Convoy (1978)

Convoy is a very flawed, but fun trucker flick from legendary director Sam Peckinpah. This is probably his worst film, but his most commercial and most seen of his work. At this point in his career, it was a low point for Sam as his job as a director. Normally, he made films that he wanted to make and had a passion for. This film, clearly he took to keep working. This is a weak film for Sam and a bad personal time in his life that his cocaine addiction had an effect on his work and overall quality of the film. Convoy is an attempt by the producers to cash in on the success of Smoky And The Bandit with something similar. Based off the country song Convoy, the film is of flimsy source material. Country star and old friend Kris Kristofferson is cast as the lead and while he clearly did his best, at this point did not have the screen presence or acting chops to knock this out of the park. Add the weak chemistry of stunning actress Ali McGraw,to a laundry list of problems to the film. However, Convoy will not go down in history as the greatest film ever made, it is a pretty entertaining and amusing movie. This also attracted Wild Bunch star Ernest Borgnine as Sheriff Lyle Wallace, a great nemesis for our hero The Rubber Duck.(Kristofferson). Essentially, this is a B grade movie with an A list cast and director. Convoy is not the best vehicle to showcase Sam Peckinpah's talents as a director and is very dated, but good,cheesy fun.

Ernest Borgnine can take punishment as well as dishing it out. He survived the make of Willard when the rats got him. As Dirty Lyle Wallace the shakedown Sheriff he doesn't like strange dudes who drive a 1957 Plymouth Fury & accidentally pees on Dirty Lyle because he was nervous about Dirty Lyle & then it started in the men's room. Then other things happen to Dirty Lyle. He gets beaten up by 4 black girls and they tell him if any black church is bombed in Arizona, they will come for him or his relatives or pets, if they find what there looking for it's dead and they spit on him. Then he faces a black boy on a bicycle and throws a grenade inside his car. Lyle escapes & gets another issue car & his guys are going after The Independent Truckers and encounter something from a bad LSD Trip. 5 witches on broomsticks and 9 WWII Japanese Planes and pilots following orders from The Wicked Witch of the West & they take out Lyle's enforcers & spare Lyle. Then last but not least a 1952 Henney-Packard Limousine hearse & the truck from Duel & Lyle sees the black girl/driver of the hearse and she wears an attire that looks like "Charles Starkweather meets Esther Williams". In short a motorcycle jacket a black one & a white swimsuit. And Dirty Lyle is scared when the hearse driver opens the side door of the cargo area & there is a dead man with a sheet on him & looks like Dirty Lyle & the truck from Duel is her reinforcement. It's okay for Sheriff Lyle Wallace to shake down independent truckers, but not okay to meet "Titan" and his buddies. Leave the man named Titan alone & his 1957 Plymouth Fury and his allies. This material could have been used in Convoy to put some punch in it. That's it man!

Rough'n'tumble independent truck driver Rubber Duck (Kris Kristofferson in sturdy macho form) encourages his fellow oppressed gear-jammers to make a stand against no-count corrupt Sheriff Lyle Wallace (robustly played with lip-smacking wicked aplomb by Ernest Borgnine) and the whole crooked system that he represents.Director Sam Peckinpah maintains an amiable lighthearted tone throughout (this is probably the lone Peckinpah film in which nobody gets killed), stages the action scenes with gusto (a hilarious slapstick bar fight and a climax that copies "The Wild Bunch" rate as the definite rousing highlights), and explores his trademark themes of loyalty, betrayal, integrity, nonconformity, and corruption in a rather messy, but overall hugely entertaining manner. Bill W. Norton's script might not be that subtle or complex, but still possesses an amusing streak of blithely anarchic humor as well as a strong subtext concerning rugged individuality versus the dirty and repressive status quo.Rubber Duck's fellow Diesel demons are a colorful and engaging bunch: Burt Young as scruffy wannabe ladies' man Pigpen, Franklyn Ajaye as the easygoing Spider Mike, Madge Sinclair as the sassy Widow Woman, Bill Foster as the grizzled Old Iguana, and Jackson D. Kane as the rowdy Big Nasty. Cassie Yates adds plenty of spark as sad-eyed truck stop waitress Violet, Seymour Cassel does well as the opportunistic Governor Jerry Haskins, and Brian Davies amuses as nerdy press representative Chuck Arnoldi. Ali MacGraw sports a ghastly poodle hairdo and a deep tan in a thankless nothing role. Harry Stadling Jr.'s crisp widescreen cinematography photographs the trucks in a striking way that makes them come across like powerful majestic beasts. The spirited score by Chip Davis hits the stirring spot. Best of all, the fierce camaraderie the truckers have for each other gives this movie a winning surplus of genuine heart and soul. An immensely fun flick.

A rebel trucker (Kris Kristofferson) leads protesting his colleagues on a trek throughout Southwest until Mexico .Other truckers join their convoy as a show of support against brutality and other complaints . Sheriff Wallace (Ernest Borgnine)rallies other law enforcement officers throughout the southwest, they who soon aware that stopping Duck, the face of the now highly public standoff, is not as easy as shooting him and the truck due to his highly explosive cargo . Truckers (Burt Young , Magde Sinclair as Widow woman, among others) on a tri-state protest over police brutality ,form a mile long "convoy" in support of Duck's vengeance with the abusive sheriff . Based on the country song , a real hit , of same title by C.W. McCall.An enjoyable film , ¨ Peckinpah's Convoy ¨results to be an elegiac perspective at the world of the truckers . Taut excitement throughout, beautifully photographed and with spectacular trucks scenes and some images filmed in slow moving. An uneven and silly screenplay by Bill L Norton , subsequently turned to mediocre director . Vibrant and brilliant all star cast with acceptable performances from Burt Young , Seymour Cassel , Cassie Yates , among others. Kris Kristofferson turns in a nice acting as a drifting independent trucker nicknamed ¨Duck¨ who is searching freedom in a changing world , he and Ali MacGraw strike real sparks. Ernest Borgnine is particularly fine as the veteran patrolman .Peckinpah's slow-motion camera , his usual trademark,is put to particularly nice utilization shooting the balletic movement of fights , at once more splendidly and awe-inspiring than any gun battle. Furthermore, it contains a country music emotive score by Chip Davis . Glimmer and colorful cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr ,son of another great cameraman Harry Stradling Sr . Splendidly filmed in Albuquerque,Cerrillos, New Mexico,Cuba, New Mexico,Needles, California ,New Mexico State Fair Grounds ,Central & Louisanna Avenues, Albuquerque,White Sands National Monument, and Alamogordo, New Mexico. An agreeable country-trucker-Western with passable interpretations and exciting trucks footage including some slow-moving images and a much moving , professionally made by the famous director Sam Peckinpah . Sam was a real creator and author of masterpieces as ¨Cross of Iron¨,¨The ballad of Cable Hogue¨, ¨Wild bunch¨ , ¨Major Dundee¨ . ¨Convoy¨ though inferior film is lovely realized by Sam Peckinpah in his punchy directorial style .