5/5 Truckers Delight
  by J. D. Justice
As a trucker this has to be one of absolute favorites of all time. I love to see the old Brockway and Diamond Reo trucks and see how folks used to drive before there was power steering, a/c, and air ride suspension back when it was real work to grind gears across the country.

5/5 Convoy
  by deathproof22 (Wise County, Va)
I bought this movie for a co-worker whose husband loves the movie. She said the quality was excellent, especially for it to be such an old movie!

4/5 What a party it must have been...
  by Chris Wilson (Dallas, TX)
"Convoy," the 1978 action trucker flick, is one of those movies you like but are afraid to admit to. It's the kind of tape you hide in the closet when friends are over. I first saw this crash epic at the theater as a kid and sat through it a second time because I liked it so much. Time has only slightly worn down my admiration, but in terms of the trucker genre, it's still the best.

Ah, the 1970s, those days of CB handles, Smokey and the Bandit - Special Edition, White Line Fever and Breaker, Breaker. Can you believe we flocked to the theater in droves to see these films? "Convoy" came out at the tail end of this pedal-to-the-metal hoopla, about the time the song "Movin' On" was included on the B-side of all of those K-tel LPs. The film's director was the one and only Sam Peckinpah, now closing in on the end of a turbulent career. He was suffering from addictions and barely functioning as a professional. Yet even through the haze of alcohol and The Wild Bunch - The Original Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition) dreams, shreds of his wonderful talent can be seen. It's ironic that a film considered the worst of his career is the best of a genre (fans of Jonathan Demme's fine Citizens Band may disagree).

"Convoy" is a muscle epic, with a genuine attempt at portraying the gritty lifestyle of truckers. I like Kris Kristofferson in the lead role, a brooding presence who makes a fine hero. I have always had problems with trucker films because the actors never really seemed appropriate for their roles (with the exception of Jerry Reed, of course). Kris is just right, exuding a sort of blue collar charisma that fits the role like faded jeans and a dirty red bandanna. The supporting cast is unusually excellent, including Ernest Borgnine in fine villainous form, Burt Young, Franklyn Ajaye and Madge Sinclair as salt-of-the-earth truckers, and even a distracted Ali MacGraw jogging around in bell bottoms and mini-fro.

The movie, based on the kitschy hit song by C.W. McCall C.W. McCall - Greatest Hits, is about a trucker who runs afoul of a surly cop and then forms a convoy of trucks to escape corruption, jail, whatever. There's a few subplots, including a governor who wishes to tout trucker rights, a jailbreak somewhere in Texas and eventually a standoff with the National Guard on the Mexican border. It all sounds like a Marty Robbins' song.

The cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr. is extraordinary, taking full advantage of the on-location vistas of New Mexico and Arizona. There's also a barroom fight and a car crash that must rank as the finest ever put on film. And you even have salty lines of dialog straight from the cynical pen of Peckinpah - "Mann Act's for 18 year olds, not someone who's seen the better side of thirty!" Or my favorite, when Kristofferson is asked what's the purpose of a convoy, "Purpose of a convoy is to keep movin'."

Poor Sam, in the throes of alcoholism, struggled mightily during the making of this movie, and it still performed well at the box office. Never-the-less, his career was in ruins after "Convoy." He would make one more film before riding off into the western sunset. Not many people involved with "Convoy" are fond of it due to the problems during production. But what a party it must have been.

If you squint your eyes just right and laugh at its absurdity, the wind-blown pages of this mediocre screenplay possess poetry of haunted men chasing ghosts down highways of the American southwest. "Convoy" is an example of A-list talent tackling C-list material, the end result being a unique film that raises the level of a crude genre.

4/5 Review of CONVOY
  by Thorgeir Jonsson (Iceland)
A great, classic movie of it's kind. And (my opinion) the best thing Kris ever did

4/5 Convoy
  by Timothy L. McConnell (Virginia Beach,VA)
It was enjoyable to go down memory lane and see a movie I havent seen in 20 years. It was worth the few bucks I paid to have this in my collection.