White Line Fever (1975)

Jan-Michael Vincent plays an idealistic long-haul truck driver who wants no part of shipping illegal un-taxed cigarettes and slot machines (which by today's criminal standards seems positively quaint) for corrupt shipping company owner L.Q. Jones. He the finds himself blackballed and unable to find work until he holds Jones at gunpoint, forcing him to give him a delivery job. He gets a job, but also finds every trucker in the state out to get him. Co-staring Slim Pickens, R.G. Armstrong, Dick Miller, and Martin "Sweep the Leg" Kove, "White Line Fever" is super fun hixploitaiton with good ol boys cussin', fighting' and driving big rigs. I've always loved Jan-Michael Vincent's early work and in reflection upon his career have been fascinated and somewhat haunted a quote from Vincent, lamented that he could have been another James Dean if he'd made only three movies and then died, instead of seeing his career and personal life spiral out of control with drugs, alcohol, and multiple arrests (he's now even minus a leg). If we only remembered Vincent for "The Mechanic," "The Big Wednesday" and possibly this film, he's probably right. We'd have been remembered as a talented, handsome, leading man with a bright future ahead of him, instead of someone who squandered their career and talents. But back to "White Line Fever," this film was written and directed by Roger Corman protege Jonathan Kaplan, who'd later go on to write and direct some major films, including "The Accused" and "Unlawful Entry," so it's an early work by a quality filmmaker, which bring quality to this unabashedly low-brown exploitation drive-in material. Overall, "White Line Fever" is one of Jan-Michael Vincent's better films and is solid entertainment if you're in the mood for "Convoy" meets "Walking Tall."

I love 70's cult cinema, I adore trucker movies and I absolutely worship Jan-Michael Vincent whom I consider to be one of the few genuine dukes of coolness amongst B-movie actors. In other words, the chance of me personally disliking anything about "White Line Fever" were very slim! So if you're looking for a natural and 100% unbiased review, perhaps it's better to read someone else's because I truly love this type of exploitation trash. This is one of Jan-Michael's better performances, for sure, and also one that perfectly fits together amongst some of his other contemporary and sadly underrated gems like "Shadow of the Hawk" and "Vigilante Force". Vincent's character Carroll Jo Hummer returns home from the Vietnam war and intends to pick up his family life again. Just for fun's sake, try to compose a list of ALL the 1970's movies that start with the protagonist(s) returning from 'Nam and trying to pick up their lives again! Hummer's father was a respected trucker in rural Arizona, but he died and Carroll Jo wants to continue the family's trucking tradition. He marries his high-school sweetheart Jerri Kane and together they invest all their money in a cool truck named "the Blue Mule". Finding work isn't really a problem, but the Arizona trucking business is being controlled by corrupt and fraudulent big shots who insist on smuggling stolen and illegal goods. When Carroll Jo refuses to be part of these crimes, he quickly finds himself boycotted and in severe financial issues. When he attempts to fight back, along with a chosen few other earnest and old-fashioned truckers, the crooked magnates don't even hesitate to attack his wife and unborn child. Okay, admittedly "White Line Fever" contains rather too many tedious parts simply showing trucks on the road and the screenplay is chock-full of clichés, but the whole ambiance and settings are irresistibly 70's. The action sequences are quite rough and violent, which certainly isn't a point of criticism coming from yours truly, and the climax sequence is a wonderful example of imaginative symbolism. Handsome Jan-Michael also receives excellent support from a nice assembly of reliable B-movie actors like Slim Pickens, LQ Jones and Dick Miller. Many fans of cult and exploitation cinema refer to "White Line Fever" as the best trucker movie ever made. I think they might be right...

Wonderfully 70's movie! Everything about it screams the mid 70's and you know what? Its all the more engaging for it! This NEEDS to be on DVD (its Sony/Columbia which gives me hope that it might one day see release on their Midnite Madness line of DVDs.) The story is a little confusing--but the movie is so fast moving and so colorful and so involving---the fact that the story keeps flipping the position of whether Jan Michael Vincent is in or out of the corrupt organization who keep alternatively trying to kill him and employ him (sometimes at the same time) just adds to the movie's charm! (really quickly the story is Jan Michael Vincent is a back from 'Nam truck driver who goes to work for a corrupt organization and rebels against their corruptness--he wants to unionize and only haul what he wants to haul--not the illegal contraband that his bosses want him to traffic in----and his bosses in turn try to kill him, his wife, and just about everybody else who happens to be driving on the road around him---that's it----Jan tries to testify in court about their corruption, but that doesn't really matter--because a couple of scenes later--he's back to driving his truck for the very same guys that he was just testifying against---what? exactly!) Story is really just an excuse to see Jan behind the wheel of a big rig while other big rigs try to oust him off the road.Its pretty awesome actually. There are a number of very well shot sequences---the first time Jan Michael has enough of his bosses b.s.--and they fire him---he marches back in his bosses' office with a gun--he forces them to give him work at gunpoint! Its a very well done sequence (although if you stop and think about it given the plot as its unfolded it doesn't make a whole Lotta sense--but hey A Man's Gotta Work And Put Food On The Table Damnit!) And Then They Drive Him Too Far--which leads to a very depressing ending--but an awesomely depressing one!!!! I won't ruin it--but its awesome! Seriously if this was on DVD--I think i would've bought it already---i wanted to see it again immediately after the end credits rolled---so Columbia get on it!

Saw this movie when I was about 7 yrs old and thought it was one of the better truck movies of the 70's. Movies back then were all about stunts, and cool cars and trucks getting trashed big time. Everything else like story lines and character development just got in the way. This film had the best truck crash stunt ever, no special effects then, if you wanted to jump a truck 200 ft through a giant glass structure, you had to use a real truck and a real glass structure. There was a killer chase scene where the Blue Mule and an old Ford Louisville battle it out. The Mule T-bones the louie a beauty at full noise. The producers did a top job on getting the right looking truck for the movie, the Blue Mule was a sharp lookin rig, for a while there.