Convoy
When the trucker Rubber Duck (Kris Kristofferson) and a few friends end up in a bar brawl with some police officers they decide to make a run for the state line in their rigs. As they head for the border they get joined by more and more trucks until they form a huge convoy...
Plot
When the trucker Rubber Duck (Kris Kristofferson) and a few friends end up in a bar brawl with some police officers they decide to make a run for the state line in their rigs. As they head for the border they get joined by more and more trucks until they form a huge convoy.
They are pursued by Sheriff Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine) otherwise known as Dirty Lyle, who will go to any lengths to get his revenge on the Rubber Duck and his “good buddies”. Along the way the Convoy becomes a protest march for all truckers rather than a run from the law.
Review
If your in your early twenty’s or younger then your probably too young to remember the CB radio craze that swept the UK in the eighties. With no Internet to speak of Citizens Band Radio was the chat room of the 80’s with the added advantage that you could tell from the voice if Saucy Suzy was really a Naughty Nigel!
You would see many a Ford Granada with an Arial that was bigger than the car and an inability to go under low bridges. People were getting poor TV reception as their next-door neighbour had a re-enforced communications tower stuck on their rooftop, yes Arial envy was the name of the day. Everyone was into it until the government made it legal and took all the fun out of it.
What has this nostalgic trip down memory lane got to do with Convoy I hear you cry? If your are now a thirty-something like myself then you probably already know the answer but for all you young whipper-snappers out there, I would say that for me the film perfectly captures the essence of the period.
Big trucks, tough truckers, evil cops, CB Radios and awful country music are the order of the day here. This film is no classic, it has some big plot holes, over the top acting from some cast, a dodgy climax and some very questionable animal rights issues. One of the trucks is carrying a cargo of live pigs and throughout the course of the film (even when they drive across a dust track) they are never watered, fed or let out of the trailer.
Despite all of these issues, I love the film, I even love the awful country music (“They even had a bear in the air..”, classic). For me the film is more like a trip through an old photo album that a cinematic experience. Not that I was ever a trucker or on the run from the law you understand, it’s just a good fun romp back into those schoolboy days.
Apart from my personal nostalgia, it is actually a fun film in it’s own right. Although some of the acting is sub-standard, Kris Kristofferson (Rubber Duck) and Ernest Borgnine (Sheriff Lyle Wallace) are both great. The film moves along at a decent pace, there’s plenty of big 18-Wheelers for the young kid inside you and there’s a classic completely over the top bar-brawl scene that will have you in stitches. What more can I say?
Video / Audio
I guess a film like this is never going to get the special edition treatment that some classics from the same period would get. This certainly shows through in the picture quality. It’s not actually bad as such, it is presented in the original ratio of 2.35:1 and it has been given the Anamorphic treatment. It is however quite grainy in places and is subject to some film scratches throughout.
The same can be said for the audio quality I’m afraid. We have a Dolby digital Mono soundtrack in English, French, Italian or Spanish. The soundtrack is probably best described as functional; generally it is pretty clear although occasionally it can sound a bit muffled.
Extras
There’s not really much to mention here, there is a Photo Gallery, which contains the grand total of 11 images, one of these is the original film poster. There’s also a selective Filmography for Sam Peckinpah (Director), Ali MacGraw (Melissa), Kris Kristofferson (Rubber Duck), Ernest Borgnine (Sheriff Lyle Wallace).
That I’m afraid is it as far as extras go. The film is broken into 12 chapters and subtitles are available in French only.
Overall
Nostalgia aside, this is a great little film presented on an unfortunately sub-standard disk. Video and Audio are not great and there’s very little here in the form of extras. Having said that, if you shop around you can pick for as little as £7.99 and if that seems too much you can always rent it out. Go on, give it a try.
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