History Film / Convoy

''Convoy'' is a 1978 action film directed by Creator/SamPeckinpah, based on the 1975 country/western and novelty song "Convoy" by Music/CWMcCall. In [[TheSeventies 1978]], the National Maximum Speed Law which prohibits speeds exceeding 55 mph is in full force, and the country's truck drivers don't much like it. Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald (Creator/KrisKristofferson) is one such driver, just going about minding his own business. When he and some friends -- Melissa (Creator/AliMacGraw), Pig Pen (Creator/BurtYoung), Spider Mike (Franklyn Ajaye), and Widow Woman (Madge Sinclair) -- run afoul of corrupt Sheriff "Dirty Lyle" Wallace (Creator/ErnestBorgnine), a [[DinerBrawl fight breaks out at a truck stop]] and the bunch are forced to flee in their trucks, the police in pursuit. [[RunForTheBorder Heading for the Mexico border]], dozens of other truckers join them in their own trucks, until the eponymous convoy emerges, over a mile long. They communicate by means of CB radio. Rubber Duck, heading up the front, is thrust into the status of a folk hero. Will they evade the authorities and make it?

* NitroExpress: Used to establish [[SimpleSolutionWontWork why the cops don't just shoot Rubber Duck's truck and end the film early]]: the truck is a tanker carrying a full cargo of highly volatile gasoline and if they hit it wrong, then [[StuffBlowingUp well... they are gonna wish to be very far away and pray there are no bystanders around]]. In the final act of the film, the cops finally are fed up with Rubber Duck's rebellion and exploit the fact his race to Mexico goes through a narrow bridge to set up a blockade full of guns and open fire. [[spoiler:The truck explodes, allowing Rubber Duck to fake his death.]]

''Convoy'' is a 1978 action film directed by Creator/SamPeckinpah, based on the 1975 country/western and novelty song "Convoy" by C.W. [=McCall=]. In [[TheSeventies 1978]], the National Maximum Speed Law which prohibits speeds exceeding 55 mph is in full force, and the country's truck drivers don't much like it. Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald (Creator/KrisKristofferson) is one such driver, just going about minding his own business. When he and some friends -- Melissa (Creator/AliMacGraw), Pig Pen (Creator/BurtYoung), Spider Mike (Franklyn Ajaye), and Widow Woman (Madge Sinclair) -- run afoul of corrupt Sheriff "Dirty Lyle" Wallace (Creator/ErnestBorgnine), a [[DinerBrawl fight breaks out at a truck stop]] and the bunch are forced to flee in their trucks, the police in pursuit. [[RunForTheBorder Heading for the Mexico border]], dozens of other truckers join them in their own trucks, until the eponymous convoy emerges, over a mile long. They communicate by means of CB radio. Rubber Duck, heading up the front, is thrust into the status of a folk hero. Will they evade the authorities and make it?

''Convoy'' is a 1978 action film directed by Creator/SamPeckinpah, based on the 1975 country/western and novelty song "Convoy" by C.W. [=McCall=]. In [[TheSeventies 1978]], the National Maximum Speed Law which prohibits speeds exceeding 55 mph is in full force, and the country's truck drivers don't much like it. Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald (Creator/KrisKristofferson) is one such driver, just going about minding his own business. When he and some friends -- Melissa (Ali [=MacGraw=]), Pig Pen (Burt Young), Spider Mike (Franklyn Ajaye), and Widow Woman (Madge Sinclair) -- run afoul of corrupt Sheriff "Dirty Lyle" Wallace (Creator/ErnestBorgnine), a [[DinerBrawl fight breaks out at a truck stop]] and the bunch are forced to flee in their trucks, the police in pursuit. [[RunForTheBorder Heading for the Mexico border]], dozens of other truckers join them in their own trucks, until the eponymous convoy emerges, over a mile long. They communicate by means of CB radio. Rubber Duck, heading up the front, is thrust into the status of a folk hero. Will they evade the authorities and make it?

* DirtyCop: None other than Dirty Lyle. Lyle hates truckers and sets them up to break the law, busting them when they do, and finally soliciting a bribe to forget the whole thing. And that's not even mentioning the things he does in the course of his rivalry with the Rubber Duck.

* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:During the final confrontation with Sheriff Wallace on the bridge over Rio Grande, Rubber Duck deliberately steers his tractor unit over the side of the bridge, plummeting into the churning river, seemingly to his death. Later Mellisa finds him [[AttendingYourOwnFuneral attending his own funeral]] in disguise, where he explains his survival with the line: "You ever seen a duck that couldn't swim?"]]

[[TroubledProduction Production was somewhat troubled]]. Sam Peckinpah's earlier films, ''Film/CrossOfIron'', ''Film/TheKillerElite'', ''Film/BringMeTheHeadOfAlfredoGarcia'', and ''Film/PatGarrettAndBillyTheKid'' had struggled at the box office, and Peckinpah needed to do a successful blockbuster if he was to get on. Creator/{{EMI}} had bought the screen rights to [=McCall=]'s song that chronicled the story of a convoy blasting past the fifty-five mph limit with an army of police attempting to enforce it. The screenplay was written by B.W.L. Norton, and was originally comprised with fast and furious action backed up by cartoonish characters and slapstick dialogue. Given the massive success of the similar ''Film/SmokeyAndTheBandit'', [[FollowTheLeader Peckinpah saw an opportunity in the script for the successful blockbuster he needed]]. However, unhappy with Norton's screenplay, Peckinpah tried to encourage the actors to re-write, improvise and ad-lib their dialogue, with little success. At the time, Peckinpah was struggling with drug addiction, so friend and actor Creator/JamesCoburn was brought in to serve as second unit director. Coburn directed much of the film's footage while Peckinpah remained in his on-location trailer. The picture finished 11 days behind schedule at a cost of $12 million, more than double its original budget. Surprisingly, ''Convoy'' was the highest-grossing picture of Peckinpah's career, notching $46.5 million at the box office. But alas, his reputation was seriously damaged by rumors of increasingly destructive alcohol and cocaine abuse. Peckinpah would make just one more film, ''Film/TheOstermanWeekend'' in 1983, before his death the following year.

See also ''Film/EasyRider'', ''Film/SweetSweetbacksBaadasssssSong'', ''Film/TwoLaneBlacktop'', ''Film/SmokeyAndTheBandit'' and ''Film/VanishingPoint''.

* GondorCallsForAid: When Spider Mike is thrown into prison by the Sheriff of Alvarez, Texas, a sympathetic janitor at the jail send a call for help by CB radio. The message is relayed from trucker to trucker until it arrives to Rubber Duck.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: [[spoiler:At the end Wallace brings with him an entire unit of the Texas National Guard, complete of an M42 Duster armoured vehicle, to confront Rubber Duck and his truck.]]

''Convoy'' is a 1978 action film directed by Creator/SamPeckinpah, based on the 1975 country/western and novelty song "Convoy" by C.W. [=McCall=]. In [[TheSeventies 1978]], the National Maximum Speed Law which prohibits speeds exceeding 55 mph is in full force, and the country's truck drivers don't much like it. Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald (Creator/KrisKristofferson) is one such driver, just going about minding his own business. When he and some friends -- Mellisa (Ali [=MacGraw=]), Pig Pen (Burt Young), Spider Mike (Franklyn Ajaye), and Widow Woman (Madge Sinclair) -- run afoul of corrupt Sheriff "Dirty Lyle" Wallace (Creator/ErnestBorgnine), a [[DinerBrawl fight breaks out at a truck stop]] and the bunch are forced to flee in their trucks, the police in pursuit. [[RunForTheBorder Heading for the Mexico border]], dozens of other truckers join them in their own trucks, until the eponymous convoy emerges, over a mile long. They communicate by means of CB radio. Rubber Duck, heading up the front, is thrust into the status of a folk hero. Will they evade the authorities and make it?

[[TroubledProduction Production was somewhat troubled]]. Sam Peckinpah's earlier films, ''Film/CrossOfIron'', ''Film/TheKillerElite'', ''Film/BringMeTheHeadOfAlfredoGarcia'', and ''Film/PatGarrettAndBillyTheKid'' had struggled at the box office, and Peckinpah needed to do a successful blockbuster if he was to get on. EMI had bought the screen rights to [=McCall=]'s song that chronicled the story of a convoy blasting past the fifty-five mph limit with an army of police attempting to enforce it. The screenplay was written by B.W.L. Norton, and was originally comprised with fast and furious action backed up by cartoonish characters and slapstick dialogue. Given the massive success of the similar ''Film/SmokeyAndTheBandit'', [[FollowTheLeader Peckinpah saw an opportunity in the script for the successful blockbuster he needed]]. However, unhappy with Norton's screenplay, Peckinpah tried to encourage the actors to re-write, improvise and ad-lib their dialogue, with little success. At the time, Peckinpah was struggling with drug addiction, so friend and actor Creator/JamesCoburn was brought in to serve as second unit director. Coburn directed much of the film's footage while Peckinpah remained in his on-location trailer. The picture finished 11 days behind schedule at a cost of $12 million, more than double its original budget. Surprisingly, ''Convoy'' was the highest-grossing picture of Peckinpah's career, notching $46.5 million at the box office. But alas, his reputation was seriously damaged by rumors of increasingly destructive alcohol and cocaine abuse. Peckinpah would make just one more film, ''The Osterman Weekend'' in 1983, before his death the following year.

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* OhCrap: The reaction of Lyle Wallace and of the Sheriff of Alvarez when they realize that the entire convoy of trucks has joined Rubber Duck to save Spider Mike.

''Convoy'' is a 1978 action film directed by Creator/SamPeckinpah, based on the 1975 country/western and novelty song "Convoy" by C.W. [=McCall=]. In [[TheSeventies 1978]], the National Maximum Speed Law which prohibits speeds exceeding 55 mph is in full force, and the country's truck drivers don't much like it. Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald (Creator/KrisKristofferson) is one such driver, just going about minding his own business. When he and some friends - Mellisa (Ali [=MacGraw=]), Pig Pen (Burt Young), Spider Mike (Franklyn Ajaye), and Widow Woman (Madge Sinclair) - run afoul of corrupt Sheriff "Dirty Lyle" Wallace (Creator/ErnestBorgnine), a [[DinerBrawl fight breaks out at a truck stop]] and the bunch are forced to flee in their trucks, the police in pursuit. [[RunForTheBorder Heading for the Mexico border]], dozens of other truckers join them in their own trucks, until the epononymous convoy emerges, over a mile long. They communicate by means of CB radio. Rubber Duck, heading up the front, is thrust into the status of a folk hero. Will they evade the authorities and make it?

[[TroubledProduction Production was somewhat troubled]]. Sam Peckinpah's earlier films, ''Film/CrossOfIron'', ''Film/TheKillerElite'', ''Film/BringMeTheHeadOfAlfredoGarcia'', and ''Film/PatGarrettAndBillyTheKid'' had struggled at the box office, and Peckinpah needed to do a successful blockbuster if he was to get on. EMI had bought the screen rights to [=McHall=]'s song that chronicled the story of a convoy blasting past the fifty-five mph limit with an army of police attempting to enforce it. The screenplay was written by B.W.L. Norton, and was originally comprised with fast and furious action backed up by cartoonish characters and slapstick dialogue. Given the massive success of the similar ''Film/SmokeyAndTheBandit'', [[FollowTheLeader Peckinpah saw an opportunity in the script for the successful blockbuster he needed]]. However, unhappy with Norton's screenplay, Peckinpah tried to encourage the actors to re-write, improvise and ad-lib their dialogue, with little success. At the time, Peckinpah was struggling with drug addiction, so friend and actor Creator/JamesCoburn was brought in to serve as second unit director. Coburn directed much of the film's footage while Peckinpah remained in his on-location trailer. The picture finished 11 days behind schedule at a cost of $12 million, more than double its original budget. Surprisingly, ''Convoy'' was the highest-grossing picture of Peckinpah's career, notching $46.5 million at the box office. But alas, his reputation was seriously damaged by rumors of increasingly destructive alcohol and cocaine abuse. Peckinpah would make just one more film, ''The Osterman Weekend'' in 1983, before his death the following year.

* OhCrap!: The reaction of Lyle Wallace and of the Sheriff of Alvarez when they realize that the entire convoy of trucks has joined Rubber Duck to save Spider Mike.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: We rarely learn any of the main characters real names.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When the State Police show up to assist Lyle, their leader introduces himself with the exceptionally blunt statement "My name is Bob Bookman, sir, and I hate truckers."

* PlotArmor: Every trucker in the movie apparently comes pre-equipped with this, but especially ''Widow Woman'', ''Pig Pen'', ''Spider Myke'', and ''Rubber Duck''.

He's ten on the floor, stroke an' bore, seat cover's startin' to gain.\\
Now beaver, you a-truckin' with the Rubber Duck, an' I'm about ta pull the plug on your drain."

-> ''"Arizona, noon, on the seventh of June,''\\
''When they highballed over the pass,''\\
''Bulldog Mack with a can on back,''\\
''And a Jaguar haulin' ass..."''

Has little if anything to do with [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Optimus Prime]]'s Japanese counterpart. Has basically [[SimilarlyNamedWorks no relation]] to the [[VideoGame/{{Convoy}} 2015 roguelike game]].

''Convoy'' is a 1978 action film directed by Creator/SamPeckinpah, based on the 1975 country/western and novelty song "Convoy" by C.W. [=McCall=]. In [[TheSeventies 1978]], the National Maximum Speed Law which prohibits speeds exceeding 55 mph is in full force, and the country's truck drivers don't much like it. Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald (Kris Kristofferson) is one such driver, just going about minding his own business. When he and some friends - Mellisa (Ali [=MacGraw=]), Pig Pen (Burt Young), Spider Mike (Franklyn Ajaye), and Widow Woman (Madge Sinclair) - run afoul of corrupt Sheriff "Dirty Lyle" Wallace (Ernest Borgnine), a [[DinerBrawl fight breaks out at a truck stop]] and the bunch are forced to flee in their trucks, the police in pursuit. [[RunForTheBorder Heading for the Mexico border]], dozens of other truckers join them in their own trucks, until the epononymous convoy emerges, over a mile long. They communicate by means of CB radio. Rubber Duck, heading up the front, is thrust into the status of a folk hero. Will they evade the authorities and make it?

Has little if anything to do with [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Optimus Prime]]'s Japanese counterpart.
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--> ''Arizona, noon, on the seventh of June,''
--> ''When they highballed over the pass,''
--> ''Bulldog Mack with a can on back,''
--> ''And a Jaguar haulin’ ass...''

''Convoy'' is a 1978 action film directed by Creator/SamPeckinpah, based on the 1975 country/western and novelty song "''Convoy''" by C.W. [=McCall=]. In [[TheSeventies 1978]], the National Maximum Speed Law which prohibits speeds exceeding 55 mph is in full force, and the country's truck drivers don't much like it. Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald (Kris Kristofferson) is one such driver, just going about minding his own business. When he and some friends - Mellisa (Ali [=MacGraw=]), Pig Pen (Burt Young), Spider Mike (Franklyn Ajaye), and Widow Woman (Madge Sinclair) - run afoul of corrupt Sheriff "Dirty Lyle" Wallace (Ernest Borgnine), a [[DinerBrawl fight breaks out at a truck stop]] and the bunch are forced to flee in their trucks, the police in pursuit. [[RunForTheBorder Heading for the Mexico border]], dozens of other truckers join them in their own trucks, until the epononymous convoy emerges, over a mile long. They communicate by means of CB radio. Rubber Duck, heading up the front, is thrust into the status of a folk hero. Will they evade the authorities and make it?

* TheSeventies: With full details like police enforcement (by any means necessary) of the 55 MPH speed limit, mullets, afros, CB radio being king...