Convoy

Convoy (1978)

Runtime: 111 minutes

Directed by: Sam Peckinpah

Starring: Kris Kristofferson (RIP), Ali MacGraw, Burt Young, Franklyn Ajaye, Ernest Borgnine

From: EMI/United Artists

A belated RIP to Kris Kristofferson. There was no time during Spooky Season to properly tip my cap and it was uncertain what to select that I hadn’t reviewed or even seen before. Yesterday I finally read the Letterboxd Call Sheet e-mail that’s frequently sent out. I rarely read those in-depth due to bad writing, bad opinions, bad attempts at humor, etc. Well, the writer of those noted this movie then mentioned that they weren’t a fan of Sam Peckinpah’s “noxious bullet-ridden machismo.” See why I never take those e-mails seriously?

It's not the best Kristofferson by any means but boy does it give me something to discuss. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a movie based on a novelty song (a new version of the song with lyrics concerning the film’s plot was recorded & heard in the film) about a hot trend at the time-CB radios & truckers), directed by a true talent who unfortunately was in the worst throes of personal demons… I should be glad the movie’s not a complete disaster. Kris is legendary trucker RUBBER DUCK who feuds w/ A-hole racist sheriff Ernest Borgnine. It escalates as the truckers are blatantly coded as “the new cowboys” and the public start to see them as heroes against “the man.” I shouldn’t have been surprised given both the director and the star, the latter who was willing to be political at the expense of his career.

It also wasn’t a surprise that the movie was incredibly disjointed, seemingly missing scenes and for certain full of ADR’ed dialogue. As Peckinpah was either “not in condition to direct” for part or much of the shoot, so at least a few scenes were directed by… James Coburn! He was an AD due to his desire for a DGA card; what a movie to work on. A big problem for Convoy is that it can easily be compared w/ Smokey & the Bandit, which easily outclasses it in terms of story, action (except for one big brawl) and fan appeal.

Be that as it may, the movie was at least watchable & a nice time capsule to a short-lived fad. The cast at least entertained; Kristofferson was certainly believable as an anti-authority badass and Ali MacGraw had quite the pixie cut curly-haired ‘do but Burt Young was the most memorable. The character itself was hysterical plus between the outfit, his wacky accent and his handle—it was a gas. He was called Pig Pen due to his cargo but before that the handle was LOVE MACHINE.

RIP to Kris Kristofferson-singer, actor, activist. Not only did he make bold stances such as supporting Cesar Chavez and Sinead O’Connor, he also cussed out Toby Keith to his face for Keith being “a fake patriot” when Kristofferson was actually in the military and in fact was part of a military family. We need more personalities like this; I hope they’re not a dying breed.