Convoy - Trincea d'asfalto

Truckers form a mile long "convoy" in support of a trucker's vendetta with an abusive sheriff (Ernest Borgnine and his amazing facial hair)... Based on the country song of same title by C. W. McCall.

While the film will obviously be compared to "Smokey and the Bandit" (both featuring semi trailers being hounded by a sheriff), let it be known that they are not at odds and actually complement each other well (a good double feature, perhaps).

Is Kris Kristopherson the same as Burt Reynolds? No. Is Ernest Borgnine the same as Jackie Gleason? Of course not. So it is sort of like the same story told in two different worlds. This one is a bit lighter on the comedy and much lighter on the romance.

A rebel trucker (Kris Kristofferson) leads protesting his colleagues on a trek throughout Southwest until Mexico .Other truckers join their convoy as a show of support against brutality and other complaints . Sheriff Wallace (Ernest Borgnine)rallies other law enforcement officers throughout the southwest, they who soon aware that stopping Duck, the face of the now highly public standoff, is not as easy as shooting him and the truck due to his highly explosive cargo . Truckers (Burt Young , Magde Sinclair as Widow woman, among others) on a tri-state protest over police brutality ,form a mile long "convoy" in support of Duck's vengeance with the abusive sheriff . Based on the country song , a real hit , of same title by C.W. McCall.

An enjoyable film , ¨ Peckinpah's Convoy ¨results to be an elegiac perspective at the world of the truckers . Taut excitement throughout, beautifully photographed and with spectacular trucks scenes and some images filmed in slow moving. An uneven and silly screenplay by Bill L Norton , subsequently turned to mediocre director . Vibrant and brilliant all star cast with acceptable performances from Burt Young , Seymour Cassel , Cassie Yates , among others. Kris Kristofferson turns in a nice acting as a drifting independent trucker nicknamed ¨Duck¨ who is searching freedom in a changing world , he and Ali MacGraw strike real sparks. Ernest Borgnine is particularly fine as the veteran patrolman .Peckinpah's slow-motion camera , his usual trademark,is put to particularly nice utilization shooting the balletic movement of fights , at once more splendidly and awe-inspiring than any gun battle. Furthermore, it contains a country music emotive score by Chip Davis . Glimmer and colorful cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr ,son of another great cameraman Harry Stradling Sr . Splendidly filmed in Albuquerque,Cerrillos, New Mexico,Cuba, New Mexico,Needles, California ,New Mexico State Fair Grounds ,Central & Louisanna Avenues, Albuquerque,White Sands National Monument, and Alamogordo, New Mexico. An agreeable country-trucker-Western with passable interpretations and exciting trucks footage including some slow-moving images and a much moving , professionally made by the famous director Sam Peckinpah . Sam was a real creator and author of masterpieces as ¨Cross of Iron¨,¨The ballad of Cable Hogue¨, ¨Wild bunch¨ , ¨Major Dundee¨ . ¨Convoy¨ though inferior film is lovely realized by Sam Peckinpah in his punchy directorial style .

It was June of 1977, and I was twelve years old. I was visiting my grandparents in Las Vegas, NM at the time, when I heard that they were filming a movie in town. Nothing new... Las Vegas has been in it's fair share of movies having been made. A great back-drop for old westerns. This was a contemporary movie that was very timely, with the whole CB radio fad happening and Smoky and The Bandit having just made a killing at the box office. Not to mention, Kris Kristofferson was at this point very much a sex symbol from his movie " A Star Is Born" having just been released.

Director Sam Peckinpah was in town and was picking out extras to sit in the Old Town Plaza near the gazebo in downtown Las Vegas. I was one of the them. The day was torrid hot, and Mr. Peckinpah didn't seem to be in the best of moods. With many curse words being thrown around and a few temper tantrums to boot (director and cast) we extras endured the heat and the anger... to get a shot to be in this movie. Of course I ended up on the cutting room floor minus a crowd scene or two, but it was such a thrill for a twelve year old girl.

The movie debuted in July of 1978, a year later, and by then, a lot of the CB radio hype had died down and the movie tanked at the box office. It was later shown on television it seemed every few months in the 1980's, almost gaining a cult following.

The movie is clearly dated, at times over the top macho, but it has a good cast, some great scenery and if for pop culture only... it's a lot of fun.

Convoy is the shallowest of Sam Peckinpah's films, but by no means the worst. It contains some oddball characters and a number of memorable sequences, and alternately funny and thought-provoking dialogue. It also features one of the very best Ernest Borgnine performances that I can remember - not bad for a man who won an Oscar for Marty!

The story traces the fortunes of some truckers, led by "Rubber Duck" (Kris Kristofferson), as they drive through the states of New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. They are pursued by the law, and gradually more and more truckers join on at the back of the line until they have literally hundreds of lorries, all roaring along the highways in protest of the prejudicial treatment they receive from the cops.

Kristofferson is supremely enigmatic as the leader of the pack. Ali MacGraw is a bit of a bore as his female companion. As mentioned before, the real star is Borgnine, mean and menacing, funny and cruel as the cop who dedicates his life to victimising truck drivers. For such a shallow film, it looks and sounds beautiful. Even the car chase through the sand is poetic. I can't explain what's good about this picture. It sounds dull and pointless, yet to watch it is a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Convoy is a contradiction of itself.... plotless, pointless, thinly plotted, and yet still (somehow) a top notch film!

CONVOY, even after almost 30 years since it was released, remains was it was, an iconic American film by an iconic American director. This movie,which is not short on American archetypes, from Ernest Bornine's vile redneck sheriff "Dirty Lyle," to Kris Kristofferson's independence-loving "Rubber Duck," to Ali MacGraw's free-spirited "Melissa," is really an old-fashioned Western, but with trucks. LOTS of trucks. Like Clint Eastwood's "man with no name" gunslinger, Kristofferson (who steals every scene with his smile and blue eyes) is a man whose sense of honour and justice compels him to act on behalf of the down-trodden; symbolized in this case by a black truck driver named "Spider Mike" (played by actor Franklyn Ajaye). But instead of guns and "pistols at dawn" Kristofferson uses a semi. But it's not "justice" he's after, for in the world of CONVOY "justice" (per se) doesn't really exist. That's what makes this film so iconic. If it was about "justice" this movie would have been a court drama, with the Rubber Duck hiring a lawyer, going to court, and getting Dirty Lyle tossed in jail for his arrogance and abuse of power. Nor is it about mere revenge, for throughout the movie Kristofferson's character never truly reaches the point where he simply wants to hurt and destroy his nemesis. It's rather about personal honour and how we, as individuals, define it. Spider Mike, therefore, becomes not so much the victim of racism (which is repeatedly emphasized by the other characters calling him "boy") but of a system that has allowed dishonourable people (in positions of power) to abuse that power at will. Into this world comes the "legendary" Rubber Duck, the "last of the independents," who alone is willing to strike a blow for the diminished honour of another man, while seeking no reward for himself. This is the essence of the American Western and why it works so well in CONVOY. Take away the trucks, put on some cowboy boots and a six-shooter, and you have before you any number of Westerns whose sole premise is that one man with personal integrity and honour can make a real difference in the corrupt world in which he lives. The difference in this case is that Kristofferson doesn't just "clean up this one horse town" he, with the aid of his "posse" of like-minded truckers (Burt Young does a terrific job as his side-kick "Pig Pen"), totally demolishes it. And like those great Westerns, only then can Rubber Duck find solace for his spirit; which he does without compromising either his own values or his personal integrity This is the essence of honour itself and what really makes this movie work. Even, now, after almost 30 years, one cannot help but stand and cheer as Rubber Duck and company take on the forces arrayed against them as the movie reaches its climax. And then stand up cheer again during the closing dénouement. CONVOY, therefore, isn't about "America," or even about being an American, it IS America; the America of myth and folklore that people, even now, still believe in and which the great Westerns of old have done so much to popularize. Because of that and because director Sam Peckinpah does it with such style and grace, this iconic movie, by an iconic director, deserves a place on the shelf of every lover of good solid entertainment