Truck Turner (1974)

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Brilliant and touching

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The late 60s and early to mid 70s was when the height of the iconic blaxploitation cinema was booming in theaters. This sub-genre of movies usually included an almost all African American cast where the lead character was after justice and or revenge. Besides the amazing Fred Williamson being the poster child for these films, Oscar winner Isaac Hayes was right up there, standing with Williamson. With the amount of success that 'Shaft' had in 1972, the studios wanted Hayes for his own film. Just two years after 'Shaft', Hayes starred in 'Truck Turner', which is one of the best blaxploitation films you'll ever see.It's highly entertaining, full of action and one liners, and even served as inspiration for future films and comedy sketches throughout the years. Even 41 years late, 'Truck Turner' with Isaac Hayes still holds up with the rest of them. That being said, the acting by Hayes really isn't anything to commend here, as this was one of his first outings into acting, but luckily director Jonathan Kaplan weaves is more action and chases into 'Truck Turner' than having Hayes try and deliver melodramatic monologues. It was a wise choice and made the film much better.The film follows Mack Turner (Hayes), who goes by the name Truck, hence the title. Truck used to play pro-football, but had to retire after a bad injury. Now he is one of the best bail bondsman bounty hunters in the area, along with his partner Jerry (Alan Weeks). There is no criminal or bond jumper to difficult for Truck and Jerry to find and capture. They soon get a difficult criminal to capture by the name of Gator (Paul Harris), who is a violent pimp. Truck and Jerry have trouble locating him, since his madam girlfriend Dorinda (Nichelle Nichols) has him in hiding.To make matters worse, Dorinda puts out a bounty to all the criminals and violent pimps for Truck's head on a stick (in so many words). Meanwhile, another rowdy pimp by the name of Harvard Blue (Yaphet Kotto) is playing both sides for his own secret reasons. It's a lot like 'Warriors' when you think about it. A couple of people are trying to not get killed by a bunch of people looking for them on the city streets.Here though, you have the wit and seduction of Isaac Hayes front and center. I don't know who's idea it was, but it's hilarious to watch every single female in the film minus Dorinda, fall head over heels for Truck, no matter what he does. It's just hilariously fantastic from start to finish. The action never really lets up either, and has some great chase and fight sequences, including a surprising death scene.Nichelle Nichols is by far my favorite character here, because I was so used to seeing her as the bold and great character on 'Star Trek', but here, she is rude, vicious, and plain old evil. What a fantastic performance. 'Truck Turner' is one of those rare gems of a film that people rarely discuss, but you know it's almost always on their minds, for just how much fun it really is. With energetic performances, a great cast, and one heck of an original music score, 'Truck Turner' still is pure cinematic joy.

"Mac 'Truck' Turner" (Isaac Hayes) and "Jerry" (Alan Weeks) are two modern-day bounty hunters who have just accepted the difficult task of bringing a dangerous pimp by the name of "Gator" (Paul Harris) back into custody. Unfortunately, things don't exactly go as planned and Gator's business manager, "Dorinda" (Nichelle Nichols) offers her entire stable of working girls to whoever can kill Truck Turner. Suddenly, all of Gator's competitors—to include an especially mean one by the name of "Harvard Blue" (Yaphet Kotto)—leap at the opportunity to increase their profit margins. Anyway, as far as "blaxploitation" films are concerned this is probably one of the better ones out there. It has plenty of action spiced with typical jargon and good performances by several actors to include Isaac Hayes, Yaphet Kotto and Nichelle Nichols (who is best known for her role as "Uhura" in the Star Trek series). Surprisingly though, it doesn't have that much sex or nudity. Additionally, some of the scenes were a bit too unrealistic. Still, if a person enjoys movies of this genre then I believe they will certainly like this one as well. Slightly above average.

Blaxploitation films are so frequently ridiculed and parodied (much of it with reason) these days, that it's easy to forget that some of them were actually pretty good. Shaft (1971) paved the way for the sub-genre with its strutting bad-ass lead who's a sex-machine to all the chicks, and Isaac Hayes' Oscar-winning score (for what he will forever be best remembered for). Hayes himself steps into the lead role here as ex- American football star and bail bondsman Mac 'Truck' Turner, who according to Yaphet Kotto's bad-guy pimp Blue, is "like a bulldog with eyes up his ass!", and displays some surprisingly charismatic qualities that makes it quite a shame he didn't appear in more.Greasy lawyer Fogarty (the great Dick Miller) employs bounty-hunters 'Truck' Turner and his partner Jerry (Alan Weeks - with the best grin in cinema) to track down a low-down pusher and pimp named Gator (Paul Harris). After an extended chase scene, Turner and Jerry manage to kill Gator, much to the dismay of Gator's lady Dorinda (Nichelle Nichols - Uhura!). Dorinda rounds up the big pimps and offers her valuable collection of whores in exchange for Turner's head, a deal in which Blue accepts. Wanting to settle down with his girlfriend Annie (Annazette Chase), Turner finds his life turned upside when Blue employs a gang of hired killers.Beginning almost as a buddy-comedy, the witty script and some genuine chemistry serve up some amusing early scenes, showing off Hayes' natural screen presence. But this turns into pure police procedural blaxploitation as the main plot kicks in, with jive-talk, pimps in some of the most delightfully ludicrous dress I've ever seen, car-chases, slow-motion shoot-outs, cocaine, hookers, and of course a tragically neglected soundtrack from Hayes himself. The action scenes are surprisingly good, and Corman protégé Jonathan Kaplan (director of fellow Grindhouse Project feature Night Call Nurses (1972) - review #443) makes sure he includes as much slow-motion men falling off rooftops and gushing fake blood as possible. Bloody good fun, and probably better than Shaft.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Carrying around a 44 Magnum that was probably bought at the same place Dirty Harry Callahan bought his, Isaac Hayes essays the role of Truck Turner, former pro-football player turned skip tracer. Hayes is not too squeamish about what he has to do to bring back a given quarry and along with partner Alan Weeks, being a skip tracer he's not bound by the rules that Clint Eastwood has to live by as a cop.My best recollection of Isaac Hayes is as the jail house friend of James Garner in The Rockford Files. Gandolf Fitch was a man of few words and a very short fuse and next to him, Truck Turner is positively garrulous. The first part of the film is almost lighthearted in nature as we see Hayes and Weeks go about their jobs and we Hayes's relationship with girlfriend Anazette Chase. She's a nice woman, but an incurable shoplifter that Hayes constantly has to bail out and pay the fines or the merchandise for. The end of the first half though concludes with a car chase to rival Bullitt in which Weeks is wounded and their skip trace, a pimp played by Paul Harris is killed.After this the film changes mood so abruptly it's like watching a second film. Harris's woman and partner Nichelle Nichols wants Hayes dead and will pay anything for it and brings in a whole bunch of business competitors led by Yaphett Kotto to do the job. The second half of the film is a serious of gunfights, climaxed by a blazing shootout in a hospital.For those who remember Nichelle Nichols as the nice Lieutenant Uhura forever with that earpiece and trying to open channels on the starship Enterprise, you won't recognize the murderous fury that's in this character played by the same woman. She steals the film from Hayes in every scene she's in. I would not want her on my case.Truck Turner is a good action film with an astonishing portrayal from Nichelle Nichols. Star Trek fans might want to check this one out.