Black Dog ** (1998, Patrick Swayze, Randy Travis, Meat Loaf) – Classic Movie Review 2298

Director Kevin Hooks’s 1998 movie stars Patrick Swayze, who goes for a modest comeback in a very basic, threadbare B-movie thriller about a down-on-his-luck ex-con trucker called Jack Crews. He takes a job driving a truck cross country but it is filled with illegal weapons so he has to fight to survive and save his family.

The stunts and action are fine, and it’s handled adequately by director Hooks, the director of Passenger 57. But Swayze is hardly seen at his best and the acting abilities of country singer Randy Travis and rock ‘n roller Meat Loaf aren’t too stretched. Undistinguished stuff, but it’s just about adequate as an action time-filler.

Also in the cast are Brian Vincent, Gabriel Casseus, Brenda Strong, Stephen Tobolowsky, Charles S Dutton, Graham Beckel, Rusty De Wees, Cyril O’Reilly, Erin Broderick, Lorraine Toussaint, Hester Hargett and Stuart Greer.

A fatal flaw in the plot is that people convicted of vehicular manslaughter are ineligible from receiving commercial driver’s licences so Crews could never have received a licence to drive a truck again. But never mind, it’s only a movie. Just blame the writers, William Mickelberry and Dan Vining.

Patrick Swayze died of cancer on September 14 2009, aged 57.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2298

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com