was essentially a version of Harpo Marx. All of them played Hillbilly types from Arkansas and in addition to singing, they acted and dispensed a lot of old fashioned values and advice. Oddly enough, Roy Rogers played in several of their films, such as "The Arkansas Judge", "The Old Homestead" and this one, "Jeepers Creepers". While they were very popular in the South during their heyday, they are difficult to love in the 21st century as they just come off as hokey and contrived.
When the story begins, almost the entire small town is in church where Abner is preaching. However, M.K. Durant (Thurston Hall) is visiting town and has no interest in church or anything else except himself. You soon see that Durant is a nasty, selfish plutocrat who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. And to him, the locals are all a bunch of ignorant boobs who are beneath him. As such, he and his spoiled daughter do what they want and couldn't care less how it hurts others. When M.K. carelessly starts a fire and the sheriff (Rogers) puts it out and warns him, Durant ignores him and says that he can do whatever he wants...because he's rich! Well, Sheriff Rogers has had enough and arrests him. Soon, M.K. is hauled before the judge, who also happens to be Abner, he's sentenced to a day of hard labor....and his daughter is given the same because of her contempt for the court!
Now you'd think M.K. would have learned something from all this. But instead, he's still a pig-headed jerk. And, when he discovers coal in the town, he steals the land out from the Weavers and begins strip mining! To do this, he brings in a rowdy group of hooligans that soon begin destroying everything they come into contact with...and M.K. doesn't seem to care. As for his daughter, she's appalled by him and soon sides with the town. But M.K. doesn't care and plans to do whatever he needs to make a buck. Is there any hope for the town?
The story idea is pretty good and could have worked well. It didn't because, frankly, the Weavers were a hokey and annoying act. Rogers was quite good as well Hall who could play a wonderful heel. But the film is terribly dated and about as subtle as inviting a group of strippers to crash a Baptist picnic!!
