Convoy (1978)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writer:

Bill L. Norton (writer)

Release Date:

10 August 1978 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Tagline:

Kristofferson and MacGraw...ain't nothin' gonna get in their way!

Plot:

Truckers form a mile long "convoy" in support of a trucker's vendetta with an abusive sheriff...Based on the country song of same title by C.W. McCall. |

Plot Keywords:

Convoy | Radio News | Road Movie | Police | Faked Death

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Kris Kristofferson	...	Rubber Duck aka Martin Penwald
Ali MacGraw	...	Melissa
Ernest Borgnine	...	Sheriff Lyle Wallace aka Cottonmouth
Burt Young	...	Pig Pen / Love Machine
Madge Sinclair	...	Widow Woman
Franklyn Ajaye	...	Spider Mike
Brian Davies	...	Chuck Arnoldi
Seymour Cassel	...	Governer Jerry Haskins
Cassie Yates	...	Violet
Walter Kelley	...	Federal Agent Hamilton
Jackson D. Kane	...	Big Nasty (as J.D. Kane)
Billy Hughes	...	Pack Rat (as Billy E. Hughes)
Whitey Hughes	...	White Rat
Bill Coontz	...	Old Iguana (as Bill Foster)
Tommy J. Huff	...	Lizard Tongue (as Thomas Huff)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:16 | West Germany:12 (re-rated) | West Germany:16 | UK:15 (video rating) (1987) | UK:A (original rating) | Australia:M | Australia:PG (alternate rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (DVD rating) (2001) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

EMI Films

Trivia:

Although the movie was inspired by the 1976 song of the same title, the song really didn't have much of a plot. So after the screenplay was written, Bill Fries (aka CW McCall) recorded a new version of the song, with lyrics that incorporated the characters and events of the film. This is the version that is played during the final credits.

Goofs:

Continuity: Throughout the film, Rubber Duck's truck has a grill guard. In the scene after his and Pig Pen's trucks have crashed through the jail, the grill guard is missing when the truck pulls out. Yet it's back on there for the rest of the movie.

Quotes:

Melissa: Well I think I've had just about enough of this, thank you very much. I'll think I'll take my things and GET OUT. If you'll pull over to the side, I'm sure I can hitch a ride very easily... Weren't you listening to me? I said I'm ready to get out!
Rubber Duck: You want out? We're being chased. You want out? Jump.
Melissa: You want to add the Mann Act to your collection?
Rubber Duck: Mann Act's for 18 year olds, not someone who's seen the better side of thirty!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "My Name Is Earl: Made a Lady Think I Was God (#2.6)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Lucille

Their all following you! No they ain't..I'm just in front of them.

A convoy of angry and enraged truckers are rolling down the desert highways of Arizona New Mexico and Texas led by Martin Penwald (Kris Kistofferson) using the CB-handle "Rubber Duck". The truckers had enough of the corrupt highway cops who shake them down and threaten to impound their rigs. Leaving the truckers without any means of financial support. As well as the ridicules 55 MPH speed limit on the highways that cuts into their time and earnings and last but not least the sky-rocketing gas prices.

After the Rubber Duck and two of his trucker pals Love Machine & Spider Mike,Burt Young & Franklyn Ajaye, were entrapped by the nasty and vindictive local Sheriff Lyle Wallace, Earnest Borgnine,for illegally using the trucker CB-handle name Cottonmouth. Their shaken down by the "lawman" for $70.00 each in order to avoid having their trucks impounded and them being thrown behind bars.

The three later Going to the local truck stop to celebrate the Rubber Ducks birthday and have a few drinks are again confronted by the lawman. Sheriff Wallace, still not satisfied with pushing the truckers around, comes snooping around the area to make a few more bucks off the abused haulers. Wallace picks on poor Spider Mike accusing him of loitering and is about to throw him in jail. Spiker Mike pleads to the unfeeling Wallace that his wife is about to give birth and to please leave him alone which doesn't move the sheriff at all. But a straight right to his jaw, by Spider Mike, does make him move right on the butt of his pants. In a bar brawl with the truckers, who come to the aid of Spider Mike Love Machine and the Rubber Duck, Wallace and two of his deputies are knocked out cold and handcuffed as the three truckers together with the Rubber Duck's new found squeeze the plucky and outspoken Melissa (Ali MacGraw), a wedding photographer who's car broke down, then take off and go back on the road again with the entire Arizona Highway Patrol on their tail.

Chased by the crazy Sheriff Wallace, who commandeered a car from a young couple smoking and shearing a joint. the Rubber Duck Love Machine & Spider Mike get the full support from some very expected and unexpected persons that during the remainder of the film has them on the front pages of the news as well as getting the ear of the local governors senators and even the President of the United States himself.

There's strength in numbers is the theme of "Convoy" with the Rubber Duck & friends making a private affair into a public happening. This by drawing attention to the plight of him and his fellow truckers and how their short-changed and ill-treated by everyone down the line, police politicians and big oil, as they try to do their.

The giant convoy of truckers following the Rubber Duck open the eyes of the nation and puts corrupt low-lives like Sheriff Wallace on the front pages. All that showed what these hard working and dedicated men, the truckers, have to put up with every day and night that their on the road. In the end they get the support and respect from the public, as well as the politicians, that they so richly deserve. When the clueless and almost brain-dead politicians see the endless line of the trucker convoy lead by the Rubber Duck they not only stand up and listen but they deliver as well.

One of director Sam Peckinpah's most underrated films that, as far as I could see, had no one killed in it. Even though the amount of violence and explosions were equaled to Peckinpah's famous blood-splattering 1969 classic "The Wild Bunch".