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Joe Bob Briggs Goes to The Drive In
Everyone's favorite redneck movie critic returns to the drive-in for more of his insightful, on-target, and hilarious reviews of movies both spectacular and ridiculous (with a little political commentary thrown in for good measure). 8 page of photos.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
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About the author
Joe Bob Briggs
15 books88 followersJohn Irving Bloom, known by the stage name Joe Bob Briggs, is a syndicated American film critic, writer, and comic performer.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
April 3, 2017
Joe Bob Briggs is the king of the drive-in flicks......those sleazy, cheap, sometimes bloody films starring people you never heard of or stars on their way down.....those films that find themselves on the bottom of the double bill at the almost extinct drive-in theaters across the south. Joe Bob writes some pretty funny reviews and the worse the film, the better he likes it Plus he builds his reviews around incidents from his "personal" life with his variety of very strange buddies and even stranger girlfriends. Sheer insanity and barrels of fun, especially for the lover of bad movies. Thanks, Joe Bob!!!
June 26, 2019
In one sense I was a disadvantaged child: I grew up without cable TV. My parents did, however, sometimes take us on road trips to motels where there was cable TV. That is how, in summer of 1996, when I was 14, I first saw Joe Bob Briggs in The Royal Host Inn in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He showed “Deathstalker” and after seeing that my little world was never the same. The following year, in Las Vegas, I caught him showing “Megaforce” and “Warrior of the Lost World”, making me a hopeless case.
As is repeatedly stated in “Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In”, Joe Bob Briggs is the redneck film critic who is here to tell us what's what in each drive-in movie and what makes those different than the “indoor bullstuff” that hardtops are showing for the wimpolas and commies. The book is his Times Herald articles from 1982 to 1985 and they cover Joe Bob's adventures with women like May Ellen Masters, Cherry Dilday, Wanda Bodine, Ugly on a Stick, with guys like Rhett Beavers and Gus Simpson, and with some of my favorite movies, like “1990: The Bronx Warriors”, “Yor: The Hunter from the Future”, “Evil Dead”, “Beastmaster”, “Ator: The Fighting Eagle”, and of course “Deathstalker”.
Our author, John Bloom, deep in character as tornado-driving, nacho-eating, commie-hating Joe Bob, gets deep into auteaurs like Lucio “Big Lucy” Fulci, Joe D'Amato, and Tobe Hooper, actors like The Two Chucks (Norris and Bronson), actresses like Bob Derek and Sylvia Kystel, and their all important scores.
I first experienced Joe Bob via TV, but there he still had the “Drive-In Totals”, something I thought was so cool that I tried to incorporate it into my Goodreads reviews, and those are totally there for movies like “Basket Case”, “The Last Dragon”, and “Krull”. Joe Bob gets down to the nitty and tells how much blood, how many breasts, what kinds of beasts, motor vehicle chases, whether there's Kung Fu or other types of “fu” (bimbo fu, big-giant wrecnh fu, robo fu, etc), star ratings, and whether this is really bullstuff for wimpolas or jerkolas.
Really, Joe Bob has got so much terminology that this may one day be one of those books nobody can fathom the language of, like “Finnigan's Wake”. Although, Joe Bob, unlike James Joyce, provides a valuable and informative service, so scholars should continue to attempt to penetrate the deep and abiding wisdoms found in this aged tome.
I don't have to tell you, I got a huge kick out of this book. It's got a lot of viewing suggestions, and I tried to see a few of the films mentioned, but some are harder to find streaming. I did watch “Basket Case” for the first time during this reading and it's easy to see why that won the 1982 Drive-In Academy Award.
I can see why the Briggs reviews had so much backlash, since the character is a blissfully non-PC redneck, one that's perfectly suited to review exploitation movies. But, like Mick Jagger once said “If you can't take a joke, go f---- yourself.”
In my time I've been a film student and I love indoor bullstuff like Ingmar Bergman movies and the stuff that was actually shown in competition at Cannes, rather than the stuff that merely premiered there (did I mention Joe Bob drives to France at one point?), I'm gay so I'm not looking for garbonzas (gazebos, however...), yet there are few things better than these glowing reviews of films like “Pieces”, “Ice Pirates”, “Parasite”, “Friday the 13th 3D”, and “Stryker”. Along the way we get the complete history of drive-ins and a list of the best films made for it, like “D.O.A.” and “Detour”.
Anyhow, I could ramble on and on. Suffice it say, this book is Numero Uno, so check it out.
As is repeatedly stated in “Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In”, Joe Bob Briggs is the redneck film critic who is here to tell us what's what in each drive-in movie and what makes those different than the “indoor bullstuff” that hardtops are showing for the wimpolas and commies. The book is his Times Herald articles from 1982 to 1985 and they cover Joe Bob's adventures with women like May Ellen Masters, Cherry Dilday, Wanda Bodine, Ugly on a Stick, with guys like Rhett Beavers and Gus Simpson, and with some of my favorite movies, like “1990: The Bronx Warriors”, “Yor: The Hunter from the Future”, “Evil Dead”, “Beastmaster”, “Ator: The Fighting Eagle”, and of course “Deathstalker”.
Our author, John Bloom, deep in character as tornado-driving, nacho-eating, commie-hating Joe Bob, gets deep into auteaurs like Lucio “Big Lucy” Fulci, Joe D'Amato, and Tobe Hooper, actors like The Two Chucks (Norris and Bronson), actresses like Bob Derek and Sylvia Kystel, and their all important scores.
I first experienced Joe Bob via TV, but there he still had the “Drive-In Totals”, something I thought was so cool that I tried to incorporate it into my Goodreads reviews, and those are totally there for movies like “Basket Case”, “The Last Dragon”, and “Krull”. Joe Bob gets down to the nitty and tells how much blood, how many breasts, what kinds of beasts, motor vehicle chases, whether there's Kung Fu or other types of “fu” (bimbo fu, big-giant wrecnh fu, robo fu, etc), star ratings, and whether this is really bullstuff for wimpolas or jerkolas.
Really, Joe Bob has got so much terminology that this may one day be one of those books nobody can fathom the language of, like “Finnigan's Wake”. Although, Joe Bob, unlike James Joyce, provides a valuable and informative service, so scholars should continue to attempt to penetrate the deep and abiding wisdoms found in this aged tome.
I don't have to tell you, I got a huge kick out of this book. It's got a lot of viewing suggestions, and I tried to see a few of the films mentioned, but some are harder to find streaming. I did watch “Basket Case” for the first time during this reading and it's easy to see why that won the 1982 Drive-In Academy Award.
I can see why the Briggs reviews had so much backlash, since the character is a blissfully non-PC redneck, one that's perfectly suited to review exploitation movies. But, like Mick Jagger once said “If you can't take a joke, go f---- yourself.”
In my time I've been a film student and I love indoor bullstuff like Ingmar Bergman movies and the stuff that was actually shown in competition at Cannes, rather than the stuff that merely premiered there (did I mention Joe Bob drives to France at one point?), I'm gay so I'm not looking for garbonzas (gazebos, however...), yet there are few things better than these glowing reviews of films like “Pieces”, “Ice Pirates”, “Parasite”, “Friday the 13th 3D”, and “Stryker”. Along the way we get the complete history of drive-ins and a list of the best films made for it, like “D.O.A.” and “Detour”.
Anyhow, I could ramble on and on. Suffice it say, this book is Numero Uno, so check it out.
November 20, 2011
This is a fantastic piece of film criticism as well as top notch satire.
June 22, 2024
"A compendium of perceptive and humorous film and social criticism features the reviews of the infamous drive-in movie critic and syndicated newspaper columnist."
I don't know what I thought this book was going to be about but I didn't expect it to be copies of his reviews. I thought he was funny when I was younger but apparently I've aged out of that opinion.
I don't know what I thought this book was going to be about but I didn't expect it to be copies of his reviews. I thought he was funny when I was younger but apparently I've aged out of that opinion.
December 6, 2016
Wow this hits awful close to home my ancestors my tribe being trailers trash and all. I love it when Joe Bob is the foil for those snooty New York/San Francisco ,indoor movie bullstuff, critics. I wish J. B would write a book on; modern art ,architecture and other insanity.
August 31, 2017
As far back as I can remember being into movies, I had an affinity for late-night television shows that showed schlocky B-movies and were usually hosted by a comedian. So when I discovered MonsterVision hosted by Joe Bob Briggs... I didn't like it at first. I didn't realize "Joe Bob Briggs" was a character created by the host who's real name is John Bloom, all I could think was, "Who is this redneck jackass that won't shut up and get back to the movie???" I would still watch MonsterVision often because they would show so many movies I wanted to see. Through repeated exposure, I began to enjoy Briggs, and I realized his shitkicker redneck persona disguised a very sharp wit and a reservoir of movie knowledge.
Now that I'm older, I've grown to appreciate the kind of Grindhouse, drive-in cinema that Joe Bob specialized in. In fact, I had always tended to gravitate to those over the more artsy, Oscar bait films that come out. Even when I was studying film in college, I was bored shitless by most of the movies we had to watch for class because they were either incomprehensible or SOOOOO SERIOUS. B-movies have no pretenses and are honest about what they are - and the good ones completely revel in it.
I sought this book out out of curiosity to know a little bit more about Joe Bob Briggs' origin and to write down the movies he reviews so I check them out. The book is a collection of his movie review columns from the Dallas Times Herald, before his column was canceled due to the controversial things he would write about for the sake of staying in character. I will say the book mostly annoyed me with Joe Bob's tendency to ramble about his fictional life, before getting onto the movie review. I understand that is his gimmick, but I found it mostly irritating rather than funny. I'm used to the character from television, which was more of an extension of John Bloom's actual personality than a full-on fictional character like it was originally conceived in these newspaper columns. The newspaper character would very often go a bit too far with the shtick, such as referring to blacks as "negroes" or any number of times he'd talk disparagingly about women. Again, I get that it's supposed to be more satirical of Texas redneck culture, and not be taken seriously (I mean, he spells the word naked like "nekkid" for crying out loud), but Southern humor has never been my bag, even if it's making fun of itself.
If anything, though, this book did reaffirm everything I love about b-movies. I still enjoy watching the videos of MonsterVision people have uploaded onto YouTube and am glad JBB is still around doing commentary for classic bad movies like Samurai Cop.
Now that I'm older, I've grown to appreciate the kind of Grindhouse, drive-in cinema that Joe Bob specialized in. In fact, I had always tended to gravitate to those over the more artsy, Oscar bait films that come out. Even when I was studying film in college, I was bored shitless by most of the movies we had to watch for class because they were either incomprehensible or SOOOOO SERIOUS. B-movies have no pretenses and are honest about what they are - and the good ones completely revel in it.
I sought this book out out of curiosity to know a little bit more about Joe Bob Briggs' origin and to write down the movies he reviews so I check them out. The book is a collection of his movie review columns from the Dallas Times Herald, before his column was canceled due to the controversial things he would write about for the sake of staying in character. I will say the book mostly annoyed me with Joe Bob's tendency to ramble about his fictional life, before getting onto the movie review. I understand that is his gimmick, but I found it mostly irritating rather than funny. I'm used to the character from television, which was more of an extension of John Bloom's actual personality than a full-on fictional character like it was originally conceived in these newspaper columns. The newspaper character would very often go a bit too far with the shtick, such as referring to blacks as "negroes" or any number of times he'd talk disparagingly about women. Again, I get that it's supposed to be more satirical of Texas redneck culture, and not be taken seriously (I mean, he spells the word naked like "nekkid" for crying out loud), but Southern humor has never been my bag, even if it's making fun of itself.
If anything, though, this book did reaffirm everything I love about b-movies. I still enjoy watching the videos of MonsterVision people have uploaded onto YouTube and am glad JBB is still around doing commentary for classic bad movies like Samurai Cop.
February 7, 2020
A valuable collection of musings on drive-in films of the era (roughly 1982-1986) that finds Bloom developing his Joe Bob Briggs character in real-time, buffeted only marginally by the feedback he received from his harshest critics and biggest fans (some of which is incorporated here as well).
There's a reason this hasn't come back into print - some of the bits here have not aged well, but that's always the case with a) older attempts at transgressive humor and b) material that's being worked-over and punched-up in real-time (which is basically what this is).
There's a reason this hasn't come back into print - some of the bits here have not aged well, but that's always the case with a) older attempts at transgressive humor and b) material that's being worked-over and punched-up in real-time (which is basically what this is).
December 27, 2013
A hugely influential book for me, often hilarious, savagely satirical, and gleefully politically incorrect. Along with early series of Moviedrome and Jonathan Ross's Incredibly Strange Film Show this book showed a third path for film writing that was neither slave to Hollywood nor venerating art cinema.
February 18, 2009
This book is what really made me start appreciating B-grade movies. That's an affliction I have yet to shake. Of course, now he's practically a household name. But back in the day, this was neat stuff to run into. Joe Bob's writing is very entertaining. Highly recommended.
January 9, 2009
Joe Bob needs to be back on TV hosting movies, not acting as John Bloom.
Also, I would pay premium prices to get MonsterVision episodes on DVD.
Also, I would pay premium prices to get MonsterVision episodes on DVD.
January 6, 2020
My previous experience with Joe Bob Briggs was predominantly with his tenure as the host of Monstervision, which I would have been watching when I was about 13 years old. Recently I attended a presentation he hosted titled 'How Rednecks Saved Hollywood,' a tongue-in-cheek but surprisingly well-researched presentation on the depiction of rednecks in the movies. On the basis of that, I tracked down this out-of-print collection of his early print reviews, and unfortunately I didn't enjoy them as much as his later material.
The reviews typically begin with the Joe Bob character filling us in on what he's been up to since he wrote last. Typically this involves going to the drive-in, getting drunk on cheap beer, hanging around with his redneck buddies, and alternately chasing/running from the women of questionable morals (and hygiene) who tend to surround him. Some of this is amusing, but it's all pretty retrograde. I assume this is just John Bloom playing to the stereotype of the southern white trash guy, but it still doesn't entirely land well 30 years later.
The film reviews themselves are usually pretty short--in some cases only a paragraph or two--and while some of them are quite funny, many of them don't do much more than play to the conventions of the column: talking about how good the 'garbanzos' on the women are, whether there's blood and gore, whether the men are appropriately manly. When it works (the review of 'The Terminator,' for example, was pretty great) it's funny, but often it feels very pro forma.
Not awful, but it didn't take me back to the joy I felt watching Monstervision with the lights off as a teenager. I would still recommend seeing Briggs live if you have the chance--he's clearly a lot smarter than he plays in these old columns.
The reviews typically begin with the Joe Bob character filling us in on what he's been up to since he wrote last. Typically this involves going to the drive-in, getting drunk on cheap beer, hanging around with his redneck buddies, and alternately chasing/running from the women of questionable morals (and hygiene) who tend to surround him. Some of this is amusing, but it's all pretty retrograde. I assume this is just John Bloom playing to the stereotype of the southern white trash guy, but it still doesn't entirely land well 30 years later.
The film reviews themselves are usually pretty short--in some cases only a paragraph or two--and while some of them are quite funny, many of them don't do much more than play to the conventions of the column: talking about how good the 'garbanzos' on the women are, whether there's blood and gore, whether the men are appropriately manly. When it works (the review of 'The Terminator,' for example, was pretty great) it's funny, but often it feels very pro forma.
Not awful, but it didn't take me back to the joy I felt watching Monstervision with the lights off as a teenager. I would still recommend seeing Briggs live if you have the chance--he's clearly a lot smarter than he plays in these old columns.
September 20, 2024
Joe Bob goes to the drive-in is special for anyone who appreciates what he has done.he mentions around 417 movies and some of those are reviews or just little references. These reviews come from when he was as the newspaper. He gives history lessons and you will discover his love for many people in the movie industry that he still mentions today on the last drivein. So in the style of Joe Bob let’s give a small breakdown
His lady friends get him in trouble
Joe Bob goes to jail
Joe Bob gets kicked out
Joe Bob travels the world
So many rants you won’t be able to count them all
His lady friends get him in trouble
Joe Bob goes to jail
Joe Bob gets kicked out
Joe Bob travels the world
So many rants you won’t be able to count them all
February 6, 2023
I have been a longtime fan of Mr. Briggs, going back to his days on Monstervision. I was lucky enough to pick this book up at a fair price, his successful 2018 return to TV has driven the value of his book's through the roof.
Joe Bob is the king of rants and this book drives that point home. My only complaint is that I wish his movie reviews focused more on the movies!
Joe Bob is the king of rants and this book drives that point home. My only complaint is that I wish his movie reviews focused more on the movies!
September 27, 2024
Joe Bob fan from the way, way back. So fun to read about many films I have seen that I was too young or simply didn't have access to see when they were on the screens. Very fun to read his reviews as contemporaneous pieces, and interesting to see the first drafts of the Joe Bob persona, having enjoyed his works over what, four decades?
January 4, 2022
My older sister got me into Joe Bob Briggs not long after his new show “The Last Drive-In” started on Shudder. She already had her hands on a copy of this and even has it signed! She let me read it and his style of satire and dark humor is the best. This book is an absolute gem for any fan to read!
October 4, 2023
“4 stars Joe Bob says check it out”
March 31, 2025
Fun, light read full of colorful characters, charmingly un-pc rants, and reviews of all the drive in classics from 82-84.
January 24, 2016
Excellent book of reviews on all kinds of "bad" movies. Joe Bob's unique voice paints the most vivid of pictures, making me want to watch all kinds of wonderfully kitschy cinema. Just as interesting are the characters in Joe Bob's own life, who always seem to aid or deter his movie-going experiences. Makes me long for the drive-in. Who needs that indoor bullstuff?
September 5, 2011
A great collection of reviews that, added together, almost form a novel of sorts. Briggs writes well, the characters that inhabit his world are fun and the reviews - ratings by boobs and hacked off limbs - are genius. Highly recommended.
March 26, 2014
Fun, energetic, and reminds you what you loved about the movies. Joe Bob and his friends take no prisoners. Films are rated by body count, flesh visible and extras such as a snake camera (you have to read it to understand). Cahiers du Cinema it ain't.
May 30, 2007
Love,love, love this book and this man--No one does it better or funnier. Every bad film you can imagine with blood and boobs getting the ratings ...excellent and funny!
February 24, 2008
I love Joe Bob. What can I say?
June 21, 2009
Joe Bob Goes To the Drive-In by Joe Bob Briggs (1986)
July 19, 2011
Stephen King recommended book. King wrote the introduction.
November 6, 2012
Enjoyable enough piffle.
July 31, 2013
Joe Bob Briggs is perhaps responsible for more laughter in my life than any other single person.
September 16, 2010
If you like trashy B-movies, this is essential.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews