La route de la violence

My dad took me to see this movie in the theater in 1975. I was around 7 years old. I guess I remember it most because it was one of the first movies my dad took me to see. It is definitely a tough guys movie. The violence portrayed in the film stayed with me for years. Especially the scene where Slim Pickens is thrown in front of a speeding semi truck. I've seen the movie many times on television since 1975 and have grown to appreciate it more. Not being close to the trucking industry, I don't know how accurate a picture it paints for today, but I believe it hits pretty close for 1975.

This came out with the CB fad and is really a vintage film now. Is it a classic? Well, the truck driving scenes are classic. The other stuff like the plot and ending are apparently fabricated just so we could have a place for the great action. Where else can you see someone climb from the cab of a moving truck onto the van trailer's roof? Where else can you see a semi hit a bobtail truck tractor in the tandems and spin it off the road? Where else can you see a diesel truck burn? Where else can you see a truck tractor jump through the air? Jan-Michael Vincent shows us he can actually back a semi to a loading dock, too. White Line Fever gets the point across that truck driving is a great way of life. Then why was it so hard for him to make a living at it? Couldn't he just sign up with Mayflower Van Lines or something?

So I said "It better not end like this" and it did, a very disappointing end but towards the finish of the movie you could see the directors panic as he struggled to find an ending so I was aware that a 'bail out' was on the cards. To be fair even I half way through the movie I thought how on Earth are they going to end this.

A unique trucker movie inasmuch as Trucker movies are usually a lot lighter this has some very dark and heavy moments which in turn keeps the viewer unsettled which is only a good thing in an action drama.

But the Director needs to look up the word 'Revenge' in a dictionary or at least ask Charles Bronson (Once upon a time in the west) how it's done.

The entire cast put in a good performance and the script and pacey direction keep things moving. JMV was great.

Plus some nice old seventies American Trucks.

A standard but enjoyable trucking flick of the mid 1970s, this makes up for in action what it lacks in scale and budget. The plot is pretty simplistic, with Jan-Michael Vincent playing a new trucker trying to organise union power with his co-workers and fight the corrupt bosses. Lots of driving, chasing, and some good old-fashioned fighting, and it's all light and harmless with it.

This movie gave a slightly glamorized (and dirty) view into the world of the American trucking industry circa 1973-75. Without crossing over into making a film only truckers and their kin would enjoy, they kept the story and the action fast-paced yet clear as to what is happening unseen. It's not a "CB Fad" movie. A very "Americana" type film which gives a terrific look at the middle American fighting for himself and his ideals. Even though it is a semi-cheesy "B" movie by any standard, the characters are easily related to and the storyline is easy to get involved with, and the action is fun without getting too excessive (gee- a trucker who isn't a gravity defying martial artist!).

Jan-Michael Vincent is at perhaps his best, with Kay Lenz as the perfect naggy whiny trucker's old lady- just cute enough to want to come home to. The musical score is cliché' by today's standards, but dead-on for that time. Some of the old country tunes actually sound pretty good even today (though the twang twang stuff, and the musically reproduced truck horns grew old after while).