Okie Noodling (DVD)

Brad Beasley`s documentary takes an in-depth look at a highly unusual practice called noodling, which entails fishing using your hands as both bait and rod and reel. The practice, legal in only the four states of Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Mississippi forbids the use of any objects other than the hands, and poses great risk for the practitioners. In addition to the possibility of injury from a fish`s teeth, the fishers open themselves to the possibility of attack by a multitude of other creatures, such as beavers that share mud tunnels with catfish. Beasley follows a group of Oklahoman men and boys as they use this fishing method to search for catfish, and eventually joins them in the hunt, hilariously and gleefully blurring the line between filmmaker and subject. With a soundtrack by the alternative band The Flaming Lips, OKIE NOODLING provides a funny, if sometimes difficult to stomach, look at a unique piece of Americana. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.