Convoy

One of my greatest interests as a young child was tractor trailers. I had a shiney folder for school that displayed the new 1979 Peterbuilt trucks. This was my favorite folder ever. Needless to say, Sam Peckinpah's 1978 movie hased on C.W. McCall's song Convoy was one of my favorite movies.

The movie stars Highwayman member Kris Kristofferson, who I learned dated Janis Joplin and was married to Rita Coolidge (We're All Alone). Also in the movie is Ali MacGraw, Ernest Borgnine (known to kids today as Mermaid Man from Sponge Bob Square Pants), and Burt Young, most notable as Paulie, Adrian's brother in the Rocky movies.

The movie is a classic trucker movie, though there seem to be many parallels between this movie and the 1977 Smokey and the Bandit movie, except that Convoy was not a comedy. Kristofferson plays "the Rubber Duck", which is his CB handle. He picks up MacGraw at a truckstop after a full fledged fight with the police, most notably Sheriff Lyle Wallace, the "Cottonmouth", played by Borgnine. Sheriff Wallace is a corrupt racist cop that demands cash payments for tickets and is always out to get truckers.

The rest of the movie sees the truckers racing out of Arizona to escape the law. However, the Sheriff gets the Governor and federal officials after him. There's plenty of smash-em up, crash-em up scenes. And the trucker lingo is great.

One of my favorite lines in the movie is when one of the trucks overturns after turning left on a road. The lady driving the truck, nicknamed the Black Widow, is a black woman. She gets out of the truck stomping on the ground yelling, "This piece of white shit! I knew I should have bought a black truck!"

Another great line was when Ali MacGraw was questioning the Rubber Duck about his mission. He basically said that he wasn't on a mission, just running from the law. She says that there was a mile of trucks following him. He turned and corrected her. "There not following me. I just happen to be in front."

And finally, when asked why he was called the Rubber Duck, he repsonds, "Because it rhymes with "luck." See, my daddy always told me to be just like a duck. Stay smooth on the surface and paddle like the devil underneath!"

The movie is a little under 2 hours long and is rated PG, which is deceiving because it's a 1978 PG. At the beginning of the movie, it said it was rated PG for some adult content. I figured this to mean adult situations. No. This meant lot's of cussing, though no F-bombs, lots of fighting, a nice pear of breasts in the sleeper cab, and some sexual situations.

This movie has more sentimental value for me, so my rating is probably bias. I gave this movie 4 stars. It has trucks, country music, pretty girls, and fighting. What more could I guy ask for?