The Last One (PBS Special with Popcorn Sutton / 2022 remaster)

The Last One is the Emmy award-winning PBS television special on moonshine in Appalachia, featuring Popcorn Sutton and JB Rader, who were relatively unknown outside of Maggie Valley at the time of filming. The film relies on source footage that was also used for the cult classic This is the Last Dam Run of Likker I'll Ever Make. Both films were produced by Neal Hutcheson (also camera and editing), while the original concept for the project was created by Popcorn Sutton. The similar titles have caused a lot of confusion ever since.

The primary filming was done in June 2002. Hutcheson gave "The Last Run" to Sutton to sell on VHS copies in the fall of that year and produced his own documentary version for film festivals, where it failed to attract any interest whatsoever. He then produced a new version for television, adding interviews and illustrations for greater context. It first appeared on SCETV in South Carolina in November 2008, then on UNCTV in North Carolina in early 2009, after which it was distributed to PBS markets around the United States and remained an audience favorite for many years.

The Last One was originally letterboxed to a 16x9 image. It is here remastered to the full frame of the source material.

Prior to the release of the Last One, Sutton had fallen on hard times with a high-profile arrest in 2007 following a fire at his still house in East Tennessee, and another high-profile arrest in 2008 as the result of a sting operation. By the time The Last One was gaining traction and introducing large television audiences to the affable moonshiner, Sutton had taken his own life—following years of declining health—in order to remain free from prison. Sutton and Hutcheson had remained close after the filming of The Last One and Hutcheson sporadically documented Sutton's activities over the years up to 2009, which resulted in a second film "Popcorn Sutton—A Hell of a Life" (2014). "A Hell of a Life" arguably regards Sutton more as an individual whereas "The Last One" presents him as an icon, emblematic of Appalachian culture. However, as Hutcheson acknowledges, Sutton's personality transcended any of the filmmaker's designs. For the full story, see Hutcheson's book, The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton (2021).

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