July 29, 2026

Convoy (1978): How a Hit Song Became Sam Peckinpah's Biggest Hit

Convoy (1978): How a Hit Song Became Sam Peckinpah's Biggest Hit
Convoy (1978): How a Hit Song Became Sam Peckinpah's Biggest Hit
Cinematic Flashback
Convoy (1978): How a Hit Song Became Sam Peckinpah's Biggest Hit
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Season 2

In this episode of The Cinematic Flashback, we review Sam Peckinpah's 1978 film Convoy, starring Kris Kristofferson, Ernest Borgnine, Ally MacGraw, Bert Young, Madge Sinclair, and Franklyn Ajaye. Inspired by C.W. McCall's chart-topping country hit, Convoy became the highest-grossing film of Peckinpah's career and captured the CB radio and trucking craze that swept America during the late 1970s.

We trace the film's unlikely journey from a series of bread commercials to a hit novelty song, then to a major Hollywood production directed by one of America's most influential filmmakers. Along the way, we discuss Peckinpah's troubled production, the contributions of Chip Davis—who would later co-found Mannheim Steamroller—and why Convoy often feels more like a modern Western than a traditional action movie.

We also compare Convoy to White Line Fever and Smokey and the Bandit, examine the CB radio phenomenon as a precursor to today's social media, and discuss the film's memorable stunt work, colorful supporting cast, and whether its themes of rebellion and independence still resonate nearly fifty years later.

The Cinematic Flashback is the podcast dedicated to exploring the films of the 1970s through their production history, cultural impact, and lasting legacy—one movie at a time.

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WEBVTT

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Screwing it down a bit runch you boys, Jesus Christ. Hello,

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I d boys, this is the Papa Bear. Been a

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long time. It's been six years. Yeah, six years. I

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should have known that'd be you on the other end

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of that two way?

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What two way?

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The CB cotton Mouth couldn't have been me. I ain't

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got no CB. Besides, I don't believe in police entrapman.

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Come on, Welcome to the Cinematic Flashback Podcast. Get ready

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to hop into the wayback machine as we journey through

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the wild fold and unforgettable films of the nineteen seventy

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Each episode we break down a classic movie or forgot Jim,

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seeing how it performed then and now, and wrapping things

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up by asking fiddig ruth of the decades or did

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it lose its feet? I am your host, Chuck Bryan,

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and today we are reviewing Sam Peckhama's nineteen seventy eight

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film Convoy, starring Chris Chris Stofferson, Ali McGraw, Ernest borg Nine,

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Bert Young, and Madge Sinclair. This is our second and

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final stop in our Keep on Trucking month. Last episode

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we've followed one trucker taken on the system in white

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line fever. This time we've got hundreds of trucks, a

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chart topping country song, a CBE radio in every cab,

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and Sam Peckham pod trying to steer the whole thing

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down the interstate. Let me let me check here, break breaker,

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break a breaker one nine. Matt, you got your ears on?

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Come home back.

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That's your good buddy. I'm at your back door. You

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see any bears up there, come on.

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Back, Roger, that Roger that we got a roadblock up

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there on the clover leaf and them bears are wall

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to wall.

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Have you been my man, I've been fine. This has

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been a bit of a trip down memory lane with

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the CBE banter and stuff. You know, it's going through

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some of that, And I have to tell you I

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listened to a YouTube series of a local chef. I

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had to laugh so hard because his dialect is absolutely

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trucker slang.

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Last episode, we started talking about the CBE radio craze.

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We kind of shared a lot of our memories and

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experiences with it and just talked about how big it

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became during the seventies. But while researching Convoy, I started

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kind of getting this little nugget of an idea. So

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here it goes. In nineteen seventy five was CBE radio

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basically America's first social media platform. And let me expand

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just a little bit. People had handles instead of user's name.

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They talked to strangers they never met, They shared information

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in real time, they complained about authorities, they spread rumors,

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and they built these communities around common interest. The technology

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was different, but the behavior feels surprisingly familiar.

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I think you're on something, But I think the big

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difference was range. Today a tweet could be heard around

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the world. Back then, a breaker one nine could on

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average reach about five miles. If a trucker had a

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real good set of tuned antenna's, hooked down knights and

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high on his cab, they might be able to get

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ten miles. You know, there is a phenomenon called skip

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you know, you could communicate over many, many miles. That's

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it was skipping off the IONISA that generally happened in

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the evenings, not something that usually happens. So you're talking

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about a pretty limited range of people you can talk

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to and messages. Now you'll see and even in our movie,

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we see that by using that little range and then

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repeating like word of mouth, but over the radio you

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could reach many miles in front. So a trucker would

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call ahead or behind saying hey, I just passed a

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speed trap, and then the truck that's sort of at

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the edge of that would then pass it to the

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people behind him and etcetera. So you could reach a

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pretty big range, but it sort of depended on word

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of mouth. I think we'd be better off with the

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five mile range because I think, you know, there's the

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today's inane blather can reach Antarctica back then just only

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five miles, and then each person has to decide whether

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they're going to repeat it or not, which I think

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was a good thing. Right. Of course, that would also

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be we wouldn't be making this podcast or every episode

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would be live.

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Well, Matt, do we have anyone giving us any feedback

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this week?

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Yes, we do. This was from our Dirty Harry Encore episode.

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Listener Chris left us this comment on Spotify. Whoa great episode.

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I learned to think of two about guns. The best

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scene in the movie was the stadium where the camera

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pulls away and you can hear that creepy music in

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Scorpio's screams as Harry steps on its leg cheers. Thank

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you Chris for that feedback. We love to hear it,

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and as always the general population of people who are

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listening to our podcast, we want to hear from you,

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good or bad, or some advice. We welcome it all.

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We know that two dudes in a microphone is not

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exactly high art, but we love movies and we hope

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that we can help you discover a forgotten gem or

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understand a little bit about the time when the movie

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was released. Don't be shy, be like Chris and let

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us know how we're doing. Use the comment feature on

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your podcast listening app, or hit us up on our

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Facebook page, or go right to our website at www

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dot cinematic flashback dot com. You know, Matt, I have

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to really agree with Chris on that episode.

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I think I called you up and just said, hey, Matt,

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I know you know more about guns than I do.

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Just you carry that. You know that was definitely nineteen seventies.

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Guns are featured a lot more, I think in a

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different light than today. And you know, I think you

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know things progress, I think in a positive way largely,

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but yeah, that's the way it happened. So hm, Chuck

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aw or should they say, why did this movie happen?

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Well, Well, Matt, Before we get into the production of Convoy,

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I want to ask a question on my own. What

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do a bread commercial, a truck driving country singer, a

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Sam Peckhampalm, and Christmas music have in common?

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I have absolutely no idea, but I'm hoping it has

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something to do with Convoy. Yeah, V white stuff.

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I had a jack knife rie it could drove block

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a slid, had a musty chain and a load of

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bread for the old home killer.

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Up and keep on a truck in the Yeah it does.

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It sounds like the setup to a very bad joke,

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but it's actually the story of how Convoy got made.

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And the story begins back in nineteen seventy three, when

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advertising executive Bill Freese created a truck driving character called

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c W. McCall for a series of old Homebred mercials.

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Says you Know what to Say, Cold Truck.

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The initials c W stood for Country Western, while McCall

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was inspired by a copy of McCall's magazine that just

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happened to be sitting on his desk. The character became

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popular enough that Freeze and musician Chip Davis took c W.

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McCall beyond the commercials and into the recording studios, releasing

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several albums and took.

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Off for when you created that thing, did you have

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any idea at all it would develop into this sort

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of thing?

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I had no idea.

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You write all of this stuff?

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Yeah, we write all of our own material. I do

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all lyrics, and a phill named Chip Davis writes the music.

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Nineteen seventy five, their album Black Bear Road included a

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little song called Convoy, a breaker on nine.

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This year's a rubber Duck.

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You've got a copy on me? Fan?

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Come on?

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Convoy became a massive rossover hit, reaching number one on

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both the country and pop charts.

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Come on.

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Four then, Yeah, we definitely.

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EMI Films saw a hit song and a growing trucker

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craze and decided there was a movie to be made.

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There was only one problem. The song didn't provide much

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of a story. It had a convoy, a trucker named

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rubber Duck, and not much else. The rest would have

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to be invented. Emi turned to Sam Peckham Pop. He

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didn't see a truck movie. He saw a western rubber

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Duck became a modern outlaw hero sheriff Lyle Wallace became

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the lawman in pursuit, and America's highways became Peck and

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PA's frontier. But production was difficult. Peck and pause struggles

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with alcohol and health issues continued throughout the film, and

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creative conflicts followed the movie into post production. Despite those challenges,

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Convoy was completed and released in the summer of nineteen

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seventy eight, and ironically, it became the highest grossing film

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of Peck and PA's career. The adaptation eventually came full circle.

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CW McCall recorded a revised version of Convoy that incorporated

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characters and events from the movie. The song became a movie,

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and then the movie became a song again. And here's

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one final twist. While Bill Freese was becoming famous as CW. McCall,

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Chip Davis was also developed he being another musical project

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called Mannheim Steamroller. In fact, the first fresh air album

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was released in nineteen seventy five, the same year Convoy

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became a national phenomenon. Over the following decades, Mannheim Steamroller

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would become one of the most successful Christmas music acts

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in America. So that's the unlikely road to Convoy.

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Matt A.

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Bred commercial created a fictional truck driver. The truck driver

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became a recording star. That recording star inspired a Sam

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Peckinpah movie, and the musician behind it all eventually became

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one of the biggest names in neo classical Christmas music.

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I am gobsmack about Mannheim Steamroller. Yeah.

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What sent me down this rabbit trail was the opening

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credit had Chip Davis's name.

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Can't be the same guy.

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But the thing is is, I have friends that studied

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from Chip Davis, so that name was very familiar to me.

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And I went and I looked it up and sure enough,

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this is who it was. So then that led me

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all the way back to where I realized that c. W.

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McCall was not a real person. You know, I'll be

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honest with you. Until we decided to record this podcast,

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I thought c. W. Book all was a real person.

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Why would you not? Yeah, yeah, so funny, so funny.

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Well, hey man, we are ready to dive into these

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production details of Convoy, but first we need to take

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a step away for a quick break.

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We'll be right back.

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It's a cinematic slash back the shop, and it's a

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cinematic slash back shop.

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Twenty miles wrong and twenty people wives on the power

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of ninety thousand boys. Since sorry, it's a beautiful sighting

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and I held him a arriety. It's a convoy. Well,

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a man up front is the rubber Duck.

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He's the finest man ever, drove a truck with a

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tank full of nerve.

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And a heart full of luck, and he's got a convoy.

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Now it starts when I'm there.

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He's as bad as can be, sets his mind on

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highway robbery with the ducks.

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Is you better not miss with me? I got a convoy. Well,

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let's chase his.

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Own, running night and day, laying tracks clear across the

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USA five.

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So if you want to join, you're becoming your way.

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It's a convoy.

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Chris christoffers Ally McGraw, Britt Young, mag Sinclair Franklin AJ

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and Dennis board Nine in Convoy Rated Fiji.

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Welcome back. Let's get into the production details. Convoy was

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released in the United States on June twenty eighth, nineteen

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seventy eight, and distributed by United Artists. The film runs

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about an hour and fifty minutes and was produced by

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EMI Film with a budget of twelve million dollars. The

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movie would go on to earn approximately forty five million

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at the box office, making it, as we said, the

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highest grossing film of Sem peckham Pause career. It is

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also worth noting that, as we talked about in The Getaway,

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Pkimpa was a functional alcoholic. However, by nineteen seventy eight

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the alcohol and drugs were impeding his work on this film.

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He brought in his longtime friend James Coburn as a

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second unit director, earning Coburn his DGA credentials, and by

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many accounts, there were times when Peck and Pah was

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just not available and Coburn directed some of the first

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unit as well. Coburn had starred in other Peck and

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Pop films such as Major Dundee, Pat Garrett and Billy

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the Kidd, as well as Cross of Iron. After turning

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in a rough cut that was reportedly more than three

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hours and forty minutes, EMI executive Michael Deey lost confidence

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that Peckham Pah and his longtime editor Garth Craven would

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actually be able to deliver a commercially viable film in

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time for its planned summer release, so Deey removed both

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men from the editing process and promoted Graham Clifford oversee

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the completion of the film. And just for perspective, Michael

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Deey was hardly a studio novice. He was one of

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the key executives behind The Deer Hunter and would later

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produce Blade Runner. The screenplay was written by Bill Norton.

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Harry Stradling Junior served as cinematographer, while Joe Wright and

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Garth Craven handled editing duties. The music was composed by

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Chip Davis. Today, Convoy holds a fifty eight percent critic

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score on Rotten Tomatoes and seventy one percent audience score.

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And I read from the Leonard Malton edition of his

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review from nineteen ninety two, he gave it two stars.

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A Convoy is only as good as the drivers in it. So, Matt,

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let's take a look at this cast.

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All right. So we'll first start out with a great singer,

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very charismatic person with a wonderful history, Chris Christofferson.

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Why they go get a duck because they rhymes with luck.

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Now, my daddy always told me all to be just

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like a duck, saynsday, smooth on the service, kind of

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like the devil underneath.

256
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Notice I did not put down acting as possibly his

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maybe strongest suit. He was a very interesting guy and

258
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he is the lead in this movie. He was an

259
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amazing dude. I mean he was a captain and a

260
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helicopter pilot in the army. Is a Rhodes scholar to Oxford.

261
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He actually wrote and performed songs. Sunday Morning Coming Down,

262
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sung by Johnny Cash, won the Country Music Association Year

263
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Award in nineteen seventy. He wrote, Me and Bobby McGhee,

264
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I mean that's classic. Yeah, helped me make it through

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the night for the good Time. So those are ones

266
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I haven't heard as much, but me and Bobby McGee,

267
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Oh my god. Oh that's a great song. Yeah, it is,

268
00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:25.039
it is. And then he was in a number of movies.

269
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A Star Is Born, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,

270
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as we talked about. That was a Peckinpoff film Alice

271
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Doesn't Live Here Anymore. That was Scorsese film Heaven's Gate.

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That was a Michael Chimino. How do we say that,

273
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I never get it right, Michael Chabbino. Yeah, so yeah, So,

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I mean Chris Christopherson's real powerhouse. I gotta say he's

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probably he's probably a much better singer than actor. But

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I'll be honest with you. I'm gonna say he did

277
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the most he could with this well writing shotgun. For

278
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much of this movie is Ali McGraw as Melissa.

279
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What's going on here?

280
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Oh Melissa, this is the duck.

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She needs a ride.

282
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What happened to XK?

283
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I sold it?

284
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Bertie Patty to know each other.

285
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This is the guy I told you about, the one

286
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that told the cop that I was new driving.

287
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Oh, I shouldn't have to get you.

288
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After his proposition, I send him to the motel of

289
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his choice, where I think he's probably still waiting for me.

290
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And she enters the movie driving a really sweet nineteen

291
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seventy four Jaguar x KE. But the last time we

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talked about her was in The Getaway, which was nineteen

293
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seventy two, also directed by Sam peckham Paw, and I

294
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have to say that was the last movie she had

295
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actually made. So this is there's a period of six

296
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years between these two films. I hesitate to mention it, Matt,

297
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but she did star in that little film that pulled

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Paramount out of the dumpster called Love Story. We also

299
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remember that she was married to the head of Paramount

300
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at one point, Robert Evans, but their marriage hit hard

301
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times when he was focused on The Guy Father and

302
00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:02.360
she was working with Steve McQueen.

303
00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:04.720
I think you might want to word that around again

304
00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:07.879
and say their marriage hit hard times when he was

305
00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:11.559
working on the Godfather and she was focused on Steve McQueen.

306
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I think you just said it, everybody. Oh man. That

307
00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:22.639
also brings us to actually my favorite actor in this film,

308
00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:24.720
who is Bert Young. And when I saw him come

309
00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:27.840
up on the credits, I'm like, no, it's Pollie. Yes,

310
00:16:28.440 --> 00:16:29.440
it's Pollie.

311
00:16:30.679 --> 00:16:32.279
That's a big tempocal buddy.

312
00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:34.039
That's Spider Mike, get your back door.

313
00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:37.240
My head is love Machines. Can I want a Kobe

314
00:16:37.320 --> 00:16:41.919
Little Machine, Father fox Out, you call it TV. I

315
00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:43.759
got a big ball sitting right behind it.

316
00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:50.240
I'll hit this a walm waa wana bit all the

317
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Preacher comfort trient.

318
00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:55.440
Hey, love Machine, you ain't a holler on go go girls,

319
00:16:55.480 --> 00:16:55.759
are you?

320
00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:57.120
Yeah?

321
00:16:57.240 --> 00:16:59.080
Dude, that's just what he's hollid.

322
00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:02.639
And the close up to did you notice his hit

323
00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:05.240
the Trucking Company? I did the side of Unsure.

324
00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:07.839
You mentioned it in the notes here, and I looked

325
00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:10.519
back at it in this laugh. That is so funny

326
00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:14.720
because who we're talking about is the is the ultimate

327
00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:19.359
character actor Bert Young, who played Polly in the Rocky

328
00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:22.519
movies all of them, and everybody sort of loves to

329
00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:24.319
hate him. He was kind of the thing. But in

330
00:17:24.359 --> 00:17:27.160
this movie he's actually kind of a hero. He's kind

331
00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:30.599
of a good guy. I have to say. He plays

332
00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:34.400
this character. I think his name is the love Machine,

333
00:17:34.440 --> 00:17:38.680
but since he was hauling hogs, they renamed him pig Pack. Yeah.

334
00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:42.640
He said he earned that nickname. Yeah. Well, they asked

335
00:17:42.680 --> 00:17:44.519
him if he earned it with the Go Go girls.

336
00:17:44.519 --> 00:17:46.759
Thought he was hauling a bunch of girls.

337
00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:49.559
That's right, that's what they call That's what they call hogs,

338
00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:53.240
and they're doing it. So I will say that he

339
00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:57.599
delivered a pretty good performance in here. He was funny.

340
00:17:57.720 --> 00:18:00.680
He was really cringey when he was to talk to

341
00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:04.079
the girls, which was perfect. So, I mean, it was fun.

342
00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:07.559
It was definitely fun to have him in this film.

343
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In my opinion, a real shocker because I did not

344
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even remember him in this film and I did see

345
00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:14.599
Convoy back in the day.

346
00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:18.319
Yeah, can I make an observation. I don't want to

347
00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:20.759
let the cat out of the bag too soon. But

348
00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:23.559
I'm going to say that I think I enjoyed the

349
00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:28.160
supporting cast more than the main camp. Right, is that fair?

350
00:18:28.519 --> 00:18:31.440
I think that's absolutely fair. And I think I know

351
00:18:31.480 --> 00:18:34.279
you want to talk about our next actress. I'm very

352
00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:37.640
impressed with this next actress, and her name is Madge Sinclair.

353
00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:39.640
But I'll let you take the information on her.

354
00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:40.240
Sure.

355
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I have to admit when I watched her the first time,

356
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I walked away just loving her match Sinclaire who played

357
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widow Woman in this movie. So I go and I

358
00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:52.359
start looking at her IMDb, of course, because you're just

359
00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:54.440
trying to see what else has she's been in. I

360
00:18:54.519 --> 00:18:59.079
knew that I recognized her vaguely because she is the

361
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captain of the USS Saratoga from star Trek for the Voyage.

362
00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:07.559
Home Starfleet Command. This is USS Saratoga patrolling Sector five

363
00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:11.000
Neutral Zone. We're tracking a probe of unknown origin on

364
00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:14.359
a parent trajectory to the Terran Solar System. Attempts to

365
00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:17.559
communicate with the probe have been negative on all known frequencies.

366
00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:21.279
Continue tracking Saratoga. We will analyze transmissions and.

367
00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:24.200
Advice Roger Starfleet Saratoga out.

368
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That would have made her the first female Starfleet captain

369
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be seen in the history of Star Trek. She also

370
00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:36.920
appeared in the TNG seventh season episode Interface as Captain

371
00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:40.759
Sylvia LaForge, who was the mother of the USS Enterprise's

372
00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:45.079
engineer Jordie LaForge. She's probably though, best known as the

373
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mother of Prince Aquim in Coming to America and if

374
00:19:49.079 --> 00:19:52.240
you have a good ear, you'll recognize her as the

375
00:19:52.359 --> 00:19:56.519
voice of Queen Sarabi in The Lion King. I recognize

376
00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:59.559
her for both those things. Coming to America's name one

377
00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:02.079
of my dirty I don't know, secret pleasures.

378
00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:05.359
I love that movie. It's so healty pleasure, guilty pleasure. Yeah,

379
00:20:05.400 --> 00:20:08.240
it's so funny, and she's great in it. She's so

380
00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:13.400
great in that movie. Really has that queenly regal carriage

381
00:20:13.559 --> 00:20:16.920
when she performs in that movie Coming to America. And

382
00:20:17.480 --> 00:20:20.559
then as you mentioned it about the voice, I'm like, yep,

383
00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:23.640
that's exactly who you know with the queen was in

384
00:20:23.799 --> 00:20:25.759
The Lion King. It's so awesome.

385
00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:29.400
In spite of my calling it duck, say duck, I

386
00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:31.559
just got a skip from my home twenty My old

387
00:20:31.640 --> 00:20:34.839
lady's about to pop you talking to a damn near daddy,

388
00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:35.480
can you dig it?

389
00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:37.640
Hey, that's great news, Mike.

390
00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:42.359
I'm gonna have to split though, so uh, you'all take care.

391
00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:45.039
But what do you know about Franklin a Gi. He

392
00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:48.279
was a comedian and he starred in a number of

393
00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:50.960
movies and I think when you see the film you

394
00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:54.279
will recognize his face. He is a good dramatic actor.

395
00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:56.119
In this case, I mean, he's kind of funny. He

396
00:20:56.240 --> 00:20:59.920
was in car Wash, Dirt Crazy, Hollywood Shuffle, and The Burbs.

397
00:21:00.119 --> 00:21:02.680
He appeared in lots of TV shows like Barney Miller,

398
00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:06.119
The Bionic Woman, Chico and the Man. And he was

399
00:21:06.279 --> 00:21:09.680
Simuel Fields in Deadwood. And I don't know if any

400
00:21:09.720 --> 00:21:12.119
of our fans have watched Deadwood, but that is an

401
00:21:12.279 --> 00:21:14.519
amazing show, really good.

402
00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:17.640
I went and watched some of his comedy on YouTube,

403
00:21:17.799 --> 00:21:21.000
and he appeared a lot on the old late night

404
00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:22.559
show called After Midnight.

405
00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:25.000
Mm hmmm, yeah. I think a lot of comedians are

406
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:28.200
actually pretty decent actors, and sometimes they're terrible, but most

407
00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:30.640
of the time they're actually quite good. And I think

408
00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:32.880
it has something to do with their ability to be

409
00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:37.200
in touch with that which makes people laugh. They know

410
00:21:37.240 --> 00:21:40.599
how to emote, I think maybe, and once and sometimes

411
00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:43.960
they're also very deeply thinking people, which I think sometimes

412
00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:44.920
makes a great actor.

413
00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:47.880
I think his character Spider Mike is kind of the

414
00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:51.880
catalyst for a lot of the story, especially with his

415
00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.880
interaction with Ernest Borgnine's character, who played Sheriff Lyle cotton

416
00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:59.319
Mouth Wallace also known as Dirty Lyle.

417
00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:02.039
Break on one, NYE, Break them one nine.

418
00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:06.839
This is the bear in the air, Officer Lyle Wallace,

419
00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:09.839
call him the rubber jerk, and.

420
00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:13.599
That radmand piece of black crap at your side, Doc,

421
00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:14.119
come home.

422
00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:18.519
We've talked about Ernest borgnine before from the Poseidon Adventure,

423
00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:21.880
and he's just man, this guy, what an incredible career.

424
00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:24.119
It would probably take at least five to ten minutes

425
00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:26.319
to read everything that he's been in, But just to

426
00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:29.079
highlight some of his work, he was in McHale's Navy,

427
00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:32.359
The Dirty Dozen, the Black Hole, Escape from New York

428
00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:35.960
again has shown up, a Deadly Blessing, and of course

429
00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:36.880
the Love Boat.

430
00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:40.079
Yeah. I really I watched a lot of McHale's Navy,

431
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.279
and it always is funny to see Ernest borgnine come

432
00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:47.680
up as maybe not such a favorable person. Yeah, but

433
00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:51.000
I gotta tell you, you know, I think it must have

434
00:22:51.079 --> 00:22:54.359
been Peckinpah or somebody that gave the character the nickname

435
00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:57.480
Cotton Mountain. Huh, I mean, honest to goodness, that guy's

436
00:22:57.480 --> 00:22:59.079
teeth are a mess.

437
00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:01.839
Well, you know, I went and I was like looking

438
00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:05.119
at other pictures and it's like he has that back gap,

439
00:23:05.160 --> 00:23:05.960
I mean was there.

440
00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:10.319
But because Peck and Paw focused on so much more than.

441
00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:13.480
You're going, I've never realized had a wicked sense of humor.

442
00:23:13.559 --> 00:23:17.240
If you ask me, Oh boy.

443
00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:19.559
We've talked about the people behind the wheel. Now, why

444
00:23:19.559 --> 00:23:22.960
don't you tell our listeners where the Convoy is headed

445
00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:25.599
and what convoy is actually about?

446
00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:27.519
Sure, this is usually when I read the back of

447
00:23:27.559 --> 00:23:29.240
the box, but since we don't have a back of

448
00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:30.839
the box, we kind of put together a back in

449
00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:34.400
the box. So you'll excuse my announcer voice. So here

450
00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:41.519
we go. When the longtime backbone of American cinema, the Western,

451
00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:45.400
began to fade in the nineteen seventies, another roadbound hero

452
00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:48.839
stepped in to take its place. The Long Haul Trucker.

453
00:23:51.880 --> 00:23:55.160
Directed by the legendary Sam Peckinpah and inspired by the

454
00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:59.559
chart topping hit song Convoy, this action packed adventure follows

455
00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:05.839
Martin rubber Duck Penwald. After a clash with the grifting

456
00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:10.319
dirty Sheriff Lyle Cottonmouth Wallace and its deputies, rubber Duck

457
00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:13.200
must flee to the New Mexico border along with a

458
00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:19.960
ragtag bunch of fellow truckers. They broadcast their progress against

459
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:23.440
the evil lawmen over the Cbee Radio, eventually forming a

460
00:24:23.480 --> 00:24:27.519
massive convoy that stretches for miles across the Arizona Highways.

461
00:24:27.640 --> 00:24:31.640
Fueled by diesel frustration and a shared distrust of authority,

462
00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:38.640
the convoy rolls towards the freedom of the border. The

463
00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:42.039
film features Chris Christofferson in a dramatic role in a

464
00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:46.240
strong supporting cast that includes Allie McGraw, Mad Sinclair and

465
00:24:46.359 --> 00:24:49.440
Bert Yng. We've got a lot to say about this one.

466
00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:50.200
Stick around.

467
00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:57.640
We'll be right back with our thoughts on convoymatic flashback

468
00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:01.359
up here.

469
00:25:01.480 --> 00:25:04.839
The air smells like old cardboard vinyl records and that

470
00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:08.960
slight combination of aquinette and fresh mimeograph. Paper. Boxes are

471
00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:11.359
staffed to the rafters with the stuff that raised us

472
00:25:11.640 --> 00:25:15.160
VHS tapes that were never rewound game cartridges you had

473
00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:18.839
to blow into mixtapes recorded straight off the radio, and

474
00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:22.279
the action figures that never survived mint condition. Each time

475
00:25:22.279 --> 00:25:25.480
I visit this attic, I'll pull out one specific artifact

476
00:25:25.480 --> 00:25:28.279
from days gone but not forgotten, blow off the dust,

477
00:25:28.599 --> 00:25:30.960
flip it over and remember what it felt like to

478
00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:34.640
hold it, watch it, play it, or just obsess over it.

479
00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:38.000
So grab your Walkman, game boy or whatever ancient tech

480
00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:40.839
you're still clinging to, settle in and let's see what

481
00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:44.640
forgotten gym we unearthed each time we visit gen Xer's Attic,

482
00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:47.359
because some things are worth saving from the garage sale

483
00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:51.400
of history. Coming soon. New podcast, gen x ER's Addict.

484
00:25:51.640 --> 00:25:59.240
Listen to and download wherever you get your podcasts.

485
00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:09.880
Flash back the show begin You got rule for one shift, ExHAM,

486
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:12.519
the sure Man, you got the Fat Red and the

487
00:26:12.519 --> 00:26:13.160
White Rat.

488
00:26:13.079 --> 00:26:16.519
Here and welcome aboard you dump it weep helping.

489
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:20.759
Just remember week Figs, six Pools and foul.

490
00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:22.680
Owners all the way back.

491
00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:29.440
Well, Holley boy, welcome to the Convoy's Welcome back, all right, everybody.

492
00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:31.359
From here on out, we're going to talk about our

493
00:26:31.400 --> 00:26:35.279
thoughts on Convoy and might inadvertently give some spoilers if

494
00:26:35.319 --> 00:26:38.240
you'd like to watch. Convoy is available to rent at

495
00:26:38.279 --> 00:26:42.079
all the usual locations and as of the recording we're

496
00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:44.519
making right now, you can catch it free on to

497
00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:47.759
be Okay, Matt, let's get into it. I think I

498
00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:50.960
already heard you say that this was not the first

499
00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:54.160
time you watched Convoy. What do you remember about it before?

500
00:26:54.440 --> 00:26:58.960
Funny enough, I remember very little about it. Yeah, the question,

501
00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:01.039
you know, pop so mine, what do you think of?

502
00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:03.119
What are you going to see in Convoy? And obviously

503
00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:05.759
you're going to see a trucker movie. I got what

504
00:27:05.799 --> 00:27:10.480
I expected. I personally thought there could have been more

505
00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:14.720
character development. Yeah, unlike White Line Fever right that we

506
00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:18.640
reviewed before, there was a real emotional pull about the

507
00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:21.599
situation the trucker was in, and we understood it. He

508
00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:24.440
had a giant mortgage, he's trying to make his payments.

509
00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:26.759
He's trying to make money, and these people are standing

510
00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:29.200
in his way and that's not right. So we're really

511
00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:32.000
we're invested in this particular movie. You just sort of

512
00:27:32.039 --> 00:27:36.160
run into Chris Christofferson playing the Rubber Duck and he's

513
00:27:36.359 --> 00:27:38.759
just a trucker with what is it a it's a

514
00:27:38.839 --> 00:27:40.839
mack truck. He's on it's a mac with a can

515
00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:43.240
or something like that. Yeah, that's basically all you get

516
00:27:43.240 --> 00:27:46.160
in background. You have no idea until later in the

517
00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:48.279
movie that he you know, he actually has some kids

518
00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:50.559
somewhere that he sees occasionally. I mean, I don't know.

519
00:27:50.599 --> 00:27:53.000
He's not a very variable character in my opinion.

520
00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.680
They don't make him out to be like a he run.

521
00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:59.640
He certainly is well regarded amongst his friends, that's very

522
00:27:59.640 --> 00:28:03.599
clear at the beginning. Absolutely, he has a great reputation. Yeah,

523
00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:06.440
they're all excited to hear that the rubber Duck is out,

524
00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:09.960
and they're in proximity because they're on their CBE radios.

525
00:28:10.279 --> 00:28:13.319
The banter between them is very, very friendly, very like

526
00:28:13.640 --> 00:28:16.559
longtime friends. And I believe that was pretty much the

527
00:28:16.599 --> 00:28:18.720
norm for a lot of long all truckers. They crossed

528
00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:21.000
paths with each other quite often. So did you think

529
00:28:21.079 --> 00:28:24.720
at all any about the original song when you're watching

530
00:28:24.759 --> 00:28:27.279
this movie? And what I mean is that this is

531
00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:30.680
a movie that isn't based on literature, it's not based

532
00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:33.839
on a screenplay. It's based on a what a three

533
00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:36.720
minute song that was very popular in seventy five.

534
00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:39.839
I have a feeling that the song the song because

535
00:28:39.880 --> 00:28:42.400
because here's the thing, and we discussed this before in

536
00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:45.200
the podcast, is that the song inspired the movie and

537
00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:48.519
the movie inspired a song revision. I believe that I

538
00:28:48.680 --> 00:28:51.519
listened to the song revision because when I watched the movie,

539
00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:53.559
I'm like, yeah, there's the bear in the air, there's

540
00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:56.160
the cab Overpete with the refer on, and a Jimmy

541
00:28:56.200 --> 00:28:59.079
Holland hoggs. I mean, it's all from the song, right,

542
00:28:59.160 --> 00:29:00.839
And I don't know if all those things were in

543
00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:02.119
the original song or not.

544
00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:06.640
Well, the original song has them going from one destination

545
00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:09.799
to another, and then the revised song definitely follows the

546
00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:13.680
same path that these Tuckers took. They mentioned in characters

547
00:29:13.799 --> 00:29:16.680
like Dirty Lyle, you couldn't be alive back then and

548
00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:20.680
not have heard that song. In the seventies, so remember

549
00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:25.799
Spotify is new. Really, where we heard songs, if you

550
00:29:25.880 --> 00:29:29.359
didn't go and buy them was on the radio, yep,

551
00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:32.039
that's where you heard songs, and they played this one relentlessly.

552
00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:34.759
But the confusion for me comes from I don't know

553
00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:37.480
when I first heard it. I probably heard the first version.

554
00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:39.400
Then the movie came out, and I probably heard the

555
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:42.000
second version and never never sort of figured out that

556
00:29:42.039 --> 00:29:43.799
they were not the same. Do you know what the

557
00:29:43.839 --> 00:29:47.160
biggest surprise this movie had for me because I've seen

558
00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:49.359
this film before a long time ago. I had no

559
00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:52.000
idea this film was directed by Sam peckham Pop until

560
00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:55.640
we started this podcast. Yeah, that was really a surprise

561
00:29:55.720 --> 00:29:59.079
to me. I was talking with my buddy Jay, he

562
00:29:59.240 --> 00:30:02.640
also was I had no idea that Peckhampa directed this film.

563
00:30:02.920 --> 00:30:05.440
It has some of the characteristics of a Peck and

564
00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:08.279
Pah movie, so you have a lot of the slow motion.

565
00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:12.720
The character of Chris Christofferson is very much a Peckhampas

566
00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:17.119
style character Ernest Borgnine's characters. It's kind of a cross

567
00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:20.880
between a you know, like Alatii's character and Buford t

568
00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:23.960
Justice far better name. And also, you know, this film

569
00:30:24.039 --> 00:30:26.119
has a lot of the kind of things that Peckhampa

570
00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:29.960
is always talking about. The original song is talking about

571
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:33.839
the truckers rebelling against things like the fifty five mile

572
00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:37.599
an hour speed limit, rebelling against the log books that

573
00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:40.839
they had to keep because they could only drive for

574
00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:43.079
so long and then they were supposed to rest, but

575
00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:47.079
the companies that were driving them was having them lie

576
00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:50.440
on those books when they would get to a way station.

577
00:30:50.839 --> 00:30:53.079
Not only would they their trucks be weighed, but those

578
00:30:53.200 --> 00:30:56.480
books would be validated. And you noticed that even in

579
00:30:56.519 --> 00:30:58.839
this movie when when rubber Duck gets pulled over at

580
00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:00.920
the beginning, the first thing they asked for as far

581
00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:04.359
as log books. Yeah, so this movie has a lot

582
00:31:04.400 --> 00:31:07.200
of material that is very peck and pot issue.

583
00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:10.680
I think when you recall sort of the issues that

584
00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:13.519
Pechempa was having during this film, you can kind of

585
00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:17.079
see through what happened. It's like he started it out.

586
00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:20.960
He's possibly making it because he's in a situation where

587
00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:22.960
he needs to make a movie. He wants to put

588
00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:25.480
a stamp on it, and maybe early on he's kind

589
00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:28.119
of able to do what he wants. Things go on,

590
00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:33.400
there's production problems, no doubt, his drinking increased, his issues

591
00:31:33.400 --> 00:31:36.640
with substances increased, and things got out of hand. And

592
00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:39.880
to me, it's sort of the you can obviously see

593
00:31:39.880 --> 00:31:42.359
it because there's some parts, like you said, or so pecambis,

594
00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:45.680
you know, the crash through the into the air and

595
00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:48.680
slow motion and all of that, which is an awesome stunt.

596
00:31:48.759 --> 00:31:51.119
The big jail escape at the end with the truck's

597
00:31:51.240 --> 00:31:55.079
kind of running through everything in going into slow motion, right,

598
00:31:55.400 --> 00:31:57.119
that's that's all signature.

599
00:31:57.200 --> 00:31:59.400
Yeah, signature peck and paw stuff. So to me, it's

600
00:31:59.400 --> 00:32:01.200
sort of one of the ones where it's like it's

601
00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:04.640
a little probably very bittersweet for him that this movie,

602
00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:07.279
which he basically was removed from, is the one that

603
00:32:07.400 --> 00:32:10.279
made the most money in his career, which is, you know,

604
00:32:10.359 --> 00:32:14.119
like I said, a bittersweet kind of situation. I can't help.

605
00:32:14.279 --> 00:32:16.359
And I know that the two movies came out so

606
00:32:16.519 --> 00:32:18.759
close to each other, I don't know how much one

607
00:32:18.839 --> 00:32:22.440
influenced the other. When I look at Convoy, I have

608
00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:25.400
to think about Smoking in the Bandit Smoking in the

609
00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:31.039
Bandit works so well because Burt Reynolds just drips with

610
00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:34.119
charisma through the whole film, or as the kids say,

611
00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:39.160
the Riz. He's dripping with riz, Thank you so much.

612
00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:43.440
And to a degree, I think Chris Christofferson doesn't have

613
00:32:43.720 --> 00:32:49.440
the same level of charisma. Would be another Burt Reynolds.

614
00:32:49.440 --> 00:32:50.039
He could have.

615
00:32:50.359 --> 00:32:51.359
I think he could have too.

616
00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:54.960
He could have. Again, I go back to the material.

617
00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:57.400
I just don't think the writing was there to make

618
00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:01.759
him up a character that we won about him too noticed.

619
00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:04.359
He's kind of just there. Even when they're getting interviewed

620
00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:08.880
by the by the political motivator Melissa's talking to him like, hey,

621
00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:10.559
you could do a lot of good things here, and

622
00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:12.920
he's just sort of like the go talk to the

623
00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:13.519
other people.

624
00:33:14.119 --> 00:33:17.200
The second kind of beating their eyeballs out coast and coast,

625
00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:18.680
and half of the damn Smokey's whipped.

626
00:33:18.720 --> 00:33:20.000
The south front reads damps.

627
00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:21.960
So you believe in what the rubber Duck's doing is.

628
00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:25.480
That it I'm tired of seeing the way black people

629
00:33:25.559 --> 00:33:28.359
have to live. Went to Vietnam and got shot for

630
00:33:28.440 --> 00:33:29.680
the right to live in a ghetto.

631
00:33:30.799 --> 00:33:34.079
I hear from the fat that I hear from them.

632
00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:36.720
All money I make, I.

633
00:33:36.759 --> 00:33:41.440
Can't afford your big oil companies and raising prices oil

634
00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:42.599
and gas.

635
00:33:42.359 --> 00:33:44.240
Which gets back to consumer.

636
00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:46.839
We got to raise all our prices things at all half.

637
00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:49.839
And that's what you hear about the Vietnam War. You

638
00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:53.440
hear about Nixon. You're about the Nixon and Watergate. You

639
00:33:53.480 --> 00:33:55.880
hear about the gas prices. You hear about the double

640
00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:58.599
nickel fifty five miles an hour. Yeah, you know all

641
00:33:58.640 --> 00:34:00.599
of that, and these guys are trying to make a

642
00:34:00.599 --> 00:34:03.519
living on the road and the country, I mean, you know,

643
00:34:03.559 --> 00:34:08.079
to give truckers they're due our entire country's economy runs

644
00:34:08.119 --> 00:34:11.880
on over the road truck transport. Now, yeah, we made

645
00:34:11.880 --> 00:34:14.679
that sort of switch. In the United States, we really

646
00:34:14.719 --> 00:34:17.719
depend on overland trucking and that's just where we are,

647
00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:20.880
and that the profit is the cost to move it

648
00:34:20.920 --> 00:34:23.760
across the land. That the fuel price is fixed, the

649
00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:27.360
equipment costs is fixed at the insurance cost is fixed,

650
00:34:27.360 --> 00:34:30.159
tolls are fixed. What is not fixed what you pay

651
00:34:30.199 --> 00:34:33.000
the trucker. So that's why it squeezed. And that's what

652
00:34:33.159 --> 00:34:35.760
to me, this whole movie should have been about, which

653
00:34:35.880 --> 00:34:38.320
was it was not. We never get to the point

654
00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:42.280
where if anybody complains about sheriff lyle grifting the truckers

655
00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:44.840
by taking bribes. I mean we never even that never

656
00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:46.920
even comes up in the press. No one ever says, well,

657
00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:50.000
and this guy is bad, he's in another state, he's

658
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:52.360
shooting a machine gun at us, and yet he's the

659
00:34:52.400 --> 00:34:55.000
guy who caused this whole thing to happen, and nobody

660
00:34:55.119 --> 00:34:57.159
is saying a word about it. It's just that to me,

661
00:34:57.400 --> 00:35:00.159
was just like, come on, somebody's got to at least

662
00:35:00.039 --> 00:35:01.599
it has come up, and some never does.

663
00:35:01.800 --> 00:35:02.039
Well.

664
00:35:02.360 --> 00:35:05.880
Just remember too, that everything you described about the economy

665
00:35:05.880 --> 00:35:08.719
of truck driving in the mid seventies. All of that

666
00:35:09.079 --> 00:35:11.960
was responding to the oil crisis, which in this case

667
00:35:12.039 --> 00:35:15.760
made everything way more expensive, which put the squeeze even

668
00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:19.239
more on the truckers and was rising inflation for everyone.

669
00:35:19.320 --> 00:35:21.440
So I think when people went to see this movie,

670
00:35:21.519 --> 00:35:24.079
you know, and the reason why long haul truckers kind

671
00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:26.360
of kind of started filling in that role of the

672
00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:29.840
western cowboy, you know, that was what people were coming

673
00:35:29.840 --> 00:35:32.519
in to see. And that one scene where they're doing

674
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:35.320
the whole newscast and they go down to the different

675
00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:38.360
trucks and and really the reason why the other guys

676
00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:40.679
are there is that they're protesting, and these are the

677
00:35:40.719 --> 00:35:43.559
things that they're protesting, except for the one guy who

678
00:35:43.639 --> 00:35:46.679
just likes likes to be there, which was great. Just

679
00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:49.400
as a quick aside, I sent you a picture last

680
00:35:49.440 --> 00:35:52.280
night of Sam peckmpau's little cameo on that truck. He's

681
00:35:52.360 --> 00:35:55.719
the guy with the headphones, wearing the blue bandana, operating

682
00:35:55.719 --> 00:35:58.760
the sound. That's funny. What did you think of Ernest borgnine?

683
00:35:58.840 --> 00:36:00.039
You know, I think he did.

684
00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:03.800
It good job of playing the guy who definitely is

685
00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:07.480
shaking down these truckers, but actually is not one hundred

686
00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:11.599
percent maybe dedicated to their demise. I think he kind

687
00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:14.800
of sees the symbiotic relationship of the truckers keep rolling,

688
00:36:14.920 --> 00:36:17.239
he can keep grifting them, so he's not one hundred

689
00:36:17.239 --> 00:36:19.199
percent want to get rid of them. Because we see

690
00:36:19.239 --> 00:36:23.719
in the last scenes Ernest Borgnine's attitude maybe towards Rubberick

691
00:36:23.960 --> 00:36:27.599
a little bit changes when the last scenes go through,

692
00:36:27.639 --> 00:36:29.079
And if you watch the movie you'll see what I'm

693
00:36:29.079 --> 00:36:32.119
talking about. But I think Ernest Borgdine as the actor,

694
00:36:32.159 --> 00:36:34.880
did a wonderful job with what he was given. But

695
00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:37.039
he did a good job. I will say the writing

696
00:36:37.159 --> 00:36:40.920
was ridiculous. He's a small town sheriff from some western

697
00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:43.840
state and now he's in Texas behind an M sixty

698
00:36:43.960 --> 00:36:46.079
machine gun or something. It was ridiculous.

699
00:36:46.199 --> 00:36:46.360
Yeah.

700
00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:49.239
Yeah, he doesn't have any authority at all in another state.

701
00:36:49.280 --> 00:36:51.960
He's a sheriff. He doesn't have authority in the next counting.

702
00:36:52.119 --> 00:36:54.280
You remember when we were talking about Charlie Verrick.

703
00:36:54.280 --> 00:36:56.679
One of the things that I really complimented that film

704
00:36:56.719 --> 00:36:59.519
on was I like that they did not make Charlie

705
00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:03.800
Verrick cool by making the law look dumb. Yes, right, yeah,

706
00:37:03.760 --> 00:37:07.079
And in this one, the different lawmen are painted with

707
00:37:07.360 --> 00:37:10.920
very broad rushes. Yeah, if you had a chance to

708
00:37:10.960 --> 00:37:13.320
go out to dinner with cotton Mouth or with you

709
00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:15.079
for tea Justice, who would you rather go with?

710
00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:19.719
View for d justice? If you'd never stop laughing.

711
00:37:19.840 --> 00:37:23.480
Another one that jumps out to me Ali McGraw's Melissa

712
00:37:23.679 --> 00:37:27.360
and Sally Field's character. To make those characters work, the

713
00:37:27.480 --> 00:37:30.880
chemistry and the romance between the two characters, like you know,

714
00:37:30.960 --> 00:37:33.880
Sally Field and Burt Reynolds and then Ali McGraw and

715
00:37:33.960 --> 00:37:37.960
Chris Christofferson, it has to work. I felt that Ali

716
00:37:38.079 --> 00:37:41.519
McGraw and Chris Christofferson had zero chemistry.

717
00:37:41.639 --> 00:37:44.280
Yeah. Agree, And I'll be honest with you, I am

718
00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:47.199
not a big Sally Field fan. The Ali McGraw character

719
00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:50.920
Melissa is like she's mostly filled with disdain most of

720
00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:54.360
the time, but you compare her character with her last

721
00:37:54.480 --> 00:37:58.920
role in The Getaway, The chemistry and the strain between

722
00:37:59.159 --> 00:38:03.320
her and Stead McQueen was what drove that film. If

723
00:38:03.320 --> 00:38:06.320
Ali McGraw was not in this film, I'm not really

724
00:38:06.400 --> 00:38:09.159
sure if anything would have changed. It wouldn't it changed.

725
00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:12.719
I will say I love the movie poster from this film.

726
00:38:12.760 --> 00:38:16.320
I can't say that I like the music in this

727
00:38:16.480 --> 00:38:20.360
film that Chip Davis wrote it didn't know what kind

728
00:38:20.360 --> 00:38:22.559
of musical score that it wanted to be.

729
00:38:22.840 --> 00:38:25.360
Mm hmm. There's a lot of stunts in this movie. Well,

730
00:38:25.360 --> 00:38:27.840
it was your favorite. Two things I have on the stunts,

731
00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:30.480
One is the one where the car goes through the barn,

732
00:38:30.519 --> 00:38:33.119
You through the sign, through the barn, and then keeps going. Yeah,

733
00:38:33.199 --> 00:38:35.760
Peck and Pa told the guy, do not do not

734
00:38:36.320 --> 00:38:38.960
fall short because I won't. I don't have any kind

735
00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:40.719
of shot if you fall short, it's supposed to land

736
00:38:40.719 --> 00:38:43.000
in the barn, right, I suppose to land in the barn. Well,

737
00:38:43.760 --> 00:38:46.480
he goes way past the barn, which makes it even better.

738
00:38:46.519 --> 00:38:48.960
But I'm shocked that. Yeah, he got up and walked

739
00:38:48.960 --> 00:38:51.039
away from it, So that's amazing. And then the other

740
00:38:51.079 --> 00:38:53.719
thing where they filmed in what I can only assume

741
00:38:54.119 --> 00:38:56.559
was a giant field of baking flower.

742
00:38:56.679 --> 00:38:59.760
You're talking about where they're taking that little back road

743
00:39:00.119 --> 00:39:02.599
path or whatever. Right, they had the trucks in the

744
00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:07.119
cars going through this flower. I am positive. The problems

745
00:39:07.119 --> 00:39:10.320
with their production was the trucks must have gotten stuck

746
00:39:10.519 --> 00:39:13.480
a thousand times. I mean, obviously it's some kind of

747
00:39:13.639 --> 00:39:16.079
alkali desert sand or something.

748
00:39:16.199 --> 00:39:18.599
Yeah, but it was crazy. If you look through the wheels.

749
00:39:18.679 --> 00:39:21.679
This powder is just flying everywhere. I would hate to

750
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:23.800
have been an actor filming that. Do you remember the

751
00:39:23.800 --> 00:39:26.480
fight scene at the truck stop. Yeah, it took them

752
00:39:26.840 --> 00:39:29.880
ten days to film that ten that's great. It took

753
00:39:29.920 --> 00:39:33.400
them ten days to film that, and it's on the

754
00:39:33.440 --> 00:39:35.320
screen for just a small bit.

755
00:39:35.199 --> 00:39:37.840
Of a It went on too long already on the screen.

756
00:39:37.840 --> 00:39:40.480
You're not wrong, But there's lots of practical stunt working.

757
00:39:40.599 --> 00:39:40.840
Sure.

758
00:39:40.920 --> 00:39:42.719
One thing that I thought was a stunt, but it

759
00:39:42.719 --> 00:39:44.840
actually turned out to be an accident that they just

760
00:39:44.920 --> 00:39:46.559
left in the film and they worked it in what

761
00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:49.199
it was when Black Widow she rolled the truck, She

762
00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:52.880
rolled the truck, and it turned out though that actually happened.

763
00:39:52.920 --> 00:39:54.119
Oh god, that's great.

764
00:39:54.199 --> 00:39:56.320
Hey, they got the camera in the air, they got

765
00:39:56.360 --> 00:39:58.360
all the coverage. They're like, let's keep it, make it

766
00:39:58.400 --> 00:39:59.039
part of the movie.

767
00:39:59.119 --> 00:40:00.480
Well, it was good in the movie because it was

768
00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:03.159
actually very realistic that carry on Casey came around the

769
00:40:03.199 --> 00:40:05.840
corner too fast and rolled it. I mean, that's very common.

770
00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:07.360
The funniest thing she said.

771
00:40:07.239 --> 00:40:09.639
Was junk, I knew I should have bought myself a

772
00:40:09.679 --> 00:40:10.280
flat trunk.

773
00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:15.320
That's funny, she said, Is it about that time.

774
00:40:15.400 --> 00:40:18.400
Yet, I think that it's time to ask the question, Matt,

775
00:40:18.559 --> 00:40:22.199
does convoy crash the gate doing ninety eight or does

776
00:40:22.199 --> 00:40:23.639
it get left behind.

777
00:40:23.320 --> 00:40:26.320
At the way station. Well, ninety five was the rute

778
00:40:26.320 --> 00:40:28.599
I was on. It was not the speed limit sign.

779
00:40:30.559 --> 00:40:34.280
Listeners who are adept at listening to my intonations might

780
00:40:34.440 --> 00:40:39.599
understand that I find this movie maybe not the greatest

781
00:40:39.639 --> 00:40:42.599
film ever made, or even at a position where they

782
00:40:42.639 --> 00:40:47.239
could see it. I don't think it holds its luster

783
00:40:47.519 --> 00:40:50.679
over the years. I think it is a cool movie

784
00:40:50.760 --> 00:40:52.920
to see if you want to sort of revisit some

785
00:40:53.119 --> 00:40:59.119
seventies andsalgia and some trucker culture. But I think maybe

786
00:40:59.480 --> 00:41:02.239
this is one that you might do on a rainy

787
00:41:02.320 --> 00:41:05.280
Saturday afternoon when you had absolutely nothing to do and

788
00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:10.400
you were recovering from surgery, because there's probably a thousand

789
00:41:10.559 --> 00:41:14.880
things brutal you could do that would be more entertaining

790
00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:18.679
than this movie. I mean, it's cool to see Chris

791
00:41:18.719 --> 00:41:22.360
Christofferson as a young man. It's cool to see Ernest

792
00:41:22.360 --> 00:41:25.079
borgnine in a role because he's a great actor. I

793
00:41:25.079 --> 00:41:28.599
think this movie cured me of the crush I had

794
00:41:28.639 --> 00:41:32.400
on Ali McGrath because of this film. Not for you man,

795
00:41:32.480 --> 00:41:35.199
so yeah, I think maybe I'm going to give it

796
00:41:35.239 --> 00:41:37.719
a bit of a thumbs down this week. I will

797
00:41:37.760 --> 00:41:40.880
say that it's always fun to review these films because

798
00:41:40.920 --> 00:41:43.760
it puts us in that mindset back in the seventies

799
00:41:43.920 --> 00:41:48.119
kind of what was happening, reminds us of the gas crisis,

800
00:41:48.320 --> 00:41:52.400
the lines, the rationing long haul trucker being you know,

801
00:41:52.519 --> 00:41:54.719
kind of a it really was a lot. It was

802
00:41:54.800 --> 00:41:58.199
talked about. It was definitely in the zeitgeist of the time.

803
00:41:58.440 --> 00:42:01.000
Is kind of long haul trucking. I remember because we

804
00:42:01.039 --> 00:42:03.639
had a good friend of the family who was an avid,

805
00:42:03.760 --> 00:42:06.159
kind of fan of truckers, and he knew everything about

806
00:42:06.199 --> 00:42:08.480
all the different trucks, and that's where I learned about,

807
00:42:08.679 --> 00:42:11.159
you know, what a cab overpeat means, and what a

808
00:42:11.199 --> 00:42:14.559
mac truck is, and the idea that these diesel engines

809
00:42:14.639 --> 00:42:18.800
have certain capabilities, so they have to have really sophisticated

810
00:42:18.800 --> 00:42:23.400
transmissions to transmit that power to moving those loads. So

811
00:42:23.440 --> 00:42:25.159
it's good for that in terms of a movie that

812
00:42:25.199 --> 00:42:27.559
you can follow characters that you hered of get into.

813
00:42:27.639 --> 00:42:29.599
I think this falls a little flat, and that's all

814
00:42:29.599 --> 00:42:31.880
I'm going to say about it. It's yeah, I don't

815
00:42:31.880 --> 00:42:33.800
want to poo poo it too much. I think Sam

816
00:42:33.840 --> 00:42:38.360
Packinpau is a very gifted director, and I think he

817
00:42:38.679 --> 00:42:40.599
did a lot for this film, but I think it's

818
00:42:40.599 --> 00:42:44.320
clear that his issues at the time overrode some of

819
00:42:44.360 --> 00:42:48.920
his creative genius. Possibly that's that's my rap. So what

820
00:42:49.039 --> 00:42:49.960
did you think, Chuck?

821
00:42:50.159 --> 00:42:53.280
Well, Matt, this is going to be possibly the first

822
00:42:53.320 --> 00:42:56.400
time you and I both agreed on not liking a

823
00:42:56.440 --> 00:42:57.840
movie at the same time.

824
00:42:58.440 --> 00:42:59.920
Ah read letter Day.

825
00:43:01.880 --> 00:43:06.280
Well, so, my biggest issue with this film is it

826
00:43:06.440 --> 00:43:10.719
just feels too much like it's chasing the success of

827
00:43:10.840 --> 00:43:14.320
Smoky and the Bandit, and it's missing the things that

828
00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:18.000
made Smoking and the Bandit really good. It's missing the

829
00:43:18.199 --> 00:43:22.079
fun and this movie can't decide what it wants to be.

830
00:43:22.400 --> 00:43:25.119
And I have to believe that that happened after Peckham

831
00:43:25.159 --> 00:43:28.760
Pah was released from the editing process. You already know

832
00:43:28.880 --> 00:43:32.239
Chris Christofferson has to carry this film. I didn't think

833
00:43:32.239 --> 00:43:36.920
their relationship between the two characters, Melissa and Robert Duck

834
00:43:37.119 --> 00:43:40.440
was really good. I felt that Ernest borgnine was the

835
00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:45.280
Kmart Sheriff buffort T Justice version. I just he was

836
00:43:45.360 --> 00:43:48.559
so broad that it became cartoonish in a way. That

837
00:43:48.840 --> 00:43:51.800
wasn't funny. It was more like a wiley coyote, you

838
00:43:51.840 --> 00:43:56.119
know character, whereas I thought Beaufort Justice was just flat

839
00:43:56.159 --> 00:43:59.559
out funny the entire time. What I loved about the

840
00:43:59.599 --> 00:44:02.960
film was that the supporting cast in this film is

841
00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:05.599
what carries it for me. Whether it's Franklin at Jai

842
00:44:05.760 --> 00:44:09.119
match Sinclair or Bert Young, all of them were great.

843
00:44:09.239 --> 00:44:12.199
I thought all of the other truckers who fall in line,

844
00:44:12.440 --> 00:44:15.320
they all had small roles to different degrees, but they

845
00:44:15.320 --> 00:44:17.880
were all interesting and I really would have loved to

846
00:44:17.920 --> 00:44:21.760
have seen more of that. I was hoping that I

847
00:44:21.760 --> 00:44:24.880
would be more engaged with the film, but I wasn't.

848
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:27.599
I thought the first half of the film really dragged.

849
00:44:27.800 --> 00:44:30.400
It didn't really pick up for me until after they

850
00:44:30.440 --> 00:44:34.199
go down that dirt back road, and then the show

851
00:44:34.280 --> 00:44:36.360
began to got to get a little bit more fun,

852
00:44:36.760 --> 00:44:39.840
and I think that's where the Peck and Pah influences

853
00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:42.559
came in. And you see that again in the scene

854
00:44:42.559 --> 00:44:45.199
where the news car kind of comes up beside them.

855
00:44:45.760 --> 00:44:48.159
I have to give so much credit to the stunt

856
00:44:48.159 --> 00:44:51.039
work at Billboard Crash alone. If I was to recommend

857
00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:53.840
anybody to watch this film, I'd say either watch the

858
00:44:53.880 --> 00:44:56.880
film for that billboard crash, or just go and look

859
00:44:56.960 --> 00:45:01.119
up on YouTube where the stuntman talks about doing that done. Yeah,

860
00:45:01.159 --> 00:45:04.760
in the end, I can see why audience embraced envoy.

861
00:45:05.039 --> 00:45:07.440
I think it's a product of the time, and I

862
00:45:07.480 --> 00:45:11.880
think having someone like Sam Peckinpah as the director makes

863
00:45:11.880 --> 00:45:15.760
it even more of a curiosity. So if I'm gonna

864
00:45:15.760 --> 00:45:18.119
be honest and true, I'm gonna have to pull over

865
00:45:18.320 --> 00:45:20.320
at the way station on this one.

866
00:45:20.400 --> 00:45:23.199
I think you're I think you're right on the supporting cast.

867
00:45:23.320 --> 00:45:25.920
They really do carry the film, and you're right about

868
00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:29.280
even the supporting truckers were funny. They I think they

869
00:45:29.360 --> 00:45:32.119
picked a lot of really unusual guys, guys whos aren't

870
00:45:32.159 --> 00:45:34.760
to care for the ride, and then the Jesus freaks,

871
00:45:35.039 --> 00:45:36.559
which they had to put in because it was in

872
00:45:36.599 --> 00:45:39.840
the song, you know. But they were funny and they

873
00:45:39.840 --> 00:45:42.800
were they were, they were. It was pretty funny. So

874
00:45:43.199 --> 00:45:46.079
you know, if they had written something to make you

875
00:45:46.239 --> 00:45:50.159
care about the rubber duck and tied in Ali McGrath's

876
00:45:50.239 --> 00:45:54.559
character with that conflict or whatever, right I mean in

877
00:45:54.559 --> 00:45:57.079
in White Line Fever, it was his wife. They were married,

878
00:45:57.079 --> 00:45:59.639
they're newly married, she's pregnant. I mean, there is a

879
00:46:00.119 --> 00:46:03.280
big tie in of care. To me, it was like

880
00:46:03.320 --> 00:46:05.840
that's what was lacking as there was I had no

881
00:46:06.159 --> 00:46:09.199
I did not care what happened to the rubber Duck.

882
00:46:09.360 --> 00:46:10.199
I did not care.

883
00:46:10.440 --> 00:46:12.920
Yeah, but you cared what happened to Jan Michael Vincent

884
00:46:13.159 --> 00:46:14.039
in White Lafe Fever.

885
00:46:14.199 --> 00:46:16.199
Absolutely, although you know, at the end it was a

886
00:46:16.199 --> 00:46:20.079
little heavilier about how his wife suffered in the other

887
00:46:20.199 --> 00:46:24.199
star got killed, but nobody did until Jan Michael Vincent

888
00:46:24.639 --> 00:46:26.920
got dusted up a little bit, you know. So yeah,

889
00:46:26.920 --> 00:46:29.440
it was a little ridiculous, but I did care about

890
00:46:29.480 --> 00:46:30.559
him and his family. Yeah.

891
00:46:30.719 --> 00:46:33.639
Jonathan Kaplan set out with White Line Fever to make

892
00:46:33.760 --> 00:46:37.679
a Sam Peckhampas style Western but with truckers, and he

893
00:46:37.719 --> 00:46:39.920
did a good job. And peckham Pah tried to do

894
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:43.280
the same thing with Convoy, and I think whether it

895
00:46:43.559 --> 00:46:47.360
was because of studio intervention, whether it was because of

896
00:46:47.639 --> 00:46:51.760
issues with substance abuse, I think Jonathan Kaplan has a

897
00:46:51.960 --> 00:46:56.000
more entertaining film that I sat down and thought, Wow,

898
00:46:56.199 --> 00:46:58.639
I have never seen this film, and I was engaged

899
00:46:58.679 --> 00:47:02.719
with it the entire time. Convoy. I found myself checking

900
00:47:02.719 --> 00:47:05.800
out and looking at my watch, and you know that's

901
00:47:06.119 --> 00:47:10.039
that's it, all right, Matt. That wraps up our keep

902
00:47:10.079 --> 00:47:13.440
on Trucking month. So join us in two weeks as

903
00:47:13.440 --> 00:47:16.960
we begin our Jaws Floydation month with two films that

904
00:47:17.079 --> 00:47:19.880
swam in the wake of one of the biggest box

905
00:47:19.920 --> 00:47:20.840
office hits.

906
00:47:20.599 --> 00:47:21.440
Of all time.

907
00:47:21.599 --> 00:47:25.480
First up is Orca from nineteen seventy seven, starring Richard

908
00:47:25.519 --> 00:47:29.480
Harris and Charlotte Rampling, a film that asks what might

909
00:47:29.599 --> 00:47:31.840
happen if the hunter became the hunted.

910
00:47:31.960 --> 00:47:33.119
Then we'll follow.

911
00:47:32.840 --> 00:47:36.440
It up with Kiranha from nineteen seventy eight, directed by

912
00:47:36.480 --> 00:47:40.159
a young Joe Dante, proving that if Jaws made people

913
00:47:40.199 --> 00:47:43.199
afraid of going into the water, Hollywood was determined to

914
00:47:43.239 --> 00:47:46.239
make them afraid of every single body of water. We'll

915
00:47:46.280 --> 00:47:50.280
talk about the explosion of killer animal movies that followed Jaws,

916
00:47:50.400 --> 00:47:54.079
the surprisingly talented filmmakers who worked in that genre, and

917
00:47:54.119 --> 00:47:57.320
whether these films are merely cash ins are better than

918
00:47:57.360 --> 00:48:01.800
their reputation might suggest. So grab bigger boat and maybe

919
00:48:01.840 --> 00:48:03.480
just stay out of the water all together.

920
00:48:03.679 --> 00:48:06.559
Well, I'm excited to do these two films coming up

921
00:48:06.639 --> 00:48:08.559
because I have not seen either one of them. You're

922
00:48:08.559 --> 00:48:11.719
gonna like them. Yeah, maybe I'm excited. It should be good.

923
00:48:11.800 --> 00:48:14.000
I have not seen either one, so I think it's

924
00:48:14.039 --> 00:48:16.360
that time. We want to thank you for taking the

925
00:48:16.440 --> 00:48:19.239
time to tune in. If you've seen Convoy, reach out

926
00:48:19.280 --> 00:48:21.280
and let us know your thoughts. You can find us

927
00:48:21.280 --> 00:48:24.440
at Facebook or leave us a message over at cinematicclashback

928
00:48:24.519 --> 00:48:27.480
dot com. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss

929
00:48:27.519 --> 00:48:30.320
an episode. And if you're enjoying the podcast, please leave

930
00:48:30.360 --> 00:48:33.159
us a rating and review. We really appreciate it, and

931
00:48:33.320 --> 00:48:35.480
review just might get red on the air. And if

932
00:48:35.480 --> 00:48:37.800
you've been enjoying the show, tell your friends and family

933
00:48:37.840 --> 00:48:41.199
about what we still proudly believe is the best podcast

934
00:48:41.320 --> 00:48:44.840
dedicated to nineteen seventies cinema. Join us next time as

935
00:48:44.880 --> 00:48:47.559
we hop back into the wayback machine and head once

936
00:48:47.599 --> 00:48:52.159
again to the nineteen seventy for another classic or possibly

937
00:48:52.519 --> 00:48:56.960
not so classic, but always entertaining. Until then, keep the

938
00:48:57.000 --> 00:48:59.400
hammer down, keep your ears on, and watch out for

939
00:48:59.480 --> 00:49:02.519
Smokey and we'll see you on the flip side.

940
00:49:02.599 --> 00:49:11.440
Do the test. My name is Bob Brookman, sir, and

941
00:49:11.559 --> 00:49:15.719
I hate truckers.