Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

I enjoyed this film. I posted a Spoiler Alert just in case I say too much. First of all besides the setting I didn't think it was like The Petrified Forest. The Petrified Forest is a better film and story but this little mostly unknown flick is good. Olga (MacMahon) is now running a "next gas 200 miles" kind of a rest-stop/motel in the lonely dreary and hot desert. Unlike Gabriel, where Davis' character who was filled with optimism, Olga had seen that done that. She's somewhat jaded but still has that spark of something positive. Preston Foster and Lyle Talbot are on the lam. It's that "of all the gin joints she walks into mine" kinda thing. Foster and MacMahon were lovers at one time. Foster isn't the nicest fella but when MacMahon sports a dress and some make-up he with all his smarmy charm shows an inkling of interest. However he's so awful that it's best that MacMahon not really pursue this. Enough said. Poor Myra, Olga's younger sister, Dvorak, bored to the gills and wants to have some fun in life. She meets a self-sided loser and is of course saddened even tho' Olga warned her about men. Glenda Farrell, Ruth Donnelly and Frank McHugh show up who are mainly a diversion even though parts are paramount to the plot and I'm not divulging same. A family of Mexicans stop by just for atmosphere in my opinion. What happens near the end is something you'll have to see. Again, the running time of this film is short, good actors, a bit of comic relief and do not expect The Petrified Forest and enjoy.

After reading several reviews that enjoyed the film, I almost did not write a comment.However, after reading the one comparing it to a poor man's Petrified Forest, I wanted to say that's just plain unfair.I, was not around for the New York Times drab review in 1934, like the previous reviewer, but I can form my own opinion. I really liked the movie. Aline McMahon, pulled off the difficult character of playing a woman mechanic/business owner, and Preston Foster played the crook on the lam quite believable for the situation he was in.I personally wish Ann Dvorak had more of a developed part, I always like her, but sadly hers was the least developed of the several interesting characters in the film. Obviously made on a small budget, it's just unfair to compare this to Petrified Forest. They are not the same film at all.

If you can get over the unlikely pairing of ALINE MacMAHON and PRESTON FOSTER as former lovers and stand the desert heat at a motor court stranded in the middle of nowhere, you may be able to accept some of the melodramatics of HEAT LIGHTNING.Nevertheless, I have to agree with The N.Y. Times when it summed it up as: "Drab melodrama with occasional flashes of forced comedy." The forced comedy is supplied by RUTH DONNELLY and GLENDA FARRELL as two rich dames being chauffeured by FRANK McHUGH, and in an early scene, JANE DARWELL and EDGAR KENNEDY as a bickering married couple who stop by for car repair and a coke. Otherwise, it's pretty dreary stuff, with Foster trying to con McMahon and her sister (ANN DVORAK) out of some money in their safe.The downbeat ending only emphasizes the dreariness of the plot which seems to go nowhere fast.

This predecessor of The Petrified Forest (criminals on the lam change the lives of assorted characters at an isolated lunchroom) shows its origin as a Broadway play, but it's faster moving, less pretentious, and a lot less talky than the better known movie. The large cast is wonderful, especially the great Aline MacMahon; their characters well defined; and the direction and cinematography are crisp and professional. It's well worth the hour it takes to watch it.