006 - CONVOY (Sam Peckinpah, 1978)

Trucker “Rubber Duck” (Kris Kristofferson) runs afoul of Arizona Sheriff Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine) after Wallace extorts money from Duck and his friends. So begins the latest in a series of conflicts between Rubber Duck and Wallace, including the sherriff trying to detain his friend Spider Mike (Franklyn Ajaye), with Wallace in hot pursuit as Duck and company hightail it for the New Mexico border to avoid getting arrested. Various friends and admirers join Rubber Duck’s escape and form a convoy of support. The convoy takes on a larger meaning for all kinds of working class gripes with the state of things in the U.S. of A. back in 1978. The film also features Ali MacGraw sporting an amusing haircut, Seymour Cassel gleefully playing a crooked governor and a host of wonderful character actors.

Ride along with Bill and Colin as they travel cross-country in an attempt to make some sense of a messy and sometimes fun film that was part of the 1970s American Citizens Band Radio craze, originated from a hit country song of the same name and wound up becoming Peckinpah’s most profitable movie ever.