Routes barbares

I can't see why people are downing this movie because it doesn't really fit in a genre like Action or Comedy. This is a movie, it tells a story, and some parts are funny, there is some action, there are some serious moments and it is a little dark. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll see some action.

Overall it's a story about a big trucking company trying to squash the independent truckers out of business with Jerry Reed and Peter Fonda fighting against The Man for all the colorful, CB jive talking' independents out there.

The main problem with the movie, in my eyes, is the dreary and bleak scenery and Jerry Reed's overuse of "Son" as a form of address. There are some parts of the plot that are weak and not well explained, like the female lead "Pick Up". She eats at truckstops with the truckers and is on the CB and acts like a trucker but she just drives a pick up truck with exhaust risers and a camper on back. What is her job? Just cruisin' the highways pretending to be a trucker? She almost seems like a trucker groupie/wannabe, a step up from a lot lizard. Also not clear is why the big trucking company wants the independent drivers to quit and start working for the big company. The independents still haul loads for The Man and have to pay his fees. It is never really made clear.

This movie was entertaining all the way through the only real downer was the scenery. Wherever they are up in Canada is dirty, snowy and downright depressing.

If you like trucker movies and Jerry Reed, give it a spin. It isn't as awesome as Convoy it still is a good view.

This movie is made for truckers in the day of having long hauls, long distance traveling, and suddenly, there are hijackers in the wait. Life is a gamble, especially in the trucking field. Being an independent contractor is one thing, working for a big company is another. It's best to stick with strong friends when you back's against the wall. Jerry Reed, fresh from the first "Smokey and the Bandit" get to ride the big rigs again. This time, he's a struggling trucker who gets to stand up to the big boss of a trucking company who is forcing the independents off the roads and drive them out of business. King Carroll(Chris Wiggins) runs a big company who will do anything to keep the indies off the road. When one of the truckers(Lex Tyrell) is head of a hijacking ring for Carroll. He had one trucker jumped. And when a former stuntman named Rane (Peter Fonda) , joins the Iron Duke (Reed), along with Pickup(Helen Shaver) the back up is all here. This movie is more like a western, only with diesel "horses". There was a lot of action there. Some silliness added though, but I enjoyed it very much. This movie is for truckers. 2 out of 5 stars.

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.

Having spawned an entire exploitation subgenera of outlaw biker films with his excellent "Easy Rider," could Peter Fonda do the same for movies about eighteen wheels of justice? "High-Ballin'" actually beat "Convoy" by one month on it's release date for being the first movie action movie about truckers (although "Smokey and the Bandit" came out the year before), but it's a pretty silly inconsequential hixploitation flick, and Jerry Reed is really the main character here. Reed and Fonda have to fight off a bunch of trucker thugs hired by a local crime boss who wants to put independent truckers like them out of business. Helen Shaver and Michael Ironside, in his first named-character role (he plays Butch), also appear in the film. Overall, I enjoyed this dumb movie and so will others if you're a fan fo hixploitation/rednexploitation type of films (think good ol' boys fighting one another ALA "Gator" or "Walking Tall"), even if it's pretty routine and nothing all that memorable. "Smokey," "Convoy," and "White Line Fever" are all still better trucker films, but I was entertained by "High-Ballin'."

The main reason why I saw HIGH-BALLIN' is because it's one of Michael Ironside's first movies tho he appeared as an extra that if you blink you miss him. As for the rest it was a bit mediocre and could have been better considering its cast.

The Iron Duke is an independent trucker that stands up to the local truck boss King Carroll that tries everything to make truckers go out of business. Rane (Peter Fonda) comes for a visit and ends up helping Duke. Rane and Pickup have the idea of truck loading lot of illegal liquor to a lumber camp with the hope of making other truckers resist.

It doesn't go smooth as gang leader Harvey kidnaps Pickup and shoots Duke when he tries to resist. When Rane notices Harvey fleeing, he reaches him with his motorcycle and have a brawl until he manages to shoot him. Before fleeing on Harvey's truck he manages to save Pickup and take her with him.

As I said in the summary, a plot like this works better on those shows (on which Ironside would guest star two decades later, 2 episodes of the first one and 4 of the second) probably because the episodes last 45 minutes give or take while here it lasts 1 hour and 40 minutes so for the most time there is filler that is mostly boring. The actors, mostly unknowns except Fonda and Helen Shaver, did what the material and director required.

Overall, one of those movies with the plot reminiscent also remotely of a western (with trucks and truckers instead of horses and land owners) that is perfect for killing an hour and 40 minutes but not much more.