...it's sometimes intriguing, and at the same time, perplexing when a renowned, albeit controversial filmmaker...reputedly known for escapist film fare, rendered on a provocatively visceral and dead serious level...does a 180 degree turnabout, and takes on a much more lighter level of material...adventurous and thrilling, with a measure of humor, intrigue, romanticism and rollicking light-heartiness, that wholly contradicts many of that filmmaker's previous productions. Almost as if the director wanted to take it easy, and do something fun and outrageous...maybe even commercial, for a change...a break from the provocative and controversial, and onto something much more akin to wild and crazy abandon. They...the critics, his fellow filmmaking brethren, and even the general public...thought that director Sam Peckinpah had taken leave of his senses, when his next chosen project was a rip-roaring, 18-wheelin' juggernaut, good ol' boy movie version of a pop country/western hit song, which at the time, was reining over the AM radio waves. Crazy insane?? This is the guy who dared turn the western genre on it's ear, with unconventional revisionist classics, like 1969's "The Wild Bunch" & 1973's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", not to mention visceral crime dramas, like 1971's "Straw Dogs" & "1972's "The Getaway"; yet, here he was...jumping on the band wagon, with the 'flavor-of-the-moment', dash & crash truckspoitation genre, spear-headed by at-the-time recent runaway hits, like 1977's "Smokey and the Bandit", "Breaker! Breaker!" and the following year's "High-Ballin'". And amazingly enough, Peckinpah's whimsically relishable adaption of singer/songwriter C.W. McCall's hit song, "Convoy", proved to be his biggest box-office hit, considering his reputation...and given some able-bodied assistance from another Hollywood legend, due to director's ailing health...
...laid-back, good ol' boy gear jammer Martin Penwald (Kris Kristofferson)...aka 'Rubber Duck', to his friends, fellow truckers and friendly CB radio hackers...has a serious problem, and the name of this particular 'problem' is Wallace...Sheriff 'Dirty Lyle' Wallace (Ernest Borgnine), to be specific. Ya' see, as if ol' Sheriff Wallace has some personal vendetta-driven quota to meet, he never fails to find some reason to pull the 'Duck' over...or his fellow truckers, for that matter...and harass, and extort money from him, whenever he happens to be on a particular stretch of Arizona highway. Be that as it may, Martin always finds it best to just pay up, and go on his way, rather than face trumped up charges and arrest; and with the 'Duck' being the inspired example, the road-pounding gear-jammers pretty much do the same...
...but does that stop ol' Wallace from being a pain?? No siree, bob!! Soon after Martin takes a much needed respite at a local truck stop, Wallace shows up soon after, checking parked truckers' license plates. While re-engaging relations with his sometimes girlfriend, as well as re-encountering Melissa (Ali MacGraw)...a wayward, sexy, free-spirited photographer in a speedy Jaguar, whom Martin had encountered earlier on the road...and some of his truck-driving friends, the sheriff saunters into the truck stop diner, clearly trying to see what trouble he could stir up. Pinging on two of Martin's trucker friends, Pig Pen (Burt Young) and Spider Mike, the sheriff threatens to arrest the latter of the two, for suspected vagrancy. When Martin steps in, and attempts to intervene, Sheriff Wallace, now reinforced by some of his men, verbally aggravates the proceedings, and a fistfight breaks out in the diner, with the cops clearly outnumbered and overpowered. Leaving Wallace and his fellow officers either unconscious or tied down, and their vehicles disabled, Martin...taking the willing and thrill-seeking Melissa in tow...recommended that they all get in their trucks, and hit the road, before reinforcements arrive...
...once Wallace and his men regain their composure, as well as their ability to pursue, an all-points bulletin is called out, suggesting the capture and arrest of the truckers; further complications ensue, when political reverie, in response to public favor of the truckers, supersede the intentions of police force, in pursuit of the renegade truckers...led by Martin himself...who is quickly pronounced a hero, by those who support his cause. But when Wallace arranges a trap for The Duck...by way of an arrested, abused and beaten Spider Mike...Martin finds himself in the precarious position of possibly surrendering himself, in order to save his friend. Will he...or does he have something else up his sleeve??...
...ya' know?? It's always been a given, that movies afford people the opportunity to momentarily escape to another time...another place...vicariously relating to, even embracing characters, whom movie viewers can only imagine actually being, or associating with; such a presumed revelation is taken to a much more relishably outrageous level, when the time and events depicted take a respectable leap from resembling a sense of reality...with a suspension of belief, sorely required for viewing such films. "Convoy", most assuredly, falls into such a niche, which has made the film perfect fodder, in having been ideally picked up and distributed by the fine folks, over at Cheezy Flicks. Really, think about it. Outwardly corrupt sheriffs, who poke and prod truckers into getting out of line...and get away with it. Outwardly crooked politicians, who side with whatever cause or hero the people root for, 'cause they're the voters. Barroom brawls, breaking out on a moments notice...with everyone getting in on the act. Good ol' boy truckers, who drive their juggernaut 18-wheelers down the road, from one adventure to another, seemingly without a care, as far as what they are carrying, or what schedule they are supposed to be on, in getting the cargo from one place to another...or even using said cargo as a defensive resource, depending upon what trouble they find themselves in. But then, it's that outrageous exaggeration of situation, which makes "Convoy" so deliciously rollicking & fun...that, and the wildly eclectic assembly of characters, herein...
...Kris Kristofferson leads the pack, in this double-barreled, 18-wheels-a-rollin' actioner, as the grizzledly handsome, laid-back, cool and collected trucker, Martin 'Rubber Duck' Penwald...an able-bodied hard-working good ol' boy, who in not looking for trouble, often finds himself in the position where trouble finds him...and when it does...well, he has his own unique way of handling things...and when that happens, watch out!! And the Duck's arch nemesis...well, it's always interesting to see veteran actor Ernest Borgnine alternate performance between characteristically heroic personas, and connivingly corrupt villains...and Sheriff 'Dirty Lyle' Wallace is definitely one for the books; deviously manipulative, authoritative and self-serving, Wallace does harbor an underlingly respect for those who do ultimately get the better of him, as evident in this film's ensuing turn of events. As alluring, free-spirited sexy and adventurously thrill-seeking as Ali MacGraw assuredly is, in the wayward role of Melissa, it is unfortunate that her character is relatively underdeveloped, relegating her to a mere recklessly free-traveling waif of a sexpot, with little chemistry between her and Martin, despite the attempt...
...whether he's playing a tough, disgruntled, wise-cracking detective, in search of a people-eating subterranean beach monster, as in 1980's "Blood Beach", or an equally disgruntled, self-absorbed brother-in-law to a heavyweight prize fighter, as in the 'Rocky' franchise, Burt Young has always been one of those character actors who always manages to put one pretty much the same variant of character, from film to film...the same type of character, though in different situations and scenarios...and "Convoy" places that same tough, disgruntled and wise-cracking persona in the seat of an 18-wheeler, as one of Martin's trucker buddies, Pig Pen. At the time, the studio head powers-that-be thought that director Peckinpah was taking a chance (...despite the lighter material, he just had to get at least some measure of unconvention, in there) in casting African-Americans in outwardly abused, albeit sympathetically supportive and heroic roles; however, as truckers Spider Mike and Widow Woman, actors Franklyn Ajaye and Madge Sinclair manage to hold their own quite well, in their respective characters...stand-out supporting characters, whom the viewing audience can sympathize with, as well as relate to...
...word on the rumor mill, often suggests that Sam Peckinpah's association with "Convoy", was the result of the alcohol & substance abuse problems, which he was reportedly going through, at the time; be that as it may, this might explain why he chose the much lighter material, and in truth, Peckinpah was indeed engaging some serious health problems, around the time he assumed the reins of this production. In fact, his condition was so deliberating, most of his direction was conducted remotely, from his on-location trailer, with johnny-on-the-spot direction conducted directly, by none other than actor and close friend, James Coburn, whom Peckinpah had previously worked with, on "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" and 1977's "Cross of Iron"...
...nonetheless, given the tag-team direction, "Convoy" ultimately proves to be a fun and solidly engaging piece of truckploitation...with snappy dialogue, great characterization, and no-holds-barred dynamite action...perhaps a bit more mean-spirited than most of the lesser-budgeted, down & dirty, southern-fried genre offerings of the time (...as opposed to the quickie, humor-laced concrete cavalcade amusements, which starred the pairing of Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed, like '77's "...Bandit", '76's "Gator" and '75's "W.W. & the Dixie Dancekings"), but otherwise, an ideal cinematic time capsule of it's time...albeit, a $12 million dollar one. Cheezy Flicks' digitally remastered re-issue of the film, corrects a great wrong, as compared to their initial release, which was scratchy, dull and shorn of it's original 2:35:1 presentation (...the new edition restores the widescreen ratio); in short...a rollicking, though forgiveably flawed, drive-in style actioner, with great character and attitude...
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