High-Ballin'

A group of hijackers are harassing truckers. Iron Duke (Jerry Reed), and Pickup (Helen Shaver) are two of the independents worried about the situation as well as being pressured to sell by the ruthless trucking boss King Carroll. Visiting stunt driver Rane (Peter Fonda) is riding shotgun with his friend Duke when they are attacked.

This is a Canadian action exploitation B-movie. The plot is pretty simple elevated by solid actors. Its action is reminiscent of gonzo Australian B-movies. There is a good amount of destruction. Camera work is not that imaginative but effective enough for the era. At various points, it takes its sweet time which is unhelpful in an action thriller. Overall, it's not aiming that high and it mostly its target.

Better head for Rosie's Truck Stop Diner and order a king size stack of flapjacks! That'll give you a higher burst of energy than losing it from watching HIGH BALLIN'. It's got the right ingredients for a 70s trucker movie including some colorful comedy and a C&W music score with Jerry Reed singing the theme song. To my dismay, it has a terrible amount of substandard action. Few cars on the loose and big explosions do not help. A slippery snow setting makes this tough to get the best results out of a simple little basic chase film that carelessly becomes your simple little basic "Save me!" film. The climax is so nearly desperate that one will have in mind how mixed the entertainment gets. "Pickup" is a very appealing character at first, but she later starts going into an emotionally nervous and frightening breakdown, which brings to mind the harsh violence that can't control itself towards the end. The word "confusing" best describes the movie in general. There hasn't been any trucker films recently, but HIGH BALLIN' may show you its greatest weakness: how not to adapt as a well thought out action film. Just leave the tip.

Not much to see here. A couple guys swashbuckling with big Ken-Tool tire irons. At least this is a movie that accepts the existence of snow. Jerry Reed plays "the Iron Duke," a trucker who wants to make a few more runs and then stay at home. Peter Fonda perhaps should have played a trucker and not brought the biker element into this movie. After the chase with the racecar-laden auto transporter there isn't much to see. One memorable scene is Duke's poignant attempt to defend himself with nothing but a tire knocker. If you like trucker movies, it's your duty to watch High-Ballin' at least once, though. Isn't driving a truck in Canada exciting enough without a typical far-fetched plot? I guess the ultimate truck driving movie would have no plot at all and would be just one big roadeo.

Reed and Fonda make a great combo in this truckin' action movie, you wouldn't want it any other way. Reed with a beard, so much resembles one of my Dad's friend's in this movie, it's almost uncanny, like in the way he answers people, especially in one response. Fonda, an ex truckie, a biker here of course, joins Reed on one last route, after a bit of friendly persuasion by Reed. Only this trip becomes one for survival. Truckies are being hijacked and robbed of their shipment and trucks, the players, are people in their own backyard, one a friend of a guy who gets in a fight with Fonda, the instigator, making a funny remark about his non use of roll on. The fight, where the players use irons is disappointing as it's over before it's even begun. The loser, if you can call him that, and it's not Fonda, was trying to crack on to female trucker, prior, a hot number (Helen Shaver) who really gave him a serve with her sweet talking mouth, while nibbling cutely on some jerky. Fonda becomes the hero, taking down this operation, one scene has him and Shaver surviving a shooting in a motel room. This is a fun adventure movie but a good drama too. Another scene where Reed, Fonda, and Reeds's little son, Tanker are being set upon by bad guys, firing bullets was compelling, where Fonda gets up on the second deck of the trailer at the back of the rig, and unhooks these cars, where they come flying back off the trailer into the path of the bad guys, one car making a backfire explosion which I thought was cool. Reed says to himself in the middle of all this chaos. "Oh boy, why couldn't I had a girl". It also had a good showdown between Fonda and his foe's mate, who holds Shaver at gunpoint. Also what was great, was we got to spend some time at home with Reed's family, which very much reminded me of when I was a kid and how I used to sit around the table, talking with Dad's friends. Even though this movie's dated, it's worth a look, another reason why American International Pictures was a cool movie company. Reed's performance here is impressive too.

Peter Fonda and Jerry Reed make a great team in this well-made Canadian-filmed action flick, which is very much of it's era. Made during the height of the time (late-70s) when movies about 18-wheelers and CB radios were all the rage (you may remember Reed from another HUGE hit of that time, "Smokey & The Bandit"), "High-Ballin'" plays alot like a modern-day western, with Fonda riding into town after an extended absence to help his buddy and former road partner Reed, an independent trucker, take on hijackers who are trying to run him and other independents out of business and into work for a local trucking kingpin.

There's nothing too fancy about the straight-forward story, but there's excellent camraderie between Fonda and Reed, as well as good supporting work from Helen Shaver as a saucy female trucker/groupie, and Harvey Jason as the chief henchman of the trucking company kingpin, King Carroll. It was also interesting to see Carroll played as a man who, while playing a not entirely honest hand, doesn't necessarily want to resort to violence in trying to achieve his means. There are several impressively staged action sequences along the way, as well as some nice cinematography showcasing the snowy Canadian locations. Director Peter Carter keeps everything moving at an interesting clip.

"High-Ballin'" is no masterpiece for the ages, but it's an entertaining time-killer and definitely a movie of it's time.