Ha ha, how ya doin’, it’s Burl! Yes, I’m here to review
another picture, and this one is a fine blaction drama by the name of Truck Turner! It’s a real rootin’
tootin’ shoot-em-up, made with conviction and a heck of a cast!
After getting such acclaim for his musical work on Shaft, I guess Isaac Hayes thought “The
heck is Richard Roundtree anyway with that jive-ass candybar name and that
elegant turkey talk! Ha ha, why is it not I
up on screen!” To which no one said “Fool, you cray!”
I think Isaac’s debut film worked out perfectly well! He
plays Truck, by reputation the toughest football-player-turned-bail-bondsman in
town! He has a real hullaballoo on his hands, running after a terrible pimp
he’s been sent to catch by none other than Dick “The Long Ride Home” Miller, fighting some fools in a bar who
end up with busted heads and broken jaws, road-racing to beat the band, and
plenty of biffing and banging about! In the end he gets the pimp, but he has
two all-new enemies: Harvard Blue, a pimp played by the great Yaphet Kotto, and
a madame played by Uhura! (There are a few moments where you wonder “Ha ha,
why was this woman not played by Pam Grier,” but they pass, and certainly Uhura
– that is to say, Nichelle “The Supernaturals” Nichols – does a fine job in the role!
Anyway, there’s a lot more exploding squib action before,
and during, the hospital-set climax and the poolside denouement! And it’s all managed very well by director Jonathan
Kaplan, who made Over the Edge and of
course Night Call Nurses! Ha ha, all
sorts of other fine actors show up too, like Scatman “The Shining” Crothers, Sam “Get Crazy” Laws and of course Charles “The Fog” Cyphers as a miserable drunk!
In the middle of all this thespian power stands Isaac Hayes, a man alone just
doing his thing, and he does a marvelous job!
There are plenty of wonderful touches in the picture, both
in the script and in the execution, and plenty of terrific action; and it’s
altogether one of the finest photoplays in the entire Blaxploitation cycle! And
on top of it all you get Dick Miller, which is always momentous! I don’t have a
whole lot more to say about Truck Turner
except that I give it three Fort Knoxes in panties, and urge you to see it
post-haste! You’ll enjoy yourself, ha ha!
Uhura is incredible in this, imagine if she'd answered calls on the Enterprise with that potty mouth. Or best not to. Also worth mentioning is the part where Truck visits his girlfriend and instead of flowers brings her a six pack of beer! Romance is not dead.
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