Cast:
Kris Kristofferson (Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald), Ali MacGraw (Melissa), Ernest Borgnine (Sheriff Lyle "Cottonmouth" Wallace), Burt Young ("Love Machine" / "Pig Pen"), Madge Sinclair (Widow Woman), Franklyn Ajaye (Spider Mike), Brian Davies (Chuck Arnoldi), Seymour Cassel (Governor Jerry Haskins), Cassie Yates (Violet), Walter Kelley (Federal Agent Hamilton), Billy Hughes (Pack Rat), and Jorge Russek (Texas Sheriff Tiny Alvarez) Directed by Sam Peckinpah (#590 - Ride the High Country, #591 - The Wild Bunch, #944 - Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, #1439 - Straw Dogs, #1685 - The Deadly Companions, #1936 - The Getaway)
Review:
Sure, one might think of Smokey and the Bandit (1977) first when they wonder about Convoy. But actually, there is a tiny bit of things to think about beforehand. Bill Fries Jr was interested in music but more so in commercial art, which eventually lead to Bozell & Jacobs for art direction. In the 1970s, a character called "C. W. McCall" was created to aid in advertising for...bread, which because of the nature of transporting it through trucks, well, why not making a truck-themed ad and character. The ads (played by Jim Finlayson) were a hit, and Fries used it as a way to come up with a song, which he wrote with Chip Davis (with Donald Sears as producer). Played over the winter of 1975 and early 1976 to interested airwaves, the song (an ode to renegade truckers) was a hit to people in an era where CB radio and trucking were a thing to talk about (McCall wasn't exactly a one-hit wonder, he merely just found other things to do besides singing songs for long, which actually included being mayor of Ouray, Colorado for six years; he died in 2022 at the age of 93). I think you can understand how it might've made sense for United Artists to go out for a film based on the truck stuff. The film was written by B. W. L. Norton, who had wrote/directed Cisco Pike [1972], the somewhat noted cult classic that had starred Kristofferson in his first go at being an actor. Sam Peckinpah had directed these three films before this one: Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), The Killer Elite (1975), and Cross of Iron (1977). Suffice to say, he needed a hit, and he went with it while fiddling where he could in the script that found a bit of time to cast someone like Ajaye in an apparent attempt to add some social commentary. Apparently, he used James Coburn not so much just for second unit work but also to direct certain sequences due to his furthering addiction to drugs and alcohol. Evidently, the original cut of the film was over three hours long, but editing resulted in a 114-minute film, complete with a new rendition of McCall's "Convoy". The production of the film resulted in a commercial hit, but he did not direct for a while (doing second unit work on Jinxed! [1981] before his final film with The Osterman Weekend [1983]).
Admittedly, you could probably say the film sure smells like it has a substance in its body with how it actually makes one appreciate the fine art of enjoying a dumb-as-hell movie. You thought Smokey was hokum? You haven't seen anything yet. It is the staging of chaos like you have probably seen before, but it is kinetic enjoyment (complete with stunts you can't quite tell are staged or just part of the "go with it" show) that I can't help but admire even in average enjoyment. Besides, the casual average qualities of his prior 70s work such as Straw Dogs and The Getaway make one appreciate the pedal-to-the-medal ridiculousness that looks like if a Western was deep-fried (what else could one say about a line in which Kristofferson refers to him and Borgnine as being part of the "there ain't many of us left" department). Kristofferson drifts in and out as the inadvertent hero for the people that you probably have seen before, but there is a lean confidence in his charm that you can practically have a beer with. MacGraw may have been fine for Peckinpah's Getaway, but she doesn't really have anything of note to do in this film (cut because of the edits or not, you decide)., particularly when one focuses more on the goofy dynamic between Kristofferson and Borgnine anyway,. There is something delightfully enjoyable about Borgnine in how he cuts through the film in terms of smarmy authority that is the kind of played-out entertainment worth sticking around for as the film gets further absurd with the introduction of a Governor character that really believes a convoy of truckers (comprised of a chunk of folks who probably don't even know why they are going along with it all) can be the key to reaching "the people", which is pretty amusing. Rounding out the interest is Ajaye and Young, who make quality character presences in the salt-of-the-earth nature that comes from people wrapped up in essentially the grind of their lives (the off-screen assault of the former in particular sticks out). The ending is probably easy to see coming when it comes to "man of the people!", but it does ring amusement in the actual reveal and lasting laugh, so that works out. The film is clearly not any better than the fried ridiculousness that arose in low-budget / B-movie enjoyment in its wake, but Peckinpah and company managed to grind out a curious movie filled with chaotic engagement anyways. It wouldn't be the first one to recommend in the work of Peckinpah, but it sure would garner curiosity for those who love to see vintage 1970s entertainment with the staging of real-scale effects and stunts to go with a catchy song.
Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.
