'Major'
Lewis Redmond, the character of history and folklore that inspired
the play The Prince of Dark Corners, was the most famous outlaw
of his day, outshining contemporaries Jesse James and Billy-the-Kid.
In this documentary account of his life and times, folkorists,
storytellers, historians and descendants recover the memory
of this forgotten renegade, triangulating the real Lewis Redmond
between the distortions of hero worship, tabloid fascination,
and the savage depictions of the man in Northern newspapers.
Born
to a poor farming family in the rugged mountains of Southern
Appalachia, Lewis Redmond managed a bootleg network that ranged
through three states, fought and eluded the lawmen sent to capture
him, and helped poor mountain people pay their taxes and save
their family land. The true story of this 'American Robin Hood'
grants a privileged view into a turbulent, formative era of
American history.
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