Violent Road

This little B-movie may be a long way from its classic French predecessor The Wages of Fear (1953), but it still manages a few shudders. Six guys drive tanker trucks down a winding mountain road, with a load of rocket fuel. One false move and they're less than toast. Of course, there're the inevitable hazards-- a runaway bus, sloppy brakes, and who forgot to tighten the fuel valve, plus, a wild- driving kid (Garrison).

Good thing Brian Keith's in charge. He's perfect for the blue-collar role, though poor Zimbalist Jr. looks a little lost, even as a professor doing double duty as a driver. Notice how they work the good-looking girls into a macho story-line. The movie knows its drive-in audience will get tired of the ugly guys. Also, the canny producers went out and got one of Hollywood's best actresses, Ann Doran, for the heavy-duty role of the Sarge's wife. And, if memory serves, the Kennedy Meadows road northwest of Lone Pine was used for the mountain hair-raiser scenes.

Unfortunately, this is the type of solid little B-movie that would soon drive off into the sunset.

Trucker Mitch Barton (Brian Keith) has three days to transport explosive rocket fuel over a dangerous mountain road. He had lied, but the owner has no choice. He has no trucks and no drivers. The company provides the trucks and Mitch recruits a few hard-lucked drivers.

This is an American remake of The Wages of Fear (1953). This one is only a shadow of its superior predecessor. The tension never gets that high. It doesn't have the fear. Not enough of the road looks dangerous. There are moments which suggest at what this could have been. This one has less to say about the wages. Neither the fear nor the wages are all there. It's all a little less.

The Violent Road casts Brian Keith taking on a really hazardous trip, transporting three components of rocket fuel, any one of them could reek havoc of some kind if it is jarred. Making it worse Keith has to travel over an abandoned road with little traffic that is rocky. It's like traveling with nitroglycerin with triple the risk.

The place storing the stuff has to move because a military rocket experiment went horribly wrong and crashed into the town causing death and destruction. Keith also has to pick five other men willing to make the risk. One is picked for him, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. who is a scientist and knows how to handle the fuel.

The other four are Sean Garrison, Perry Lopez, Arthur Batanides and Dick Foran. Foran's portrayal is a poignant one. A former Marine who was mandatory retired he can't get used to it. He just drinks all day and bores the young Marines at the bar that Keith finds him. Foran's scenes with wife Ann Doran are truly touching.

The Violent Road is a nice no frills B picture from Warner Brothers, the kind that used to fill the second bill on a program. Now that stuff would be found on television and shortly Keith and Zimbalist would be seen there often.

Brian Keith, with his patented wry and cynical wit, is perfectly cast to lead the heavy truck convoy of desperate men hauling explosive cargo in a race against time. This is a plot similar to "The Wages Of Fear (1954) and "Sorcerer" (1975), so it couldn't help but be a nailbiter if done well...and it is. But the script resists the temptation to lay down wall-to-wall action in favor of good character development through flashbacks, a well-used device but an effective one. Leith Stevens provides a good music score, even accompanying a trucker as he drives along singing "Breezin' Along With The Breeze" (before the inevitable problems begin, naturally). Violent Road was filmed near Lone Pine, California, with plenty of shots of crumbling cliffs, laboring diesel engines, spinning tires...all the neat stuff that cinema-action fans like, but with enough celluloid devoted to getting us to know the men behind the steering wheels and why they wanted the job to begin with. Recommended for all.

Here's a fix for all you White Line Fever freaks: Howard Koch's nifty, vest-pocket knockoff of THE WAGES OF FEAR. Three trucks filled with combustible rocket fuel brave rugged mountain roads as cash-strapped drivers Brian Keith, Dick Foran, Perry (CHINATOWN) Lopez, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., and the great Arthur (THE UNEARTHLY) Batanides deal with frayed nerves, inner foibles and a whole lot of flop sweat.

Clearly, it's a low budget affair. But what Violent Road lacks in production values it makes up for in sharply drawn characters played to the hilt by a solid cast of seasoned pros. Harrowing, high-tension thrills abound.

With Merry Anders, Joanna Barnes, John Dennis and a touching, memorable turn by the always welcome Ann Doran.