Convoy **** (1978, Kris Kristofferson, Ali MacGraw, Ernest Borgnine, Burt Young) – Classic Movie Review 8488

Director Sam Peckinpah’s surprisingly relaxed, warm and likeable anarchic 1978 trucker comedy Convoy stars Kris Kristofferson as good ol’ boy Rubber Duck and follows his fight for freedom on the highways, hotly pursued by bad ol’ cop Sheriff Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine).

Despite all the violent crashes, Peckinpah stylishly and affectionately celebrates the camaraderie of the road and the lyrical beauty of trucks ploughing through dusty desert trails. Burt Young and Franklyn Ajaye play Rubber Duck’s fellow truckers Pig Pen and Spider Mike.

Bill [B W L] Norton’s story and screenplay are based on the hit single country song of same title by C W McCall (aka Bill Fries). The song didn’t have much of a plot so after the screenplay was written, Fries recorded a new version of the song, with lyrics incorporating the characters and events of the film, played during the final credits.

Also in the cast are Ali MacGraw, Madge Sinclair, Brian Davies, Cassie Yates, Seymour Cassel, Walter Kelley, Jackson D Kane, Billy Hughes, Whitey Hughes, Bill Coontz and Tommy J Huff.

Convoy is directed by Sam Peckinpah, is made by EMI Films and Robert M Sherman Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by B W L Norton, shot by Harry Stradling Jr, produced by Robert M Sherman and scored by Chip Davis.

Peckinpah’s original cut of Convoy put together with his long-time editor Garth Craven in early 1978 was about three and a half hours long. EMI executive Michael Deeley fired them and hired editor Graeme Clifford to re-edit the film down to an hour and 50 minutes and make it more like Smokey and the Bandit (1977). As such, it was a hit, but Peckinpah’s irritable and irrational behaviour on set made him uninsurable and it was five years before his next film. It cost $12,000,000 and grossed $45,000,000 in the US.

RIP Seymour Cassel, who was Academy Award nominated for Faces and appeared in the Wes Anderson films Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), died on 7 April 2019 from complications from Alzheimer’s disease, aged 84.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8488

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