Carrol Jo Hummer (Jan-Michael Vincent) returns home from the Air Force to marry Jerri (Kay Lenz). He borrows money to buy an used truck to be an independent trucker. He seeks work from his late father's partner Duane Haller (Slim Pickens) but he finds the business corrupt. Carrol Jo is unwilling to haul contrabands and gets beaten up by thugs. He is blackballed and decides to fight back.It's a little ridiculous that he gets a load from Buck. It would be easy for them to call the corrupt cop and plant something on him. This gets geared up quickly. The danger starts high and has trouble going higher. They can't start with violence, corrupt cop, and a powerful cabal, then scheme a setup. The setup could have been great but they let him off too easily. Carrol Jo is not particularly smart. Once the killings start, it's time to go Rambo. There is a potential for this to be Rambo but the movie can't let him kill. It's a little infuriating. This should be about a lone driver being driven to take revenge on his tormentors. Instead, this insists on a man of the people movie. There is an obvious edit decision. When he's the lone Rambo at the end, Pops is riding shotgun in one of the action scenes. That's obviously from the earlier ride. His final rampage is not nearly enough and again he's not allowed to kill. This story is begging for revenge but it insists on justice.

***SPOILERS*** The back then, before he messed himself up big time, sturdy & handsome Jan Michael Vincent in one of his most memorable roles as trucker Carrol Jo Hummer as he hums across the screen in his shinny $34,000.00, that's about $175,000.00 in 2016 dollars, rig the "Blue Mule" that he's deep in hock to the bank. That in him trying to make a living trucking produce like apples oranges onions & avocados across state lines. Only to find out that the trucking company-The Red River-that he's employed by is run by a bunch of crooked businessmen that are fronting for the mob! Instead of trucking fruit and vegetables for American families tables Jo finds out he's in fact shipping illegal contraband-Like un taxed cigarettes booze as well as pin ball and slot machines that supplies the mob's cash flow in the state of Arizona.By not going alone with the program Jo puts himself as well as wife Jerri, Kay Lenz, lives in danger of getting whacked by mob enforcer and president of the Red River Trucking Company Buck "Big Bucks" Wessle, played by 65 I.Q Jones, hoods working for him as truck drivers as well as enforcers. At first blackballing Jo from getting work in paying off the bank loan for his rig he starts to organizes the truckers to demand equal pay for equal work-honest work-that really puts him on "Big Bucks" sh*l or cow manure list. That with "Big Buck" getting the word from his boss corrupt businessman and mob controlled hack Josh Cutler, Don Porter, to put the squeeze on the rebellious young man and get him into line or in the hospital with a pair of broken legs if not worse. This besides getting worked over a number of times and having his rig damaged Jo is later framed for his friend Duane Haller's, Slim Pickens, murder who was crushed to death by one of "Big Buck's" drivers in a hit and run homicides. The frame-up against Jo was so phony and ridicules that a grand jury threw it out before they had their first coffee brake.****SPOILERS**** It's when Cutler promised Jo that he'll cease and desist any more trouble for him and Jerri he back stabbed him by having one of his goons break into Jo's home under the cover of night and set it on fires as well as cause Jerri, who's pregnant, to lose the couple's soon to be born baby by whacking her with a lead pipe across her abdomen. Noew all fired up and ready for action Jo and his rig go on a tare as he heads straight for Cutler's headquarters the "Glass House" in an effort to spoil his birthday party that he's throwing there. Ducking a barrage of bullets by Cutler's security guards Jo smashes through the gates and smashes the "Glass House" sign and even worst of all disrupts a party that Cutler is throwing for his crooked business partners! Shot up but still alive and breathing Jo in the end united the truckers to form a union and not be screwed around by the likes of Cutler as his lackey "Big Bucks" as well as the mob that their in cahoots or in bed with!

I love 70's cult cinema, I adore trucker movies and I absolutely worship Jan-Michael Vincent whom I consider to be one of the few genuine dukes of coolness amongst B-movie actors. In other words, the chance of me personally disliking anything about "White Line Fever" were very slim! So if you're looking for a natural and 100% unbiased review, perhaps it's better to read someone else's because I truly love this type of exploitation trash. This is one of Jan-Michael's better performances, for sure, and also one that perfectly fits together amongst some of his other contemporary and sadly underrated gems like "Shadow of the Hawk" and "Vigilante Force". Vincent's character Carroll Jo Hummer returns home from the Vietnam war and intends to pick up his family life again. Just for fun's sake, try to compose a list of ALL the 1970's movies that start with the protagonist(s) returning from 'Nam and trying to pick up their lives again! Hummer's father was a respected trucker in rural Arizona, but he died and Carroll Jo wants to continue the family's trucking tradition. He marries his high-school sweetheart Jerri Kane and together they invest all their money in a cool truck named "the Blue Mule". Finding work isn't really a problem, but the Arizona trucking business is being controlled by corrupt and fraudulent big shots who insist on smuggling stolen and illegal goods. When Carroll Jo refuses to be part of these crimes, he quickly finds himself boycotted and in severe financial issues. When he attempts to fight back, along with a chosen few other earnest and old-fashioned truckers, the crooked magnates don't even hesitate to attack his wife and unborn child. Okay, admittedly "White Line Fever" contains rather too many tedious parts simply showing trucks on the road and the screenplay is chock-full of clichés, but the whole ambiance and settings are irresistibly 70's. The action sequences are quite rough and violent, which certainly isn't a point of criticism coming from yours truly, and the climax sequence is a wonderful example of imaginative symbolism. Handsome Jan-Michael also receives excellent support from a nice assembly of reliable B-movie actors like Slim Pickens, LQ Jones and Dick Miller. Many fans of cult and exploitation cinema refer to "White Line Fever" as the best trucker movie ever made. I think they might be right...

I think this movie gets better on the second viewing. When I first sat down to watch this, I was expecting a drama. Then it turned into a violent action movie. Then we were back to a drama. Then we were in a labor movie. Then 70's whacka whacka-guitar action moment again. Chase scene through cardboard boxes. Then hospital drama again. Whew!!! Anyway, JMV is great as Carrol Jo Hummer! He's a born action star, and he looks the part in this. His girl friend (Kay Lenz) is adorable. I would have rather had a more basic drama, as these two actors really have great chemistry on screen. Don't get me wrong - the truck chase scenes are great too, but the bad guys in this movie kind of suck. Their wardrobe is horrible, and you don't really know why they are persecuting Carrol Jo so much. There are some pretty violent moments that take you off guard. They kill off a couple of fun characters for no reason. And the end - after the great truck crashing into the sign moment - really makes no sense at all.Just take this for what it is - a strange 70's action movie with good eye candy in it!