The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (2009) - full transcript

Can you tell me about the reputation of the
White family in Boone County in West Virginia?

I'd really rather
not comment on that.

If you mention their names, you get
a certain reaction from people.

The Whites, they have
that kind of charisma.

Not only can they draw you
in, they can keep you there.

They don't want to conform
to any authority, no rules.

And all they got to do is
fuss, fight, and party.

Some of them are good.

Some of them are entertaining, and a whole
lot of them are just trouble and dangerous.

Even though they might be the most hated
family, well, they're probably the most free.

They are the true
rebels of the South.



Way down in West Virginia, there's
some people who are one of a kind.

They don't need nothing from nobody,
because they're already doing fine.

My name is Mamie White, and I'm the biggest and
the meanest and the baddest of all the White

family.

And my father is D Ray White, and he was
the last King of the Mountain tap dancer.

He invented his own
style of dancing.

He knows 52 steps that
nobody else could do.

Nobody showed him or taught him.

He did this of his own
heart and his mind.

My father, D Ray White was
really getting really famous.

He was on his way to Canada to finish
making his film, "The Talking Feet,"

and he got killed
in a shoot out.

So he left four sons behind that
he tried to leave his talent to.

My brother, Mark.



His name is Don Ameris White.

He got in a fight with this guy,
came over about his pit bull.

And when he opened the door to see who was
at the door, they shot and killed him.

Dorsey, my brother, went
and bought this pistol.

And Dorsey evidently took the clip out
of the bottom, thought it was empty.

And when he put it to his temple
to show them it wasn't loaded,

it went off and
blowed his brains out.

That was the end of Dorsey.

My brother Poney got in
trouble in Boone County

for a prescription problem, so he hauled his
hind end out of here to change his life.

Got him a job.

Got him a home, and
he's doing fine.

My brother Jesco ended up
with my father's shoes.

And PBS made a documentary about
him called "The Dancing Outlaw."

I took the butcher knife
and held it up to her neck.

I said if you want to live to see tomorrow, you
better start frying them eggs a little bit

better than what
you were frying.

I'm tired of eating
sloppy, slimy eggs.

And then after that, it made him a little
bit big, and all these other motherfuckers

started putting him in their songs, like
Hank III, Big & Rich, Kentucky Headhunters.

My brother, Jesco White, became the
most famous man in West Virginia.

Will you sign my hat, dude?

Yeah.

I stayed behind to take
care of everything, my mother,

sisters, and brothers,
my kids, their kids.

I had it all to do.

I'm talking about anywhere
from 10 to 20 kids a day.

It was a rough road to
go down, but I made it.

So, now, everybody knows all
about Mamie White and Jesco.

White, and now, by God, it's time you learned
about the rest of the fucking Whites.

The reason why my mother got
the name of the "Miracle Woman"

is because she raised over 34 kids, if not
more, that was abandoned and that needed help

from the loss of their mothers
or the loss of the fathers.

And my sisters and brothers, you know, had
them and just left them, and didn't want them.

But my mom took them in, and everybody made a
point to go to my mother's house if not to eat,

just to go there to
be with my mother.

And there's never another mother in the
world could fill my mother's shoes.

My name's Susan Ray White,
but everybody calls me Kirk.

Jesco's my uncle.

My mom's half sister.

My dad's Terry Lee Thomas.

And the reason why he's in
prison is for double murder.

They tried to charge
me with accessory,

and I told him, I said, just go ahead and send
my ass to jail, because I'm not a snitch.

I wouldn't snitch nobody out.

I've been in trouble many times, fights,
and cussing out the cops, drug charges.

I've been to jail so many
times, I can't count them.

Now, I'm like if you started some
shit with me, I'd fight you.

I love to fight.

I really do.

You never do fight
me, but I want you to.

Well, I used to be a stripper back then
when I was 17, 18, 19 years old, and I

made the beaucoups of money.

I'd bring home at least $15
to $2000 a night in my boots.

And, uh, I've always been the
sexiest one in the family.

I've always had comments
from thousands of people.

My name is Sue Ann White.

I'm the baby girl of Don
Ray and Bertie Mae White.

My nickname is Sue Bob.

I prefer to be called Sue Bob.

That's the nickname I have.

I have two children,
Ashley and Brandon Poe.

My name's Brandon
Poe, and Sue's my mom.

Jesco's my uncle.

And uh, I got in trouble,
and I'm here in jail.

A lot of us just be in the back.

I used to try a little
coke here and there.

I've smoked a little crack.

Know what I mean?

I've tried this and that.

My favorite buzz, choice
of buzz, is marijuana.

I love marijuana.

I'm a pot head.

I'll tell you straight
up what I like.

I prefer Roxicontin, Lorcet,
Vicodin ES, Percocet 10, Xanax,

especially xanibar.

Right here.

You want to hear the
Boone county mating call?

Sounds good, baby.

I'm Bernadine Cook.

My nickname is Bo or Bocephus.

I'm Jesco White's sister.

My name's Derek Wayne Castle.

Jesco's my uncle.

That's my mom right there.

Everybody calls me Dirky.

That's just something
that's stuck with me since I

was little, Dirky, AKA,
the "old dirty white boy."

We're good people.

Everybody puts us down here and there, but
you can't believe everything you hear.

Seeing is believing
you know what I mean.

But from my heart, we're just right down
dirty white, good old people, hillbillies.

Well, my worn out boots are taking me
downtown, and I'm looking for trouble.

And I want to get loud.

Serve me up a drink and
I'll shoot it right down.

And I'll jump on the bar
and holler one more round.

I'm going straight to hell.

Ain't nothing slowing me down.

I'm going straight to hell.

So you just better
give me one more round.

Well, I'm racing these back
roads, trying to save my life,

'cause the sheriff wants to kill
me 'cause I fucked his wife.

I was on the run with the gun in my hand, 'cause
I like a good time and a one night stand.

I'm going straight to hell.

Ain't nothing slowing me down.

I'm going straight to hell.

So you just better
give me one more round.

Hey, hey.

Hey, hey.

There it is, man.

Lock it down, Judy.

All right.

When you represent the Whites, you don't
know what you're going to get into.

Custody.

Larceny.

Prescription fraud.

Shootings.

Armed robbery.

Embezzlement.

Forgery.

Drug cases.

Perjury.

Fights, things like that.

Judge Slagel, who was the
circuit court judge here

for 26 years before he retired a couple years
ago, used to say if you really excluded

about 10 different families from this county,
you'd cut the crime rate in about half.

The Whites have
been one of those 10 families?

I don't think there's any doubt that the
Whites would have been one of the 10 families.

As law enforcement we've probably
dealt with this family more than we

have dealt with any other
family in the county.

They're clever.

They're not educated necessarily, but they
are very clever, crafty in what they do.

Violence is just part
of the Whites' lives.

I'll slap a son of a bitch up and throw him in a
goddamn mineshaft up here in the garbage bag.

I got three mineshafts
at this house.

One took a bar about that long and about big
as round as a quarter and hit the old man.

He was in a wheelchair
with one leg.

I had to hit it again just to watch the
blood fly, because it turned me on.

Nobody works.

Everybody lays around and parties,
and they've always got money.

So what are they doing?

Xanibars.

Sorry, honey.

Can I get me a few of them?

Want to give me some money?

I just now bought 10 goddamn green
beans, what you call painkillers.

Fuck that camera.

And I got them for $8 a piece, and I'm
getting ready to take them up the road

and I'm going to sell them for $10 a piece
and make me two more dollars on each pill.

That's call hustle,
rustle, and bustle.

That's how you survive
in the country.

The word discretion is worth...
Undoubtedly, they don't know.

They don't understand
what it means.

They wouldn't practice
it if they did.

And here on the left, this used to be a Exxon gas
station, and this used to be a grocery store.

That's the one I robbed when I went
to reform school when I was younger.

On the right side of the road, where the church
is, I also robbed it two times and got away.

The general feeling probably for most
folks, especially residents of Boone County

and maybe even for the state of West Virginia, is
that they're a little bit of an embarrassment.

There are so many decent
people in this county.

There's a kid down here from very humble
upbringing was admitted to MIT, M-I-T. I mean

why isn't someone following
him around with a camera?

That's why they've received this attention,
and it does not represent anything.

It doesn't represent anything in
West Virginia other than the Whites.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, dear mother.

Happy birthday to you.

I love you, mama.

We love you.

Many more.

Happy birthday.

God bless you and hope
you're here another year.

And may you have
a thousand more.

We got your cake, gifts,
and everything in there.

I guess they're
paying her to crash.

Well, I never got mine either..

It's a party, man A party.

I'm crazy like a dog.

Ah, he's going in shock.

Ah, baby.

Don't do this.

Don't do her like that.

I ain't doing nothing.

I'll help you, ma.

It's your go.

We ain't got no pot.

Look, mama.

That's right.

That's the mark of the beast.

Jesus sent Moses to tell them that when
the great flood came... That's the reason

he shut the door...
Him and the animals.

And they couldn't get in.

They drowned.

Turn me on.

Turn me loose.

What are you going
to do with that?

Life's too short to worry.

Y'all going to kill
me with that shit.

I quit worrying.

This is the greatest birthday that you'll remember
and cherish forever from our hearts, mama.

Make you a wish.

This is from our hearts to you.

Make it a good one, Mom.

For all the love... Ready.

That she give us over the years.

Good.

Happy birthday, mama.

Happy birthday, mom.

Happy birthday, mama.

Go, mother.

Woman.

When I met Dennis, I liked
him because he looked good.

You feel me?

You know he had it going on.

He had a job.

And I loved 18-wheelers.

And he drove a 18-wheeler.

But the night I stabbed him, it
was cool, because my grandma...

Y'all know mama... she cleaned
up the blood and hid the knife.

So there was no evidence so
they couldn't take me to jail.

I meant to slit his throat.

And that's for real.

I meant to kill
that motherfucker.

And he threw his hand
up, and I cut his thumb.

And then I thought, "Damn, that's a big
motherfucker if he gets a hold of me."

So I stabbed him in his side.

Oh, will people see this?

Well, I do if they're
going to see it.

I want Dennis to see it, because
I hate that motherfucker.

I mean I'm a people person.

I can get along with the devil.

But I hate that son of a bitch.

I hate him.

Because he put me through hell.

Got all my... he caused my
family a bunch of bullshit.

Come in between my family.

You admit it.

Tell them that damn
bastard hit you.

But he's not family.

Quit playing.

I'm going slit his damn
throat open, or his nuts.

Quit cussing.

I'm going bust your ass so hard.

I hate Dennis.

I mean I hate Dennis.

I let him go down.

I'll be with him then.

I hate Dennis.

We're not talking about Dennis.

He's this.

Dennis, Dennis is this.

I got pregnant
before I met Dennis.

But who's baby is it?

Dennis's.

When my baby gets older,
I'd like for her life

to go in a totally different
direction than what mine went.

You know, finish school.

Do the right thing.

Stay away from the wrong people.

You know have her own dreams
and work hard toward them.

You know.

If you stay in Boone County, I don't care how
many dreams you got, it's not going to happen.

There he is.

Now, I got to take my medicine.

Yes.

I don't know.

I just tried to call him.

I got Mamie's voice on
the answering machine.

Get Susan back.

Let me pee.

Oh.

Hold on a minute.

All right.

She's the next Miss America.

Miss Universe.

Man called and told her they were going
to keep the baby, and I called Bo.

And Bo said she was here.

Why y'all?

See y'all just doing
the drama thing.

Wasn't nobody taking that baby.

Come bring me your tips.

This never stops.

I killed a deer
with this, this year.

Look at this.

Step back, Junior.

Right?

See that shit?

But it ain't loaded.

I just kicked it
a hundred times.

Oh, I know that.

Why do you think I
brought it back there.

We're going get some shells,
and we're going to blast them.

We're out of bullets, son.

Did you see that, Trey?

This is how rednecks do it.

You hear me?

This is how rednecks do it.

Mom, can you get me
some alcohol please.

You need to get your shit
together before you start that.

Where is the alcohol?

It was on the bar.

You're supposed to keep
going you piece of shit.

This is what Xanax
will do to you.

I need a butter knife.

You hear me?

Put Meranda Raven on my arm.

No.

Right.

That's an E, right?

Right here?

N.

Shit, I was putting
an A in there.

Something good.

You can't tell.

Perfect.

Medicine on the road.

Shut up!

Chey.

Cheyan.

Wake up, man.

We're rolling.

We're going to pick up
Mousie from the State Prison.

36-year-old.

And I'll kick anybody's ass who tries
to get in the way or fuck with her.

Here's my honorable
discharge paper.

No more.

I do not belong to
the state no more.

Let me show you my no good
son of a bitch husband.

His name's Charles.

He's a bastard and a cheater.

Yeah.

Well, I'm going to hop out
and get a smoke real fast.

I don't want your
damn stinking ass with me.

My ass don't stink.

Get out.

You get out.

I thought we was going to smoke.

This time, I'm free.

No parole.

No shit.

See I was only out three and a half
months when I got locked back up.

I give you two weeks.

You'll be back.

Why you say I'll be back?

I'm not on parole now.

I'm free.

You ain't going to last.

Let me see your phone,
Sue, for a minute.

You ain't going to
listen to no fucking body.

James, is Charles Green there?

Yeah.

We got a Charles Green.

That's all she's worried about.

When I went to jail, he moved in with the
lady he left to marry me before he moved back

in with them because
his little girl.

Then I guess he cheated on her with
another lady and got her pregnant.

She's gonna have his baby.

Ya didn't come to work?

Son of a bitch.

When I was in prison the second time,
he cheated on me with my cousin, Kirk.

Moved her in my
apartment for two months.

And then when I made parole,
he made her move out.

She cut up all my wedding pictures, all my
clothes, destroyed my apartment before she left.

Joey!

Where's Charles?

Well, I just want to talk to him and
then he can do whatever he's gotta do.

Later.

I've got a lot of things
I gotta do this week.

I've got to go get a picture ID made, contact
my husband Charles, discuss our divorce.

It's a little quick job.

Hey.

I'm Poney White.

Minnesota-bound.

Raven Street.

Don't get no better, no way.

Highway to heaven.

I'm from Boone
County, West Virginia.

That's where I was
born and raised.

And I talk... well,
I've got to go.

Why I came to Minnesota.

And I really like to work.

I been workin' all my life.

I always worked.

'Til I leave this earth.

I dropped out of school
in seventh grade.

Van High.

I learned more on the
streets than I did at school.

Were you ever arrested?

Did you ever get into
trouble with the law?

Yeah, a few times.

I did 18 months over work release in three
years' probation, and I pleaded everything.

That's why I came to Minnesota, then
I have a better life for myself.

Know what I mean?

And my kids.

I want them to have
better than what I had.

I take nursing out here.

Now I got a certificate.

I couldn't have done that down home, so...
yeah, I think it's better out here for us.

There ain't nothin'
back there but deadbeats.

Here, you got everything
you ever want.

As long as you work hard for it.

My life will be different 'cause
I'd probably be dead by now.

Hangin' around the wrong people and
probably overdosed or something, on drugs.

That's why I liked
coming out here.

There's school.

Teachers back in Boone
County, they talk about me.

They called me dirty trash,
and white trash, and all that.

Dirty White.

I just got sick of it.

You know how you, like, try to go down in
Boone County and try and look for a job.

They won't hire you
'cause of your last name.

They, like, hated you.

They don't, like, want you
to work for 'em, 'cause

you'll probably end up stealin' somethin' or
robbin' em or doin' whatever you had to do.

Some of the kids down there that are raised just
to rob and thieve off people... Their parents.

I'm not mention the names or nothing,
but yeah, they're like that.

I've been robbed a few times myself
by my own relatives, you know.

Friends of theirs, young kids.

Young, man.

They start young down there.

Dressed in camouflage, he looked
like he was ready to hunt,

but police say this teenager
was waging war in Boone County.

The long story was, I'll
let you know pretty much what

happened was I was buyin' my drug of choice,
Xanaxes, and a little bit of coke, and weed.

And I was buyin'
shitloads of guns.

My son was the best kid
you could never meet.

You know, until he got around my family, the wrong
crowd, the wrong people, at the wrong time.

I had a couple guns stashed in my car,
'cause the next day was deer season.

So we went up the guest house, partied
a few there for a couple days.

As soon as we got home, I noticed
my window was busted out of my car.

Somebody had flicked my
seat up, took my guns.

Chaos that started late
Monday night in Wharton.

Police say the teenager got into a
fight with his uncle over the phone.

So he stole a car, drove to Billy
Hastings' home, and pulled out a rifle.

What it was, Billy says it's
over a broken-down truck.

Brandon sold him
a gun for a truck.

And, uh, Brandon come back up
here, you know, he was high.

He was taking pills, you know,
and Billy called back up here.

He said, I'll tell you once,
you little bony bastard.

You know.

And Brandon's daddy
had just had passed on.

His dad had been
buried three days ago.

He was still hurt over that.

After my dad died, I
got on the hard stuff.

I was doin' it all... Coke, pills, whatever
I could get my hands on, pretty much.

Billy called up here and he said, I'll bury you
beside your cold, dead daddy, you motherfucker.

And I said, man, you
need to come up here.

Bring everything you got.

Brandon said, OK.

He said, we'll see.

And it was right here.

And he hung his phone up.

He walked out that door.

He was done behind me, within probably 10
feet of me, pointing a gun right at me.

I said, Brandon, what
are you gonna do?

Shoot me?

He pulled the trigger,
and it blowed my chin off.

Ka-bang.

Like a stick of dynamite.

He raised the gun up, turned
his head, and hollered, ah!

Shut his eyes and pulled
the trigger again.

Blowed my neck open.

He seen me tryin' to raise up, so he put the gun
on a window like that, took aim, and shot again.

Hit me in the shoulder and
pushed me back around again.

Blowed this part of my
skin up over my eyeballs.

I couldn't see out of this
eye so I thought it was gone.

And then I seen like when I was moving
this eye I could feel my eye under my skin

so I was trying to adjust my skin to
get back to that hole right there.

And finally I done it
and I could see light.

So I wiped it off like that.

Police say the teenager shot his uncle,
stole his aunt's car, and then took off.

And it was right here.

He hung his phone up.

He walked out that door.

15 minutes later, Billy Hastings went up
there puttin' his face back together.

So you tell me, who got the
better end of that deal?

You know what I mean?

But it didn't end there.

He set the car on fire.

And the clock started ticking on what would turn
out to be a long and tense standoff with police.

I thought I killed Billy.

And I didn't know for sure where I
shot him, but I thought he was dead.

So, you know, I thought, you know,
they ain't gonna take me alive.

End up shootin' at the cops from November
21st to the 22nd at 4:30 that morning,

when they apprehended me.

It was one hell of a night.

I just went on a
rampage, pretty much.

You know, I wasn't
thinkin' of my family.

I don't know why
I did it, really.

It just happened.

They say they forgive me, but you
know, I shot a dude in the face.

And then again, they helped, you know,
I've been around them all my life.

So I'm sure they still got love for me, but,
you know, I terrorized them, pretty much.

And I'm sure they
hate me for that.

No matter what, there's a part
of me that's... you know, says,

well, he gets out of prison,
I've got to kill this boy.

But then there's... my heart
tells me, man, I can't kill him.

You know, 'cause I love him.

I'm gettin'
sentenced on the 16th.

And it's really up to the
judge what happens to me.

But my judge likes me.

We get along good.

And I think something's
good gonna happen.

I think I'm gonna go home
on a alternative sentence.

I'm Jesco White,
the dancin' outlaw.

And this is Poney's camper van.

They've come a long way
to play for me live.

We're gonna give you some pickin'
and clickin' down on Main Street.

Hit it.

This is my daddy's
original horseshoe.

It came off on his shoes.

Perhaps he got killed.

D. Ray could give
and show a direction.

And when D. Ray died so suddenly,
they just weren't prepared for that.

Well, when my father passed
away, everybody just went wild.

Nobody tried to control 'em.

You know.

Bertie Mae would
try, but no luck.

They weren't gonna
listen to Bertie Mae.

Jesco, he started sniffin' that gas
and lighter fluid when he was young.

And we couldn't do
nothin' with him.

Well, I've got brain
damage inside of my brain.

And I don't know what
side, the left to right.

Where I'd huff gasoline
for 10 long years.

The story was that he had had so much gasoline
that he could tell high-test from regular, just

by the scent.

You know, it'd ate
a hole out my brain.

And the doctor told my wife when they come to
get me out of the hospital, mental institution.

He said, I'mma tell you
his brain cell is eat up.

Like a pile of cigarette ashes.

But I don't know which
cell it is in my head.

This man has a lot of issues.

You know, he's lost many people
that he's loved in his life.

He's had a history
of depression.

He's depressed to this day.

Like, when I laugh,
sometime it's fakin'.

When I'm really sad, I'm trying
to do goofy, crazy stuff.

I've doctored myself
for a long, long time.

If Jesco White
ain't high on drugs,

if he ain't high on alcohol, you
can't stand to be around him.

I like to get really fucked up.

You know?

Plum outta the frame.

But I can still control myself.

I just like to dance
and have a good time.

'Til somebody fucks
with me the wrong way.

Then I'm all to pieces.

You know, I can't
control it then.

He can be lookin' at you
and be happy one minute.

And snap, the next, and ready
to fuckin' blow your brains out.

I finally now get a tattoo
of both people I like.

I believe we are done.

Check the back out.

See how you like it.

When I'm in my Elvis
mood, I'm in a good mood.

When I'm gettin' plastered
and ripped out of the frame

and I'm singin' and havin' a good time in
front ot everybody, I let my good times roll.

And everybody's happy
and everybody loves him.

When I see you laugh,
it makes me happy.

And then when I'm mad, I feel
like I am Charles Manson.

I can't stop killin' you.

I've enjoyed killin' people.

Cut them up, shootin'
em, whatever.

It won't make no difference because then,
I won't have nothin' to lose anyway.

It's like the dead
killin' the dead.

Right now, Jesco White.

I don't feel really human.

But I know I am.

'Cause I'm so famous,
I hardly get out.

That scares me and
makes me paranoid.

Sometimes knowin' I'm famous, don't know what
a... is this real, or am I just carryin' on?

Like I said before,
he's Appalachian royalty.

You have half of the people truly
love him as an entertainer.

There's a vast majority that just want
to see the spectacle of Jesco White.

He is pressured by the fan base.

He feels this obligation
to be that guy for them.

And that's gonna kill that man.

There's people that love
Jesco, but they're also

infatuated with him to a point
that it's very disrespectful.

You know, obviously, go to his home and
see what's on the front of his door.

It's a different sign every day.

He can't even put up a sign that
says, keep out of this place,

without a fan coming and
taking it down as a souvenir.

This is supposed to be my home.

But the way you gotta go live here
and survive, it is like a prison.

You know, in a way that's not...
This ain't no guards of ours.

Don't think Jesco really wants
to be as famous as he could be.

I mean, there is a line that he's drawn to keep
him independent and to keep him on his own two

feet, and kinda in his
world and not their world.

In a way, it makes me feel
good to have my own prison.

After all, it's private and it
keeps me out of the real one.

God made everything for a
purpose and for a reason.

And that's what I'm
trying to find now.

And I guess it's to dance
and entertain for people.

Kinda bring laughter to people
that's really feeling down

and really enjoys you, likes hangin' out with
you because you been yourself and been honest.

Everybody knows I'm crazy,
but it keeps me goin' insane.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Hold this hose now.

Soon as they bring you medicine
and put it in a little tube,

it goes down in this, and
so you get your medication.

Huh?

I know you ain't
snortin' no pills.

That's not snortin'
no pills, Ma.

Hello?

Yeah.

Yeah.

She lost all that blood.

She had a stroke.

And it paralyzed her right arm
and the side of her right face.

It's a small stroke.

They got a tube up her nose
going down into her neck,

because her neck is numb and
she can't swallow that good.

I'm pretty fuckin' stressed.

I'm losin' my mother.

And I don't know how
I'm gonna take it.

I don't know what's
gonna come of it.

You might... after tonight,
you might not see Mamie again.

Then again, you might.

Right now, I'm pretty
hurt and stressed.

I don't give a
fuck to go to jail.

And I don't care to kill
some son of a bitch.

Anybody that looks at me wrong.

I am hurtin'.

Really in my heart, I'm hurtin'.

Look, I'm losin' my mom.

And that's all the fuck I got.

We want to maybe go over here.

We're here at the hospital.

Wake up when we get in there.

Excuse me, the baby's not here.

Said that CPS has got the baby.

What do you mean
thatl CPS has got the baby?

You've got to go home.

What is it?

CPS has got the
baby in Boone County.

I swear I was just there.

I just tried to go see her.

CPS has got the baby
in Boone County.

You gotta get in the
car and go with them.

CPS in Boone County
has got the baby.

I was just there
trying to visit her.

I was just tryin'.

Do you want to go to the pay
phone to try to call your mom?

She's over here in
the parking lot.

Come on.

Leave me the fuck alone.

Give me two tacos, one soft
shell, one hard, please.

Could you repeat that
order back to me?

She's not lookin'.

Renee!

Hi!

Hey, Tanner!

You gotta kill the cow to get
that beef, or what, buddy?

Thanks.

I need a crowbar.

I gotta get the fuck outta here.

My nerves are store up.

Now, you see all
three of us girls?

The biggest, the
meanest, and baddest.

There you go.

Now, you see us now?

We look pretty goddamn good.

But when we leave this bar,
we're gonna come in like this.

Who's gonna fuckin'
pack Mamie in?

All right, girls, ya ready?

Let's rock it.

We're ready.

We got some special
people in the house tonight.

Miss Mamie White, Miss Kirk White,
Miss Sue Bob with the titties.

That woman's got the
prettiest titties I ever seen.

Her favorite song, and they gonna shake
their asses, shake their titties.

We raised our own vegetables...
Cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, lettuce.

Corn.

Corn, beets, spinach,
you name it, we raised it.

We also raised hogs
to get our meat.

Any piece of hog you can meat.

I'm talking 'bout from its
fuckin' head to its asshole.

Daddy was a very,
very strict father.

But he wasn't a mean father.

He was just a
disciplined father.

And we all turned out
to be fuckin' crinimals.

And it ain't really his fault
because he done his damn job.

My daddy had 14
cancers cut out of him.

And he worked hard that year.

I was 10 year old.

He start takin' me
to bars with him.

So Daddy would get drunk,
you know, start a fight.

Then I'd say,
look, motherfucker.

This is my father.

You hit him, you better hit me.

I think I did.

He can't get hit in the stomach.

When you hit him,
I'm gonna fuckin'

bust your brains out
with a pool stick.

I always carried a pool stick.

Always drink a beer in a bottle.

I can always break the bottle and
shove the neck in your fuckin' heart.

Or I can always back you up,
get you the fuck outta my face.

Bastard!

Hell yeah!

My favorite verse
is Matthew 21:22.

And when everything's... You're asking a
prayer about believin' you will receive.

But you've got to believe it.

And that's what I'm doin' now no
matter how hard things get down on me.

I'm stilll believin'.

I believe that God's sayin', hey
look how much you love this baby.

Three days or something,
try three months to a year.

Get your shit together.

Well, we're in Lincoln
County on Bogda Road.

Going to pick up Charlie Green, which
could be my husband, which is my husband.

And here is the
commandment he broke.

That.

I'm gonna kill him
is what I'm gonna do.

Read the sixth commandment.

There it is!

You little prick!

I'm looking for Charles.

Looking good.

They're off somewhere.

Yeah, where, the motherfucker.

Well, we went to Lincoln
County lookin' for Charles.

We did not find him.

You don't tell me
what to do, bitch!

So when we come back to Madison, we called which
is his girlfriend, the one he has the baby by.

Is Charles over there?

The fun's just gettin'
ready to start, honey.

Believe that.

I got something
else, come back here.

Wait.

Where you goin'?

You leavin'?

Where you goin'?

Get in the fuckin' house.

Will you shut the fuck up?

You always run your mouth.

Oh, behave.

Get them out here.

That beer's not yours.

Get the hell outta here.

Oh, goddamn here.

I asked you to move, man.

Move it, prick!

I'm tryin'!

I drink a lotta whiskey,
I'm smokin' all the time.

I'm gettin' fucked up
every goddamned night.

Everybody's doin' cocaine,
startin' up fights.

And I'm livin' fast
and hard and dyin'

young with my goddamn loaded fists of fury,
doin' what I do and I'm spittin' in your face

'cause I'm dominatin' you.

Livin' hard and doin' time
and I don't give a fuck.

And I've been beat down and thrown around
and now you're out of luck and punch!

Fight, fuck.

Punch!

Fight, fuck.

There will be a hell of a party.

You ain't goin'.

Oh yeah I am!

No you not.

We got dance.

No, no.

You're stuck with
poor Mousie tonight.

Mousie's gettin' dick tonight.

Ah, damn!

Hell no.

Yes.

No.

See your your cock later.

No.

I will.

No you ain't.

Before the night's over with.

The hell you will.

No.

Gimme a kiss.

Quit it, man.

Give her a kiss.

No.

Quit.

Quit.

No.

Quit.

Quit.

Goddamn you.

Quit.

Quit.

Like you mean it
Like you mean it.

Do it like you mean it, Charles.

What's the matter with
you, you fuckin' retard?

Well, you get up on it, then.

Quit it, goddamn it.

Get 'er done.

Fight.

Punch.

Fight.

And fuck.

Awright.

That's all accomplished.

Now what?

Quit.

I got a buzz.

I'm never gettin' married.

Never.

C'mon, we're gettin' ready to take you
in the store that we got married in.

Come down here, take care
of medicine at this pharmacy.

Lortab 10, 90, and
60 purple Xanax.

So we get the medicine, we come out here in
the truck, we crush four up, we snort them.

You think I wasn't fucked up?

Yeah, I was fucked up.

The pharmacist was a preacher...
A pastor, or whatever.

And they sent us over to the
flower department and married us.

What the fuck?

I wanted to get married.

That's right.

That didn't do us the part.

That did.

Do you regret it?

Hell yeah.

He thinks he's going home when
he gets back to Boone County.

But I got news for him.

He's not.

Man, it's 3 or 4 o'clock
in the fuckin' morning.

They're all getting in my bed.

And Christopher's
getting on the couch.

The Whites are a product
of the mountain culture.

And this is the same type of culture
that spawned the feud, for example.

They come from a time and a
place where they were isolated.

They were isolated by geography,
they were isolated by culture.

Well, you know what?

He knows how to beep-beep.

West Virginia has been owned
for almost all of its existence

by wealthy interests
outside this state.

It's like some African
actions that European nations

go and exploit the natural resources,
take all the wealth, and then leave.

May I have you attention please.

Thank you for coming to the 15th
annual coal miner's memorial service.

'Cause mining...
It's West Virginia.

You're gonna live in West Virginia...
It's West Virginia, buddy.

You're gonna be a miner.

Coal mining is... that's the
best job once the game run out.

Yeah.

And all the bitches
love coal miners.

I'd hate to lie, Pete.

They do.

Let us pray.

We thank, heavenly father,
for this opportunity

to pray for the families of
those who have lost someone

in a mining accident in
the most recent year.

You go and drown, you don't have
to come out the next night.

In the morning.

He'd be a stupid motherfucker
if he thinks he's gonna die.

You watched your fellow get
covered up in a slate fall.

He's dead.

He's just saying now a mine.

This is just another
day in the mine.

When you go down that hole...
I mean, it's gonna cave in,

or it's gonna blow in,
or I'm gonna drown.

Or get electrocuted.

That's four things can
major happen to you.

People have been working in one of the
most dangerous occupations that there is.

It creates a certain fatalism
and lack of the fear of death.

That type of thinking
is pervasive.

There's a sense of hopelessness.

Because you don't find a whole lot
of optimism about the future.

Those values systems were passed
down generation to generation.

Little piece of corn bread laying on a shelf,
little piece of corn bread laying on a shelf.

My father, D. Ray, White,
worked in a coal mine.

Then he got sick and he couldn't
work no more in the mine.

When D. Ray was coming along,
coal mines payed people scrip.

When you worked for a
certain coal company,

you got their scrip, had to go
buy from their company store.

And so, really, a dollar in
scrip only bought you $0.30

in groceries.

I mean, you were just
enslaved by the coal company.

So D. Ray sees all this, he sees politicians,
sheriffs, old companies doing it.

What's wrong with D. Ray doing
it to help his family along?

I heard that D. Ray saw how the coal
companies were ripping people off

and he decided, if everyone
else were cheaters and crooks,

he was gonna try and work the system
just like the coal companies did.

Well, if you don't do
it, the other fella will.

Everybody does it, so
why can't we do it?

D. Ray was a master.

D. Ray understood the social security
system better than most attorneys.

He got all of his
kids crazy checks.

My father signed me up for a check,
I think, when I was about 11 or 12.

And I've been getting
it ever since.

I get a god damn check from government
saying that I am certified crazy.

What-why are you crazy?

What... Because I want to be.

That has really, really been a problem
with the White family, is the entitlement.

It's the entitlement
type of culture.

The disability culture.

And that's... that's led a
lot to what they are now.

The biggest and the baddest!

That's right!

They don't expect a
whole lot out of life.

And they live for the immediate.

Well, I was born a coal moner's daughter
in a cabin on a hill in Butcher Holler.

Here, it's just like you're just waiting around
for everything to get worse, everything to end.

It's sad.

Not much is left but the floor.

Nothin' lives here anymore.

Except the memories of
a coal miner's daughter.

Thank you!

Can't get the baby.

I think I'll go there
and kill a motherfucker,

and I probably won't even have
to go to court or nothing.

I'm walking scot-free.

Son of a bitch.

They done had it
all planned out.

Messed up, man.

Forgot one thing about us.

I like to fight, and
I'm a hell of a fighter.

And I'm not gonna give up.

I don't give up that easy.

Hey, Penny, how you been doing?

I don't care where it is.

That doesn't matter to me.

As long as I can... single.

Unemployed.

A prescription fraud.

No, I haven't been
charged for it.

Every day.

Vicodin.

A couple Xanax.

And I've smoked weed.

Once PCP.

No.

I don't do any of that.

I sure appreciate it.

Bye.

She's gonna get me straight in.

I think on Monday.

She'll do anything and everything and all
she can before she goes out of here.

Pills and stuff.

I have to admit, if there was a pull
laid out thee, I'm gonna do it.

Because I know I only
got 48 hours to do it in.

This bottle is Sue Kirk's
last party for rehab.

We're having her one
last party before she

goes to rehab at the bowling
alley in Chapmanville, West.

Virginia.

And I signed everyone's name
on it that drunk out of it.

That way I'm gonna
keep a treasure.

That way when Kirk comes out straight
and clean I'm gonna say, remember this?

Can I say one thing?

Fuck you,.

Nobody seems to care.

Really had to pee.

Rehab?

I ain't going to rehab.

I don't need no fucking rehab.

I done a rehab.

10 months, didn't like the
breakfast or something.

I'm done.

Now it's time to party!

That's fucked up.

I hate rehab.

Well, you gotta... sometimes you gotta do
things in life that you don't wanna do.

Get off this rehab.

Now stop Dennis.

He ain't in our
business no more.

Dennis is an idiot.

Yep.

That's true.

Take me to Dennis so I
can blow his head off.

Tyler, don't be saying that.

They're recording.

You wanna go to jail?

Dennis, man.

I'll blow his head off!

You tired?

You wanna take that sweater off?

We're gonna go to Texas and drop
me off, and then you'll come back.

Why do we gotta go to Texas?

'Cause I gotta go.

Forever?

No.

Do you know what rehab?

Is?

No.

Can I stop at the dollar
store for a little bit?

No, we gotta go.

Where you going, Susan?

Rehab.

Rehab?

Can I go?

Rehabilitation.

Charlie's been in this
family for many years.

Me and Susan.

We've been around the horn.

Yeah.

You wanna go?

Yeah.

Head to rehab.

He say he's gonna take
us to where the rehab is?

Get straight there.

Her ex-husband.

Been in the family
for many years.

He's a good fella and a hard worker,
and he'll always stay in the family.

Like Charlie.

Come on, turkey.

Let's go.

Come on, hurry.

How long you gotta be in rehab?

I can stay three months, I can stay...
Three months?

Well, I can stay six months.

I can stay up to two years.

Well who... who
decides the time?

Me.

You better not go in there
one fucking day and come out.

I'm not.

I'll kick your ass.

I got to do this.

Well, who told you
you got to do it?

I did.

You did?

Might as well look at this
deal as your last chance.

Oh, I am.

That's what I'm saying.

At this light up here you're gonna go
straight through and you'll be right at FMRS.

You're here.

You up for it?

I got no other choice.

He'll be 47 years
old when he gets out.

I'll be dead and gone.

Young boy, what's his name?

Wasted.

If he'd have killed him he
probably would have got less time.

It's sad but true.

Way down in West Virginia there's
some people who are one of a kind.

They don't need nothing from nobody
'cause they're already doing fine.

You've got Bertie Mae White, she's the
strongest woman that I've ever met in my life.

She raised over 24 of her own, and
had to watch her husband die.

But she's always fighting
hard and living off the land.

And when she's done living in this world you
know the Lord's gonna take her by her hand.

And oh, baby you know
she's still raising hell.

And the legend of D. Ray White will
never die, like the rebel yell.

Yeah, the legend of D. Ray White
will never die, like the rebel yell.

This is Bandytown.

This is my family cemetery.

And this is my brother's
grave here, Dorsey.

One of these springs
he killed himself.

And over through here
is my daddy's grave.

Donald Ray White.

Someone took a chisel to it.

This right here is
my sister's grave.

Ona Fontaine.

She was next to me.

And a beautiful girl.

And she got slayed and killed in Cleveland
by her ex-husband that she divorced.

And this grave here
is my other sister's.

Virginia.

And she was pregnant at the time
she was killed in a car wreck.

Both my sisters was.

But this is my sister's grave.

And like I said, it's been a
long time since I been up here.

Because I really knocked off
and live in my own world.

You know, shit was going down.

You know.

Some families just
can't get it together.

But it seems like people in the White family...
A lot of them die younger than other people.

Uh... I have no... I don't know
if it's the sin or the thing

that bothers them that lives in them, or
the demon that they carry, or what it is.

But it's just strange how everything
had happened in our family.

It seems like it's... my life...
Our lives have just been a party.

And we're just living
like it's a story.

That we're already dead, but we're
still alive to tell about it.

Something of that nature.

And it's weird.

And I still, to this day, ain't figured
out how come all this stuff's going down.

I'm at Pine Haven.

Its a rehab, long-term rehab.

And I've been lean
for three months.

That's my 24 hour coin.

That's my 30 day coin.

And that's my 60 day coin.

Mommy!

I come to get Tyler today.

He's gonna spend the next couple
months with me over there.

Standard.

You never play with me.

We'll play in the park.

How I sit there and... Is there...
there's a park by there?

There's a playground.

But Tyler, Mom can't get in them
no holes and stuff and crawl.

I might get stuck.

You gonna leave me.

I'm not gonna leave you.

You always do.

I'm not gonna leave you.

You left me last time.

Why do you always
remind me of that?

I told you I'm sorry
like a million times.

No you haven't.

You only...

I'm really, really sorry for
ever leaving you anywhere.

I'm really sorry for never
playing your games with you.

That's better.

Mom's really sorry.

Now say it again.

I'm sorry, Tyler.

I'm so sorry.

You don't have to
say "I'm so sorry."

Well, I'm sorry.

Will you ever forgive me?

Yeah.

What?

Nothing.

Boone county's my downfall.

I love it, but if I'm here too
long it's like... it's my hole.

And it sucks me in.

Fucks me up.

Kirk's got some problems.

And that's it.

Good.

Momma's clean now.

I am.

Come on.

You know, I'm...
Thank you, Tyler.

Saved by Tyler.

You know, we're all gonna die.

We're gonna all have
to be risen and judged.

You go this way and you go this way... You don't
live for the Lord and you're gonna go that way,

to hell.

You got a choice.

He died for you on the cross.

You don't wanna serve him, then when you die
you're gonna have to pay your consequences.

Like me.

I'm gonna burn like
the rest, I guess.

We all going to hell.

You know we are,
if we ain't saved.

Christians.

Amen.

It's scary.

At your funeral
what do you want people to do?

Party their balls off.

Blow pot in my face and snort pills on my
head and... fucking rock and roll, baby.

Do you think life's
a good thing or a bad thing?

Ain't never fuckin'
said I've been good.

Come in this world with nothing,
I guess I'll die with nothing.

At least the world knows
who the fuck we are.