Truck Turner (1974)

Truck is a bounty hunter who gets a job to track down a guy named Gator. When he and his partner find him, a chase ensues and Gator is killed. This makes Gator's woman, Dorinda, very angry ... See full summary »

Director:

Jonathan Kaplan

Writers:

Oscar Williams (screenplay), Michael Allin (screenplay),

Stars:

Isaac Hayes, Yaphet Kotto, Alan Weeks

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Isaac Hayes	...	Mac 'Truck' Turner
Yaphet Kotto	...	Harvard Blue
Alan Weeks	...	Jerry
Annazette Chase	...	Annie
Nichelle Nichols	...	Dorinda
Sam Laws	...	Nate Dinwiddie
Paul Harris	...	Richard Leroy 'Gator' Johnson
Charles Cyphers	...	Drunk
John Kramer	...	Desmond
Scatman Crothers	...	Duke
Dick Miller	...	Fogarty
Bob Harris	...	Snow
Jac Emil	...	Reno (as Jac Emeil)
Stan Shaw	...	Fontana
Wendell Tucker	...	Wendell

Storyline

Truck is a bounty hunter who gets a job to track down a guy named Gator. When he and his partner find him, a chase ensues and Gator is killed. This makes Gator's woman, Dorinda, very angry and she puts a hit on Truck. The man who agrees to kill Truck is named Blue. The question is whether Truck can survive with Blue and his gang on his trail.

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Plot Keywords:

bounty hunter | skip tracer | telescopic rifle | black american | hero kills a woman | 

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Taglines:

Black, bold and bloody mean!

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 February 1975 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

Black Bullet

Filming Locations:

Brownleigh Apartments - 626 St. Paul Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

American International Pictures (AIP), Sequoia Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The site of the Brownleigh Apartments where Truck resided, at 626 St. Paul Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, is now part of the Píero Apartments at 616 St. Paul Avenue.

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Goofs

When the camera is attached to Yaphet Kotto as he staggers around near the end of the movie the harness/rods attached to his shoulders are visible just at the base of the screen.

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Quotes

Dorinda: Those two bitches that left - they had better learn to sell pussy in Iceland because if I ever see them again I'm gonna cut their fuckin' throats! We are family... and that's what we're gonna stay. Now I got important business out there today. And when I call you, I want you to come out there and shake your asses proper! You hear? Hah? Now get out there and make it look good! And Raquel, take that fuckin' jacket off! Move it!"

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Connections

Spoofs Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

User Reviews

The Baddest & Baldest Bounty Hunter in Town!

Isaac Hayes provides whole new dimensions to the term "Coolness" in his own and first Blaxploitation highlight "Truck Turner" (not counting the Italian Blaxploitation-Crime thriller crossover "Three Tough Guys"). Prior to this movie Hayes was only known as the performer of the legendary Shaft theme, but God bless the person who came up with the idea of giving him his very own movie-franchise! Hayes is brilliant and much cooler & tougher than all the other Blaxploitation heroes together, in my humble opinion. If I were to be stuck in a dark alley late at night, I would rather run into a combination of Richard Roundtree, Fred Williamson and Jim Brown than facing the gigantically postured and naturally petrifying Hayes. The plot of "Truck Turner" is rudimentary but nevertheless engaging and literally stuffed with awesome characters, witty comical undertones and phenomenal action sequences. I truly adore how each and every character that walks through the screen, even including Truck and his lovely wife, is a bit of a "badass" and living on the edge of the law him/herself. Mack 'Truck' Turner is a former football player who now works as a feared bounty hunter since an injury ruined his career. Truck loves his wife, even though she's a recidivist shoplifter and all the women in the neighborhood crave him, and there isn't a single thug on the streets who doesn't fear and respects him. Together with his partner Jerry he's tailing the fugitive big shot pimp Gator, but when the latter gets killed during a spontaneous bust, all hell breaks loose. Gator's main bi-atch Dorinda (Nichelle Nichols, acting like the black version of Ilsa Harem keeper of the Oil Sheiks) gathers all the city's most prominent pimps and promises the ownership of all her top-class prostitutes to whoever succeeds in killing Truck. Seeing the main story lines are so thin, "Truck Turner" mostly benefices from its 'shoot first ask questions later' action sequences, the splendid soundtrack and multiple stellar performances. Hayes receives great support from Yaphet Kotto (as a really creepy super-pimp), Alan Weeks (as the sidekick) and Sam Laws (as their employer). There are also excellent cameos for prominent B-actors like Scatman Crothers and Dick Miller. The violent climax in the hospital is simply awesome and has an original and tense anti-climax. Another downright brilliant and unforgettable scene takes place during the pimp's funeral. Pure 70's goodness!