Bad Charleston Charlie is a 1973 comedy film written by and starring actor Ross Hagen and directed by Ivan Nagy.

Set during the 1920s in the Midwestern United States, the movie revolves around two coal miners, Charlie Jacobs (Ross Hagen) and Thad (Kelly Thordsen), who decide to follow a life of crime like their role model Al Capone.

Also appearing in the film were Jon Dalk, Claire Hagen, Paul Gregory White, Robert Lockart, Karen Anders, Randy Proctor, Lenny Geer, Ivan Nagy, Suzanne Kent, Rose Barton, Richard Lockmiller, Noel De Souza, Leo Rousseau, and Warhol "superstar" Ultra Violet.

"[14] On June 5, 1972, Bad Charleston Charlie Associates and Studio 9 Productions "consented to a finding" (without admitting guilt) that they had violated federal law and they accepted a final judgment of permanent injunction against future such sales.

[8][10] The film is a highly stylized and fictionalized version of the life and exploits of real-life coal miner turned gangster Shachna Itzik "Charlie" Birger.

In 1920, after the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution began the era of Prohibition when the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors" was made illegal, Birger became a bootlegger.

He was at war with the Shelton Brothers Gang for control of (illegal) alcohol sales across Southern Illinois until the Ku Klux Klan began to take over Williamson County.

"[3] The filmmakers quoted another part of Thomas' review in their advertising, attempting to spin the negative into a positive: "Spoofery in nonsensical shenanigans are meant to be the order of the day.

[21] TV Guide rates the film at zero-stars citing "incompetent" direction and noting that Bad Charleston Charlie "is said to have been [John Carradine's] 401st movie" but that he "should have quit at 400".

"[5] Largely forgotten today, even by most cult movie fans, the film remains unrated at Rotten Tomatoes where they have failed to tally a single review for it.

[6] In July 2001, LSI Communications Inc., a company then best known for releasing the Karl Malone's Body Shop series of workout videos, acquired the rights to Bad Charleston Charlie (along with Gregorio and His Angel starring Broderick Crawford and The Caged Man) from Cinevision Inc.