I originally saw this movie in Austin and almost fell out of my seat on several occasions from laughing so hard. Truly Texas. You can't miss this one! I was so surprised when I watched this movie. It has a great plot and the end is a real surprise. The human emotion and drama that unfolds as these contestants try and win a pickup truck is unbelievable not to mention hilarious. "Cars don't make money, Trucks make money." I believe that this film very much shows how good documentaries are made. Even though the filmmakers don't interfere so much in the film it is still interesting. Others film made in this style tend to be really boring - This is an incredible slice of Americana. Invaluable to anyone interested in East Texas culture and the diversity of peoples in this country. A masterpiece in its genre.

i bought this DVD on impulse based on all the ravingly positive user comments at amazon.com. ever skeptical i figured nothing could be that funny, but it was under $10 and so i thought what the hell, something with so many raves has to be at least worth a smile right? wrong!! its hysterical, rolling on the floor laughing your ass off funny. rarely have i watched something that made me laugh and laugh and laugh so hard. a whole bunch of rednecks going through some insane communal sleep deprivation exercise. and what a bunch of characters! i swear they will live with me forever. the smiley-happy black dude, his shoes and his snicker bars - just classic. it also has an ending/climax that couldn't have been better if an Oscar winning scriptwriter created it. the video quality is something awful, but in this case content rules! you really have to see this movie...really!

I saw this film at a film festival and thought about the event and people portrayed in it. These people who compete in the truck give-away are a sad bunch. They are willing to subject their bodies to an inhuman hardship just to be able to get a truck. Bit they already have cars, so what's up with that. Is it that area of East Texas that breeds these poor dumb son-of-a-bitches to lay down their health to maybe get a new truck? On top of that, some of them seem to have been in training for this. Some of them are religious fanatics, born again Christians: is this what Jesus would have done? To stand in heat for days to be able to acquire an earthly possession. This is a weird look into a weird group of rural Americans - somewhat exploitative of them.

Benny Perkins, the man who won a truck before and comes back to try the contest a second time, is a genuine cowboy genius. His opinions on the contest and his philosophy of life are inspirational. Maybe the reason Benny's thoughts made it into the film is that he gave a sit-down interview. Most of the other interesting action of the film happens off-screen, because Bindler and the other film makers failed to capture it. They miss people cheating in the contest, they miss Benny deciding to drop out, they even miss the most vital moment of the contest, when the first runner-up takes their hand off the truck. Bindler also uses choppy, melodramatic, and extremely repetitious editing techniques. While this is a great subject for a documentary, and there are many fascinating people, especially Perkins, in the contest, Bindler fails to make a film to do th