Convoy (1978)

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writer:

Bill L. Norton (writer)

Release Date:

10 August 1978 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Tagline:

Kristofferson and MacGraw...ain't nothin' gonna get in their way!

Plot:

Truckers form a mile long "convoy" in support of a trucker's vendetta with an abusive sheriff...Based on the country song of same title by C.W. McCall. |

Plot Keywords:

Trucker | Convoy | Road Movie | Truck | Radio News

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Kris Kristofferson	...	Rubber Duck aka Martin Penwald
Ali MacGraw	...	Melissa
Ernest Borgnine	...	Sheriff Lyle Wallace aka Cottonmouth
Burt Young	...	Pig Pen / Love Machine
Madge Sinclair	...	Widow Woman
Franklyn Ajaye	...	Spider Mike
Brian Davies	...	Chuck Arnoldi
Seymour Cassel	...	Governer Jerry Haskins
Cassie Yates	...	Violet
Walter Kelley	...	Federal Agent Hamilton
Jackson D. Kane	...	Big Nasty (as J.D. Kane)
Billy Hughes	...	Pack Rat (as Billy E. Hughes)
Whitey Hughes	...	White Rat
Bill Coontz	...	Old Iguana (as Bill Foster)
Tommy J. Huff	...	Lizard Tongue (as Thomas Huff)
Larry Spaulding	...	Bald Eagle
Randy Brady	...	Sneaky Snake
Allen Keller	...	Rosewell (as Allen R. Keller)
Jim Burk	...	Frick (as James H. Burk)
Bob Orrison	...	Officer Bookman (as Robert Orrison)
Tommy Bush	...	Chief Stacey Love (as Tom Bush)
William C. Jones Jr.	...	Fish
Jorge Russek	...	Sheriff Tiny Alvarez
Tom Runyon	...	Runyon
Vera Zenovich	...	Thelma
Patrice Martinez	...	Maria (as Patricia Martínez)
Donnie Fritts	...	Reverend Sloane (as Donald R. Fritts)
Bobbie Barnes	...	Jesus Freak
Turner Stephen Bruton	...	Jesus Freak (as Turner S. Bruton)
Sammy Lee Creason	...	Jesus Freak
Cleveland Dupin	...	Jesus Freak
Jerry McGee	...	Jesus Freak (as Gerald McGee)
Terry Paul	...	Jesus Freak
Michael Utley	...	Jesus Freak
Wayne D. Wilkinson	...	Jesus Freak
Charles Benton	...	Deke Thornton
George Coleman	...	Septic Sam
Greg Van Dyke	...	Silver Streak
Edward Blatchford	...	Roger (as Ed Blatchford)
Paula Baldwin	...	Samantha
Herb Robins	...	Mechanic Bob
Robert J. Visciglia Sr.	...	Ice Cream Seller
Don Levy	...	Senator Myers
Spec O'Donnell	...	18 Wheel Eddie
James R. Moore	...	Motorcycle Cop
James Edgcomb	...	Doug (as Jim Edgecomb)
John Gill	...	Jack (as John R. Gill)
Daniel D. Halleck	...	Bart
Stacy Newton	...	Bubba
Sabra Wilson	...	Madge
Pepi Lenzi	...	News Crewman
John Bryson	...	Texas Governor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Debbie Letteau	...	Girl in the Bar (uncredited)
Anne Lockhart	...	Dispatcher (uncredited)
Sam Peckinpah	...	News crew director (uncredited)
Sonny Skyhawk	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Sam Peckinpah

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Bill L. Norton		writer (as B.W.L. Norton)

Produced by
Michael Deeley	....	executive producer
Robert M. Sherman	....	producer
Barry Spikings	....	executive producer
Michael Friedman	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Chip Davis

Cinematography by
Harry Stradling Jr.

Film Editing by
Garth Craven
John Wright

Casting by
Lynn Stalmaster

Production Design by
Fernando Carrere

Art Direction by
J. Dennis Washington

Set Decoration by
Frank Lombardo		(as Francis Lombardo)

Makeup Department
Stephen Abrums	....	makeup artist (as Steve Abrums)
James Lee McCoy	....	makeup artist (as Jim McCoy)
Marina Pedraza	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Tom Shaw	....	production manager
Tony Wade	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Newt Arnold	....	first assistant director (as Newton Arnold)
James Coburn	....	second unit director
Clifford C. Coleman	....	first assistant director (as Cliff Coleman)
Walter Kelley	....	second unit director
Pepi Lenzi	....	first assistant director
John M. Poer	....	first assistant director (as John Poer)
Tom Shaw	....	first assistant director
Richard A. Wells	....	first assistant director (as Richard Wells)
Ron Wright	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Donald R. Abblett	....	painter (as Donald Abblett)
Harry Jessen	....	construction foreman
Richard Lind	....	construction foreman
Frank Repola	....	painter
Robert Visciglia Jr.	....	propman
Robert J. Visciglia Sr.	....	property master

Sound Department
Fred J. Brown	....	sound effects (as Fred Brown)
Samuel C. Crutcher	....	assistant sound editor (as Sam Crutcher)
Jerelyn J. Harding	....	dialogue editor (as Jerelyn Golding)
Scott Hecker	....	assistant sound editor
Robert G. Henderson	....	sound effects (as Robert Henderson)
Robert J. Litt	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Bob Litt)
Steve Maslow	....	sound re-recording mixer
Donald O. Mitchell	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Don Mitchell)
Charles Randall	....	boom operator
William Randall	....	production sound mixer (as Bill Randall)
Norman B. Schwartz	....	dialogue editor (as Norman Schwartz)
Michele Sharp	....	sound effects (as Michele Sharp Brown)
Ross Taylor	....	sound effects
José Antonio Torres	....	assistant sound editor (as Antonio Torres)

Special Effects by
Sass Bedig	....	special effects
Candy Flanagin	....	special effects
Marcel Vercoutere	....	special effects

Stunts
Jophery C. Brown	....	stunts (as Jophery Brown)
Jim Burk	....	stunts (as James Burk)
Gary Combs	....	stunt coordinator
Jadie David	....	stunts (as Jade David)
Jerry Gatlin	....	stunts (as Jerry J. Gatlin)
Alan Gibbs	....	stunts
Bob Herron	....	stunts (as Robert D. Herron)
Tom Lupo	....	stunts
Gary McLarty	....	stunts
Karen McLarty	....	stunts
Alan Oliney	....	stunts
Regina Parton	....	stunts
Charles A. Tamburro	....	stunts
Glenn R. Wilder	....	stunts
Walter Wyatt	....	stunts
Gilbert B. Combs	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Armando Contreras	....	best boy grip
William Gereghty	....	camera operator
Ralph Gerling	....	camera operator
Robert B. Hauser	....	additional photographer (as Robert Hauser)
Clifford Hutchison	....	gaffer (as Cliff Hutchison)
Richard A. Kelley	....	director of photography: second unit (as Richard Kelley)
Gary B. Kibbe	....	camera operator (as Gary Kibbe)
John Kiser	....	camera operator
Steve Lydecker	....	camera operator
Tom May	....	key grip (as Tommy May)
John R. Shannon	....	still photographer (as John Shannon)
Robert Simson	....	camera operator
Joseph F. Valentine	....	camera operator (as Joe Valentine)
Richard Tim Vanik	....	camera operator (as Tim Vanik)
Gary R. Wostak	....	gaffer (as Gary Wostak)
Don E. FauntLeRoy	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Richard Craig Meinardus	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Casting Department
Helen Conklin	....	extras casting
P.K. Strong	....	location casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Carol James	....	costumer
Kent James	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Graeme Clifford	....	supervising editor
Ed Fantl	....	assistant film editor
Ken Morrisey	....	assistant film editor
Ellen Ring	....	assistant film editor
Tim Tobin	....	assistant film editor (as Timothy Tobin)

Music Department
Milt Bailey	....	music production assistant
Jackson Berkey	....	music production assistant
Roger Bowling	....	composer: songs "Blanket on the Ground" and "Lucille"
John Boyd	....	score recordist
Del Bryant	....	composer: song "I Cheated on a Good Woman's Love"
Eddie Burris	....	composer: song "Okie from Muskogee"
Hal Bynum	....	composer: song "Lucille"
Dan Carlin Sr.	....	music editor (as Dan Carlin)
A.P. Carter	....	composer: song "Keep on the Sunny Side"
Sonny Curtis	....	composer: song "Walk Right Back"
Bill Fries	....	music supervisor
Gary Garett	....	composer: song "Keep on the Sunny Side"
Merle Haggard	....	composer: song "Okie from Muskogee"
Dallas Harms	....	composer: song "Cowboys Don't Get Lucky All the Time"
Dave Henderson	....	music production assistant
Richard Leigh	....	composer: song "Don't It Make Your Brown Eyes Blue"
Allen Toussaint	....	composer: song "Southern Nights"
Ron Ubel	....	score recordist
Jim Wheeler	....	score recordist

Transportation Department
Bill Hunt	....	transportation
Rudy Limauro	....	transportation
Greg Van Dyke	....	transportation
Billy Kaundart	....	driver (uncredited)

Other crew
Mary Andrews	....	editorial secretary
Elie Cohn	....	production assistant
Ron Cook	....	production executive
Harry Harvey	....	script supervisor
Barbara Hogan	....	script supervisor
Ed Rich	....	production accountant
Binnie Ruben	....	secretary to producers
Dolores Rubin	....	script supervisor
Ann Shaw	....	production coordinator
Charles A. Tamburro	....	helicopter pilot
Sheila A. Warner	....	production coordinator (as Shelia Warner)
Sherrie Bradshaw	....	assistant production accountant (uncredited)
Corey Burton	....	adr loop group (uncredited)
Michael Davenport	....	assistant: Sam Peckinpah (uncredited)

Production Companies

• EMI Films

Distributors

• United Artists (1978) (USA) (theatrical)
• Neue Constantin Film (1978) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• EMI Films (19??) (UK) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1980) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Cannon Screen Entertainment (19??) (West Germany) (VHS)
• Cheezy Flicks Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Ekaterinburg Art Home Video (EAHV) (Russia) (VHS)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2001) (Germany) (DVD)
• Lumiere Home Video
• Thorn EMI Video Australia
• Truckerflicks (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• United Artists (Spain)
• Universal Home Video (2007) (Brazil) (DVD)
• VTI Home Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Video Film Express (1998) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video
• Warner Home Video (1999) (Netherlands) (DVD) (rental)

Other Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)  titles and opticals
• Samuel Goldwyn Studios  sound post-production

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:16 | West Germany:12 (re-rated) | West Germany:16 | UK:15 (video rating) (1987) | UK:A (original rating) | Australia:M | Australia:PG (alternate rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (DVD rating) (2001) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

EMI Films

Trivia:

The song had been written by Bill Fries in 1974 for a series of bread commercials and the result was a popular trend with CB radios and trucker lingo. By the time the movie went into production in 1977, the trend had already faded but that didn't stop it from being a box office hit.

Goofs:

Continuity: Throughout the film, Rubber Duck's truck has a grill guard. In the scene after his and Pig Pen's trucks have crashed through the jail, the grill guard is missing when the truck pulls out. Yet it's back on there for the rest of the movie.

Quotes:

Governer Jerry Haskins: A lonely breed... hard men, proud men... not too proud to cry or shed a tear. The living embodiment of the American cowboy tradition. Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to honor this great native American son who gave his life for a cause so vital to us all...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "My Name Is Earl: Made a Lady Think I Was God (#2.6)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

I Cheated on a Good Woman's Love

Goodbye Ali-umbus

The "Smokey and the Bandit" target audience never knew what hit them when they went to see "Convoy". Used to a diet of direct-to-drive-in films they had no conception of what could happen when Hollywood threw big bucks and a competent (if distracted) director at the genre. What they got was something that movie historians are still trying to classify. A movie based on a CB radio song that morphed into a poetic homage to machinery; where trucks are turned into mythological monsters and filmed cruising through the heat-radiating desert to a score of classical music.

Why Sam Peckinpah elected to take on this project has really never been explained, although that decision certainly supports those tales of substance abuse, and the final cut is bizarre enough to also fit that explanation. It is an amazing film as it wobbles between self-parody and self-importance to a degree never seen before and never seen again until "Apocalypse Now". I'm not sure how much attention and interest Peckinpah actually showed toward the making of "Convoy". It has the disjointed feel of multiple directors or of a Director of Photography filling in many times when Sam was not motivated to make an appearance on the set.

Kris Kristofferson is fine as trucker "Rubber Duck" although Earnest Borgnine pretty much steals the whole thing.

But "Convoy's real claim to fame is as the film where Ali MacGraw's career spectacularly crashed and burned. She did not just fade away but shattered into a million pieces. MacGraw got into acting in her late twenties but looked young enough to be believable as a college-age girl in her first two starring roles; the excellent "Goodbye Columbus" and the pathetic but hugely popular "Love Story". Her age worked to her advantage as her two characters (particularly "Goodbye's" Brenda) came off as poised, stylish, classy and smart. She picked up a huge following of male viewers who would have bought tickets to anything she was in and she was generally inoffensive to female viewers. She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar, started fashion crazes, and made the cover of Time magazine. She also picked up the head of Paramount Studios (Robert Evans) as a husband dedicated to advancing her acting career. It was a done deal that she would get the lead in "Chinatown", a role that would fit her rather limited range (poised, classy, stylish). Her only obstacle was managing the transition to middle age in a way that her smitten fans could accept.

Unfortunately she dumped Evans for a short marriage (5 years) to Steve McQueen. Just how badly her image and career were managed after she left Evans is illustrated by her bad haircut in "Convoy". Just glance at the promotional poster and you may be able to hear the sounds of a million bubbles bursting in the minds of her male fans. The idea of "Brenda" playing a truck stop mama with short curly hair would have made it too painful to even contemplate seeing this movie. Her fan base literally melted away with the start of the film's promotion campaign. They never returned, the illusion had died. Ironically had they actually seen her horrible performance in "Convoy" they might have felt better, as the performance is so absurd it achieves a sort of surreal quality. But a couple years later they discovered replacement Jennifer Beals and moved on.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.