Rough'n'tumble bounty hunter Truck Turner (smoothly played with charisma to burn by Isaac Hayes) runs afoul of both sadistic pimp Harvard Blue (Yaphet Kotto in fine ruthless form) and vengeful whorehouse madam Dorinda (Nichelle "Lt. Uhura" Nichols, spitting fire and paint-peeling profanity with startling ferocity).Director Jonathan Kaplan, working from a tart script by Oscar Williams and William Allin, keeps the exciting and entertaining story hurtling along at a brisk pace, maintains a tough gritty tone throughout, makes excellent use of grungy urban locations, stages the rousing action set pieces with rip-roaring verve (the wild climactic shoot-out at a hospital rates as a real stupendous doozy!), delivers oodles of bloody'n'brutal violence, and further sweetens the deal with a wickedly funny sense of brash humor. Moreover, it's acted with zest by a bang-up cast: Alan Weeks as Truck's easygoing partner Jerry, Annazette Chase as Truck's sassy klepto girlfriend Annie, Sam Laws as laid-back bail bondsman Nate Dinwiddie, Paul Harris as vicious pimp Gator, Dick Miller as sleazy lawyer Fogarty, Scatman Crothers as friendly informant Duke, and John Kramer as the slippery Desmond. The funky-throbbing score by Hayes hits the right-on pulsating spot. Charles F. Wheeler's dynamic cinematography provides a vibrant and stylish look. A total blast.
... View MoreTruck Turner (1974) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Violent, mean-spirited and entertaining blaxploitation film has Isaac Hayes playing Truck Turner, a former football star turned bounty hunter who gets a hit put out on him, which ends up getting his best friend killed. Soon Truck is tracking down the men behind the killing, which leads him to Harvard Blue (Yaphet Kotto). Apparently this AIP flick was originally written for Robert Mitchum but they decided to turn it into a blaxploitation flick after the genre started to take off in popularity. Hayes steps into the role with a certain style of coolness that certainly makes him right for the role. I don't think anyone would call him a great actor but he at least has what it takes to make this character believable and for the most part he's extremely entertaining to watch no matter if he's throwing out great one-liners, beating the heads in of racists or macking on his girlfriend. Hayes certainly fills the role of the good guy and Kotto, who many will remember as the FBI agent in MIDNIGHT RUN, fills out perfectly as the bad guy. Nichelle Nichols gets to scream some outrageous lines as a pimp and we get some cult faves like Dick Miller, Scatman Crothers and Charles Cyphers who many will remember from HALLOWEEN. The film contains some pretty strong violence and the action scenes are always entertaining if not believable or realistic. Just check out the scene at the end where there's a major shoot out inside a hospital. This entire sequence is certainly one of the high points of this genre. Also on hand is some downright crazy lines of dialogue that will certainly have you rolling. The entire revenge plot is leftover from countless other films but director Kaplan keeps everything moving at an extremely fast pace and in the end this is certainly a winning film for the genre.
... View MoreA bounty hunter, Mack Truck Turner(Isaac Hayes)has a contract out on him by Dorinda(Nichelle Nichols, in a role bound to shock folks who know her as Ohura on STAR TREK), the vengeance seeking broad whose pimp daddy was murdered by him in self defense. Her fellow pimps across the city decide to take her up on that offer, but they aren't so lucky because Truck is hard to kill, and smarter than all of them(..that plus these hoodlums are all lousy shots because once they have aim, fire, and miss, Truck's taking them out). Harvard Blue(Yaphet Kotto), a sadistic pimp with quite a reputation, offers Dorinda his services for most of her prostitution business and hires assassins to target Truck, seriously hurting his boss and killing his bounty hunter partner. Soon Blue and his cronies themselves become the prey and Trucker the predator with a lot of dead bodies left after the dust settles.Tailor made vehicle for Isaac Hayes, getting a terrific role as a nearly unstoppable bad ass with an unglamorous career chasing down pedophiles, rapists, junkies and pimps(..along with Alan Weeks as his partner Jerry)for bond claimer Nate Dinwiddie(Sam Laws). I LOVED how the camera lens stretches the nose of Truck's gun giving the weapon a very intimidating look you just know is gonna cause some damage to the scum shot at.What a great cast of black actors! Yaphet Kotto is as intense and charismatic as Hayes, and what a finale in the hospital! Nichols as the vehement head hunter wanting Turner's death sure surprises(..just watch the scene where she scolds her whores who challenge her credibility as a proper pimp madame or how Nichols insults her male colleagues demeaning their manhood out of fear regarding Truck)in how she conducts herself towards those she has contempt for. I'd hate to not mention Weeks as Turner's buddy and fellow hunter whose life is constantly threatened due to the dangerous job(..and being associated with Turner)..he has some of the best lines and delivers them with pitch perfect accuracy. And Annazette Chase as Annie, Turner's thief girlfriend who can not seem to stay out of prison(..very amusing sequence has Turner setting the poor girl up for shoplifting out of fear for her safety!). Other amusing cameos from Scatman Crothers(..as a retired pimp with a hairpiece!), John Carpenter vet Charles Cyphers(..as a drunk!)and Dick Miller as a lawyer who often pays for Turner and Jerry's services.Lots of attitude, "colorful"(..often hilarious)street language, the gritty environment of New York City, and extreme graphic violence featuring plenty of bullets & blood. Solid entry in the blacksploitation genre.
... View MoreIsaac Hayes is bail bondsman Truck Turner; he's a man's man, no he's a man's man's man. Charming with the ladies and mean with the baddies, "he's like a bulldog with eyes up his ass". For someone more famous for his funky and cool music, which also won him the Oscar for the score of Shaft, Hayes displays an abundance of natural charisma and screen presence that it's really a shame he didn't have more lead roles in his day. He was also considered for the role of Shaft but it ended up in Richard Roundtree's hands.Truck Turner the movie is every bit the blaxploitation classic one should expect. Filled with hot rods, jive ass broads, pimps and crooks, superb dialogues in that outdated but always funny 70's genre lingo and enough slow motion gunfights to equal Sam Peckinpah, Truck Turner is a thrill a minute and one of the best the genre has to offer. It starts off as a buddy movie as Turner and his bail bondsman friend are trying to track down a pimp called Gator and before long it turns 180 degrees into a revenge movie to rival Coffy. There's a long chase sequence in the first act that ranks among the best of the decade: it has everything from cars chasing and crushing their way through anything to gunfights en route and ends with a good old bar fight. That's just one of the good parts of the movie, as it manages to work on all levels: the action is nice in that good old fashioned way, the dialogues are not just filler, the drama works when it has to and the comedic timing is spot on.Eighteen days from the posting of this review Isaac Hayes passed away and heaven became a little funkier. We'll always have stuff like Truck Turner to remember and cherish him for. RIP man.
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