''Convoy'' is a 1978 American

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

action comedy film The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the Americ ...

directed by

Sam Peckinpah David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic '' The Wild Bunch'' received two Academy Award nominations and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Instit ...

and starring

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a m ...

, Ali MacGraw,

Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine ( ; born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but relaxed voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin. A popular perf ...

, Burt Young, Madge Sinclair and Franklyn Ajaye. The film is based on the 1975 country and western

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

Convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

" by C. W. McCall. The film was made when the

CB radio Citizens band radio (CB radio) is a land mobile radio system, a system allowing short-distance one-to-many bidirectional voice communication among individuals, using two-way radios operating near 27 MHz (or the 11-m wavelength) in the high freq ...

trucking Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations ...

craze was at its peak in the United States, and followed the similarly themed films '' Moonfire'' (1970), ''

Duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

'' (1971), '' Deadhead Miles'' (1973), '' Hijack'' (1973), '' White Line Fever'' (1975), '' Smokey and the Bandit'' (1977), '' La Menace'' (1977) and '' Breaker! Breaker!'' (1977). The film initially concerns

truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; an HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

s being extorted by a

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

in Arizona. One of them punches the sheriff during a brawl. Several rebellious truckers then attempt to cross the state line to New Mexico, while being pursued by the police. They also make plans to rescue an ally who is held captive in Texas, and who has been the victim of

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...

. It was first released in Japan on June 10, 1978, and it was released June 28, 1978 in the United States by

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

. The film received mixed reviews from critics; however, it was the most commercially successful film of Peckinpah's career.

Plot

In the Arizona desert,

Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald is passed by a woman in a Jaguar XK-E, then runs into fellow truck drivers Pig Pen/Love Machine and Spider Mike. Another "trucker" had informed them over the

that they are okay to increase their speed. The "trucker" turns out to be Sheriff "Dirty" Lyle Wallace, a long-time nemesis of the Duck, who extorts them for $70 each. The truckers head on to Rafael's Glide-In where the Duck's sometime girlfriend, Violet, works as a waitress. Melissa, the driver of the Jaguar, is also there; her car broke down and she had to sell it and some of her belongings in an effort to reach Dallas, as she is on her way to look for a job. The Duck offers Melissa a ride; Violet is unimpressed and ushers him away to give him a special birthday present. While they are away, Wallace shows up at the Glide-In checking plates. Pig Pen and Spider Mike start making fun of Wallace over the diner's base-station

, leading to Wallace attempting to arrest Spider Mike for

vagrancy Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, waste picker, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western ...

. The Duck enters and tries to smooth things over, but Mike punches Wallace when he tries to arrest him for some vagrancy charge. This leads to a brawl in the diner when some troopers arrive to assist Wallace. The assorted truckers prevail and decide to head for the state line to avoid prosecution while messing with the police cars while the cops are knocked out. The truckers drive across Arizona and New Mexico, with Wallace in pursuit. Duck angers Wallace even further when he accidentally pushes him off the road and causes him to crash. When Wallace calls for reinforcements from the local police, Duck leads the truckers off the main highway and down a rough dusty desert trail, causing several of the police cars to crash, while Wallace's vehicle is crushed between Pig Pen and Spider Mike's rigs. As the rebellious truckers evade and confront the police, Rubber Duck becomes a reluctant

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

. The

Governor of New Mexico The governor of New Mexico () is the head of government of New Mexico. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New Mexico's state government and the commander-in-chief of the New Mexico National Guard. As noted in the govern ...

, Jerry Haskins, meets Rubber Duck at his request, after being told that the Governor has ideas of using the National Guard on the convoy. About the same time, Wallace and a brutal Texas sheriff arrest Spider Mike (who had left the convoy to be with his wife after she gave birth to their son) in Alvarez, Texas. Wallace's plan is to use Mike as bait to trap Rubber Duck. A janitor at the jail, aware of the plan, sends messages by CB radio that Spider Mike has been wrongfully arrested and beaten. Various truckers relay the message to New Mexico. Rubber Duck ends the meeting with Haskins and leaves to rescue Spider Mike. Several other truckers join him in heading east to Texas. The truckers eventually destroy half of the town and the jail and rescue Spider Mike. Knowing they will now be hunted by the authorities, the truckers head for the border of Mexico. On the way, Rubber Duck gets separated from the rest of the convoy when the others get stopped by a minor traffic accident involving Pig Pen/Love Machine. In a showdown near the

United States-Mexico border United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

, Rubber Duck is forced to face Wallace and a

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

unit stationed on a bridge. Firing a machine gun, Wallace and the Guardsmen cause the truck's tanker trailer to explode, while Rubber Duck deliberately steers the tractor unit over the side of the bridge, plummeting into the churning river below, presumably sending Duck to his death. A public funeral is held for Rubber Duck. A distraught Melissa is led to a school bus with several "long-haired friends of Jesus" inside. There she finds Rubber Duck in disguise sitting in the back - revealing that he had swum from the wreckage. The convoy takes to the road with the coffin in tow. As the bus passes Wallace, he spots the Duck and bursts into laughter.

Cast

as Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald * Ali MacGraw as Melissa *

as Sheriff Lyle "Cottonmouth" Wallace of Natosha County, Arizona * Burt Young as Bobby "Love Machine" / "Pig Pen" * Madge Sinclair as Widow Woman * Franklyn Ajaye as Mike "Spider Mike" * Brian Davies as Chuck Arnoldi *

Seymour Cassel Seymour Joseph Cassel (January 22, 1935 – April 7, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 films and television shows, with a career spanning over 50 years. He first came to prominence in the 1960s in the pioneering independent f ...

as Governor Jerry Haskins * Cassie Yates as Violet Wallace, sometime girlfriend of "Rubber Duck" & wife of Sheriff Lyle Wallace * Walter Kelley as Federal Agent Hamilton *

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923. He led the nation during World War I, and his influence on national politics s ...

as "Pack Rat" * Jorge Russek as Texas Alvarez Sheriff Tiny Alvarez *

Patrice Martinez Patrice Martinez (June 12, 1963 – December 24, 2018) was an American actress. She received her theatrical education in London, played the role of Carmen in the film '' Three Amigos'', and starred in the early 1990s television series ''Zorro''. ...

as Maria * Donnie Fritts as Reverend Sloane * Tommy Bush as Chief Stacey Love *

Spec O'Donnell Walter D. "Spec" O'Donnell (April 9, 1911 – October 14, 1986) was an American film actor who appeared in more than 190 films between 1923 and 1978. He worked frequently for producer Hal Roach, often appearing in silent comedies as the bratty s ...

as Eddie "18 Wheel Eddie" * Bill Coontz as "Old Iguana"

Production

The film was mostly financed by Britain's EMI Films. ''Convoy'' was filmed almost entirely in the state of New Mexico. Production began in 1977 when the

/trucking craze was at its peak, made during the same period as such films as '' La Menace'', '' Smokey and the Bandit'', '' The Great Smokey Roadblock'', '' Breaker! Breaker!'', '' Handle with Care (1977 film)'' (all 1977), '' High-Ballin''' and '' Steel Cowboy'' (both 1978), as well as the television series '' Movin' On'' (1974–1976) and '' B. J. and the Bear'' (1979–1981). During this period of Sam Peckinpah's life, it was reported that he suffered from alcoholism and

drug addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to use a drug or engage in a behavior that produces natural reward, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use can ...

. His four previous films, '' Cross of Iron'' (1977), ''

The Killer Elite ''The Killer Elite'' is a 1975 American action film, action thriller film directed by Sam Peckinpah and written by Marc Norman and Stirling Silliphant, adapted from the Robert Syd Hopkins novel ''Monkey in the Middle.'' It stars James Caan and ...

'' (1975), ''

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia ''Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia'' () is a 1974 neo-Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah, co-written by Peckinpah and Gordon Dawson from a story by Peckinpah and Frank Kowalski, and starring Warren Oates and Isela Vega, with Robert W ...

'' (1974), and '' Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid'' (1973), had struggled at the box office, and the director needed a genuine blockbuster success. Unhappy with the screenplay written by B. W. L. Norton, Peckinpah tried to encourage the actors to re-write, improvise and ad-lib their dialogue, with little success. In another departure from the script, Peckinpah attempted to add a new dimension to the film by casting a pair of black actors as members of the convoy: Madge Sinclair as Widow Woman and Franklyn Ajaye as Spider Mike. When the convoy made a sharp turn at an intersection, the white 1972 Brockway 361 truck of Widow Woman accidentally tipped over, nearly crashing into a car. The scene was added to the movie with a joke about colors, and Widow Woman had to carry on as passenger. Peckinpah hired long-time friend

James Coburn James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.AllmoviBi ...

as a second-unit director; Coburn allegedly directed some scenes, filling in for Peckinpah when he was impaired by drugs or alcohol. The original rough cut of ''Convoy'', assembled by Peckinpah and his long-time editor Garth Craven in early 1978, had an estimated running time of 220 minutes. According to the book ''If They Move ... Kill 'Em!: The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah'' by David Weddle and the ''Convoy'' documentary ''Passion & Poetry: Sam's Trucker Movie'', Peckinpah's rough cut did not have any musical score other than the title song and "Blow The Gates To Heaven" by Richard Gillis (who had previously worked with Peckinpah on '' The Ballad of Cable Hogue''). Jerry Fielding, who composed music for many of Peckinpah's previous films, was also hired to do the score for ''Convoy''. After a second screening of Peckinpah's rough cut, EMI executive Michael Deeley fired Peckinpah and Craven from the film in mid-March 1978 and promoted editor Graeme Clifford to supervising editor, to drastically reduce the running time of the film for a June 1978 release. Garner Simmons, author of ''Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage'', said that EMI and Clifford's version of ''Convoy'' "cut the guts out of it". Questioned about the production of ''Convoy'' during an interview in July 1978, Peckinpah is quoted as saying: "In preparing Cross of Iron I kept hearing on Armed Forces radio this song about “We'll hit the gate goin' 98, Let them truckers roll, Ten-Four!” and I said “By God, I'd like to be out on that highway!” And so I got out there, but I ended up not being there at all." The picture finished eleven days behind schedule at a cost of $12 million, more than double its original budget. The famous scene where the tanker truck goes off a bridge and explodes was filmed in Needles, California, on a one-way bridge over the Colorado River between Arizona and California. The Needles City Fire Department provided fire protection during this scene. The bridge was removed soon afterward, as a new span connected the two sides of the river. Peckinpah has a cameo as a sound man during an interview scene. Rubber Duck's truck is generally represented in the film as a 1977 Mack RS712LST, although several other Mack RS700L–series trucks were used as a double and as stationary props. The restored 'Second Unit' 1970 Mack RS731LST on-camera–double truck tractor and the only original remaining tank trailer were to return in late 2023 to be on display at the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. Pig Pen's truck is also generally represented in the film as a 1977 Mack Cruiseliner WL786LST, although a 1973 Kenworth K-123 was used as a stunt double

Release

The film was released in Japan in mid-June 1978 before opening in 700 theaters in the United States and Canada on June 28, 1978.

Critical reception

Though ''Convoy'' was a commercial success, and maintains a robust cult following, it received mixed reviews from critics upon its initial release. It holds an approval rating of 56% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 18 reviews.

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that the film "has been made before much less expensively and much more entertainingly by directors with no aspirations to be artists. 'Convoy' is a bad joke that backfires on the director. He has neither the guts to play the movie straight as melodrama nor the sense of humor to turn it into a kind of 'Smokey and the Bandit' comedy. The movie is a big, costly, phony exercise in myth-making, machismo, romance-of-the-open-road nonsense and incredible self-indulgence." Arthur D. Murphy of '' Variety'' wrote, "Sam Peckinpah's 'Convoy' starts out as 'Smokey And The Bandit,' segues into either 'Moby Dick' or 'Les Miserables,' and ends in the usual script confusion and disarray, the whole stew peppered with the vulgar excess of random truck crashes and miscellaneous destruction ... Every few minutes there's some new roadblock to run, alternating with pithy comments on The Meaning Of It All. There's a whole lot of nothing going on here."

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' gave the film 1.5 stars out of 4 and wrote, "Save for a car sailing through the roof of a barn, 'Convoy' is sluggish entertainment, the first road race film in which I rooted for the cops against the good guys. Kristofferson's getting caught would have made a shorter and better picture."

Charles Champlin Charles Davenport Champlin (March 23, 1926 – November 16, 2014) was an American film critic and writer. Life and career Champlin was born in Hammondsport, New York. He attended high school in Camden, New York, working as a columnist for the ...

of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called the film "a multivehicle wreck of a movie" and "slack stuff, missing as a sizzling love story, missing as the kind of funny anti-authoritarian statement the song was, arriving well past the peak of the CB phenomenon, making no statement one way or the other about trucks or truckers." Gary Arnold of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' wrote that the film "suggests a shotgun misalliance of ' Billy Jack' and 'Smokey and the Bandit,'" and all Peckinpah could do with the "stupid material" was "to pretend he's getting somewhere by noisily spinning his wheels. More often than not even his visual pyrotechnics falls short, and he's left trying to rationalize nonsensical characters and conflicts by imposing his sentimentalities about men of war on them." John Pym of ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' was generally positive, writing, "What sets this apart from other recent citizen-band road movies is the skill with which Peckinpah redefines the artifacts of the Western, which is what ''Convoy'' transparently remains. It has lines of cavalrymen, a cattle drive, a secret trail to Mexico, a circular camp site, innocent bar-room fisticuffs and a hero who, while caring nothing for women, at the same time reveres the married man and his homestead ... The adroitness of mood is perhaps best characterized by the moment when, his audience having been softened by the surrounding exuberance, Peckinpah slips into place such a poignantly sentimental moment as the departure of Spider Mike for his hometown." ''

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

'' gave the film a 3 out of 5 stars, stating "A noisy but enjoyable destruction derby of a film, sadly with none of the subtlety, invention or skill of Spielberg's ''

''."''Convoy Review''
empireonline.com

Box office

The film grossed $4 million in Japan in its first 9 days. ''Convoy'' was the highest grossing picture of Peckinpah's career, grossing $45 million at the United States and Canada box office.

Home media

On April 28, 2015, Kino Lorber released ''Convoy'' on DVD and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

Soundtrack

Features: * "

" by C. W. McCall (a new version, written especially for the film, with saltier language) * " Lucille" by

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...

* "Cowboys Don't Get Lucky All the Time" by Gene Watson * " Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" by

Crystal Gayle Brenda Gail Webb (born January 9, 1951), known professionally as Crystal Gayle, is an American country music singer widely known for her 1977 hit " Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". Initially, Gayle's management and record label were the same ...

* "I Cheated on a Good Woman's Love" by Billy "Crash" Craddock * " Okie From Muskogee" by Merle Haggard * " Southern Nights" by

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' on CBS television from ...

* " Blanket on the Ground" by Billie Jo Spears * "Keep on the Sunny Side" by Doc Watson * " Walk Right Back" by

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian country, pop and adult contemporary music singer who has sold over 55 million album copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray has won four Grammys including the Grammy ...

Novelization

A paperback novelization of the film by screenwriter B.W.L. Norton () was published in 1978. A more serious edge and less humor was given to the film's story and there are some changes and additions, such as no mention of Spider Mike being African-American, a definite hatred between Rubber Duck and Wallace, a fight between Rubber Duck and Wallace after Spider Mike is broken out of jail, Widow Woman getting married (for the fifth time) and a background story given to Melissa.

References

External links

* * * *
C.W. McCall: An American Legend
{{DEFAULTSORT:Convoy 1978 films 1978 action comedy films 1978 comedy-drama films 1970s road comedy-drama films 1970s chase films American road comedy-drama films 1970s English-language films Films directed by Sam Peckinpah Films based on songs Films set in Arizona Films set in New Mexico Films set in Texas Films set in deserts Films shot in California Films shot in New Mexico American road movies Films about police misconduct Trucker films Films about trucks United Artists films EMI Films films Citizens band radio in popular culture 1970s American films English-language comedy-drama films English-language action comedy films English-language action thriller films