Okie Noodling (2001) DVD
Directed by: Bradley Beesley
Redline Entertainment
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"Not a lot of people want to go underwater, stick their hands in a hole where they can't see anything, and get bit by something."

Tony Hawk, the dudes on Jackass, all those Ultimate Fighting Challenge guys - they're all pussies, and you can tell them I said so. The real extreme sports heroes are a bunch of guys in Oklahoma and other parts of the South and Southwest who practice a time-honored and very peculiar form of fishing known as 'noodling.' In a nutshell, it involves using one's bare hands as bait to catch catfish - and not cute little three-pounders. We're talking 40, 50, even 100 pound monsters that look like they've mutated after exposure to atomic radiation. Keep in mind that this is done in deep, murky river water that prevents the noodler from seeing exactly what he's fishing for - for every catfish roused from its nest by a set of wriggling digits, there's also beaver or a rattlesnake lurking in the mud. And if that's not enough, many noodlers swear that the best fishing is done beneath abandoned highways, regardless of the fact that the crumbling pavement could collapse and trap them underwater. Noodling isn't done for show or for laughs or lucrative dollars (until the making of this film, there had never been a noodling competition), it's done for fun and food. Now you go and tell me that rolling around on a floor covered with mousetraps is tough. Please.

Okie Noodling is a documentary by photographer/filmmaker and Oklahoma native Bradley Beesley, who grew up hearing about this odd sport and the distant relatives who practiced it. He took a camera crew to his home state to record its history and lore, as well as the people who had been doing it for most of their lives. Though numerous noodlers are shown in action, from leathery senior citizens to kids barely into their teens, Beesley focuses his film on a quartet of die-hards to provide a look inside this very insular world. There's Uncle Red Baggett and his nephew Dave, veterans who, with their ratty locks and rail-thin frames, look like Early Man while stripped to the waist and struggling with a Cadillac-sized fish in neck-deep brown water. They¹re juxtaposed with Lee McFarlin, a jovial plumber from a long line of noodlers who turns heart-attack serious when he¹s in the water, and "Catfish" Jerry Rider, a Zen-like janitor whose penchant for risk-taking and apparent imperviousness to pain (we see him get bitten repeatedly by a snake without a flinch) has earned him outlaw status among the other fisherman, but also national attention, most notably a guest spot on Letterman. All four have very different approaches to the sport (Dave uses a scuba tank on occasion, while Lee and Jerry swear against it, preferring to stay underwater as long as humanly possible), but all agree on several basic principals: noodling is a tough way to catch a fish, but one that brings the noodler a greater respect and appreciation for nature, and its obscure status (it's illegal in all but four states) is undeserved. The crux of the film comes when Beesley attempts to change this situation by organizing the first Okie Noodling competition, pitting 42 of the best noodlers in the country against our four protagonists for cash prizes and the title of top noodler.

I¹m a sucker for documentaries about regional peculiarities and obsessives, and Okie Noodling satisfies in the same way as similar work by directors like Les Blank (Gap-Toothed Women, Burden of Dreams) and Errol Morris (especially Vernon, Florida and Fast, Cheap and Out of Control). The film is clearly fascinated by its subject and presents them in a completely honest and subjective light, but never stoops to using their odd customs or rural status as the butt of a joke. It'd be very easy to paint Jerry and Lee and the Baggetts as hillbilly weirdos indulging in what looks like a particularly stupid and dangerous way to catch fish, but instead, Beesley allows his subjects to sell the sport in their own words. In doing so, he paints a picture of a proud bunch of guys whose love for the outdoors and the challenges it presents is expressed in
their greatest passion. Okie Noodling doesn't offer a lot of "trailer moments" - action-packed or dramatic scenes that sum up the entire film - preferring instead to unspool with the same sort of attitude one needs for fish: a calm patience that allows one to quietly observe and take in the natural order of things at the pace that most people strive for but never achieve. Okie Noodling doesn't land any whoppers, but as any good angler will tell you, the payoff comes from the fishing, not the fish.

Extra points for: the warm country-psychedelic score by the Flaming Lips (old friends of Beesley, who has directed some of their videos) and the taciturn old coot who talks about catching a 100-pound fish with dynamite. Redline's DVD offers commentary by Beesley and co-producer Damon Cook, who talk about the challenges of getting the noodlers to trust them to reveal their favorite fishing holes, and how addicted they themselves have become to the sport; also included is a brace of outtakes, mostly featuring more quiet observations by Jerry Rider and a few amusing goofs. Viewers can also listen to the Lips' soundtrack on an isolated track. They can also get all the latest dope on the movie, as well as an entry form for the next noodling competition, at okienoodling.com.

- Paul Gaita
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