Convoy stands in dark contrasts with Peckinpah's previous movie Cross of Iron. Convoy has no pretensions whatsoever other than to be a feel good movie, incorporating lots of elements from Smokey and the Bandit.

Convoy provides anyone with a good insight of the late 1970's zeitgeist, especially of the very popular CB-culture at that time. Being old, I can remember this period myself pretty well and the CB's was what currently twitter, tumblr and facebook/letterboxd are today, a mean to reach out and get in contact with people other than those you already know.
Furthermore it emphasizes the longing of America to the good old days when people could be really free without being hassled by the 'system' or the…

If I could nominate one movie to represent an entire decade, Convoy would get my vote for the 70's. Coming one year after Smokey and the Bandit, I can't say if this was an intentional rip-off or not, but the story of a rebellious trucker on the run from a determined asshole sheriff wasn't exactly unheard of back then. I can say from first-hand experience that truckers and CB culture in general were big back in the 70's. I cannot explain why but they were the rolling boy bands of their day. Heck, my dad even put a CB in our tiny 2-door Honda Civic and I'd be willing to bet it was because of this movie! I don't know…

Surely the best film ever to be based on a novelty song?

Following hot on the heels of Smokey And The Bandit and very much part of the same zeitgeist, Sam Peckinpah's Convoy is an odd mix of politicking, thumbing a nose at authority and knockabout comedy - all the while tapping into the strange subculture of truckers and CB radios.

It's a pretty strong attempt at contemporising the mythologised archetype of the American frontier. Wagon trains and posses are replaced by the titular convoy of big rigs and obsessive policemen. Kris Kristofferson embodies the lone, singular hero of the Old West with a steely blue gaze, chiselled features and fine line in facial hair. Only a magnetic presence such…

By the time of Convoy, director Sam Peckinpah had been virtually written off, considered unreliable, alcoholic and cocaine-dependent. Although he had made the remarkable war movie Cross of Iron, a film as fine as his greatest achievements, he had difficulty getting work until British production company EMI bought the rights to a popular country and western song by C.W. McCall, “Convoy”, about a gesture of defiance by a number of long-haul truckers. At the time, the good ole boy comedy had been given enormous popularity thanks to the hit Smokey and the Bandit but even by these standards the script Peckinpah was offered was considered imbecilic. He did his best to improve on it, encouraging the actors to improvise but…

There's something about the 70s I just don't understand (ok, there are a LOT of things about the 70s that I just don't understand). One of those things is this genre of movie, the "wild renegade real man vs the corrupt, obnoxious police". It's a genre mostly known for the Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball Run films, but it's seen here as well. I completely understand that not all police are good police, but the heroes in these films are often reckless, dangerous and out of control. I'd prefer to deal with the corrupt cops.

That became obvious early in the film during a bar brawl, in which the main characters thrash some police in a fight, while doing…

Convoy stands in dark contrasts with Peckinpah's previous movie Cross of Iron. Convoy has no pretensions whatsoever other than to be a feel good movie, incorporating lots of elements from Smokey and the Bandit.

Convoy provides anyone with a good insight of the late 1970's zeitgeist, especially of the very popular CB-culture at that time. Being old, I can remember this period myself pretty well and the CB's was what currently twitter, tumblr and facebook/letterboxd are today, a mean to reach out and get in contact with people other than those you already know.
Furthermore it emphasizes the longing of America to the good old days when people could be really free without being hassled by the 'system' or the…

If I could nominate one movie to represent an entire decade, Convoy would get my vote for the 70's. Coming one year after Smokey and the Bandit, I can't say if this was an intentional rip-off or not, but the story of a rebellious trucker on the run from a determined asshole sheriff wasn't exactly unheard of back then. I can say from first-hand experience that truckers and CB culture in general were big back in the 70's. I cannot explain why but they were the rolling boy bands of their day. Heck, my dad even put a CB in our tiny 2-door Honda Civic and I'd be willing to bet it was because of this movie! I don't know…

It gets two & a half stars just because of nostalgia value. Call it a guilty pleasure of sorts. The crazy hijinks of the Rubber Duck, Pig Pen, Black Widow etc etc were always being cut off by Dirty Lyle, but the duck gets the last laugh, or Dirty Lyle does. It depends on your outlook. I didn't understand why the airstart sound on the Ducks Mack truck wasn't used, as this was the system used by Mack in that era. The loud screech of the airstart was enough to scare the crap out of anybody & would have been a great feature of the movie everytime he got in went hooning down the highway.
I grew up watching trucker movies in…

Is it strange that, of all the Peckinpah flicks out there I need to watch, this is the first I've seen? Worse: it's a song vehicle comparable with the Monkees' Head, another film that befuddles most of the people that watch it. This movie, at least, has some kind of forward narrative; other elements suffer alongside.

For example: Graeme Clifford's editing style either works or doesn't, depending on the situation. When used to juxtapose the truckers' schadenfreude with the senator's conniving, the kind of thematic editing (think The Man Who Fell to Earth, but toned down) makes the viewing experience more disorienting than normal. On the other hand, the viewing experience seems more disorienting than normal. Certain parts of Convoy…