Truckin' Buddy McCoy

This is an adventure in itself with likable Knox who wins a mack truck in a competition. So Buddy (Knox) leaves L.A and his hot model girlfriend, his mind set on a trip he must do. He turns the back of his truck into a motor home. He even fits it with a shower. The first guy he picks up, Steele, an older trucker, he meets in a diner over chili, even asks him, "Is he a pimp?", but this is all done in jest. Trouble finds these two when they crash, this out of the country whorehouse, and they have to make a quick getaway from cops. Buddy's other pick ups is a sweet young thing who holds a fake baby, to get quicker pick ups, where she too, like Steele, is gone too soon. Then things get a little dramatic with a group of young drunken idiots, one who actually reaches across the bar to grab a bottle, where he's stopped, resulting in them being ousted. They go back with Buddy to check out his truck, where one of them takes off behind the wheel, where it's up to Buddy to stop him. Then it's really back to nothing happening land, where Buddy rethinks his life and his options, where he picks up one last trucker, a younger Miguel Ferrer, who keeps going about how good this ham roll is, that he's eating. Tasty. Well, it all works out in the end for Buddy. As a truckin' movie, I found this one that I first saw when I was fifteen, pretty cool. Knox who played the rapist in St Elsewhere, is one of the lesser known actors I like a lot and I loved the performance he gave here, plus the serve he gave to his boss after insulting him, where he dumps a box of tomatoes on his head. I never found this movie boring, though it was lacking of course a story and a plot, but it should serve as a guide to all you fellas out there, to realize what's important and what isn't in the long run, where if you leave something that you love, too long, you could live to regret it. That's the hidden message in this movie, that's worth more than any plot or story.

When I saw this film didn't have a single review, votes, or even a synopsis, I went in expecting the worst. The production values were surprisingly decent, the actors were good, but the story was bland.

In a nutshell, Buddy is a child in a man's body, drifting aimlessly from job to job. Then two things happen. First, he gets fired. Secondly, he wins a Mack truck in some kind of sweepstakes. This truck is boss, the back is outfitted like a pleasure pad on wheels.

He has a girlfriend, who seems to be the most understanding woman in the world, and says he wants to marry her. When she asks him what he'll do for a job, he says he doesn't know and -- get this -- he'd like to take the truck and go traveling for about a year. Well, needless to say, the girlfriend doesn't much like this idea, women being creatures of comfort and security.

So off Buddy goes, headed from his hometown of Los Angeles (which must be some kind of beer-swillin', country music blastin' suburb, 'cause metropolitan Buddy is not) to Oklahoma City, and the film takes place on the roade. As you can imagine, he meets all types of weird, interesting, and plain crazy characters along the way on his journey to self-discovery.

There's nothing bad about this movie. I really liked the way Knox plays Buddy. He always has a smile on his face, a childlike innocence that makes him likable. You just want to have a few beers with the dude. Thing is, nothing terribly interesting happens.

I give this movie a four, I couldn't stand to slag it. But I guess there's a reason it's been forgotten.

Would've been five stars, but the gregarious country crap of a soundtrack made me give it one less.