the fresh films reviews

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Convoy (1978)

Directed by:
Sam Peckinpah
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Action/Drama/Comedy
NORWEGIAN TITLE
Konvoi
RUNNING TIME
110 minutes
Produced by:
Robert M. Sherman

Written by:
Bill L. Norton


Cast includes:

CHARACTER PERFORMER RATING
Rubber Duck Kris Kristofferson ½
Melissa Ali MacGraw
Sheriff Dirty Lyle Ernest Borgnine ½
Love Machine Burt Young
Jerry Haskins Seymour Cassel

 

Review

Although trucks are great fun to watch, and Kris Kristofferson looks damn good in the lead, this Peckinpah vehicle ends up as an unengaging mess. The main problems are the character of Duck, the truckers' so-called uproar, and a horribly inane love subplot which never is close to igniting. Incidentally, these three elements are more or less all we are offered in this badly scripted film. Duck is a sexy and likable trucker, but it's hard to grasp the essence of him. He turns out to be little but a soft-spoken bully trapped in a messy script which is trying to cover up its shortcomings by introducing a supposedly relevant political motivation. The problem is that these truckers don't know what they want or are fighting for - they just keep driving compulsory and haphazardly, without having fun. And fun is the only thing Peckinpah should have tried to give us here. Convoy is a film which, believe it or not, would have profited from being directed by Hal Needham. At least, he made the American highway and the tough, hairy men who populated it into something romantic.

 
Re-reviewed: Copyright © 4.9.2009 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang
Original review: Copyright © 29
.3.2003 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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