who played tommy in coward of the county
Coward of the County The song inspired a 1981 television movie of the same name, directed by Dick Lowry, who also directed all but the last of The Gambler television movie saga pentalogy. Set in small-town Georgia during the onset of America's involvement in World War II, the film's plot stayed true to the song's lyrics and starred Rogers as Tommy's uncle, Reverend Matthew Spencer (the singer of the song), Fredric Lehne as the troubled Tommy Spencer, Largo Woodruff as Tommy's girlfriend Becky, and William Schreiner as James Joseph "Jimmy Joe" Gatlin (one of Tommy's nemeses and a rival for Becky; Jimmy Joe publicly states that Becky is 'his girl' despite the fact that Becky never has felt the same way towards him and has repeatedly told him so. That rejection (to which he is in total denial), along with the fact that Becky and Tommy started dating and became engaged while he and his brother Luke were away at basic training, would serve as motive for Jimmy Joe and his brothers to assault Becky three days before she and Tommy would be getting married.). The movie added several characters not mentioned in the song, including Car-Wash (Noble Willingham), a friend of the Spencer family; Violet (Ana Alicia), a local girl who also loved Tommy; and Lem Gatlin (Joe Dorsey), the equally-nemesis father of the Gatlin boys (brothers Jimmy Joe, Paul, and Luke).