Willa (1979) (TV)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Directors:

Joan Darling
Claudio Guzmán

Writer:

Carmen Culver (writer)

Release Date:

17 March 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Willa wants to make it on her own. Her mom's a drunk, her husband has abandoned her, and she has 2 kids...

Plot Keywords:

Truck Driver | 18 Wheeler | Waitress | Eighteen Wheeler | Trucking

Cast

Deborah Raffin	...	Willa Barnes
Clu Gulager	...	Joe Welch
Diane Ladd	...	Mae
Nancy Marchand	...	Mrs. Stanch
Mary Wickes	...	Eunice
Bob Seagren	...	Phil
John Amos	...	Virgil
Cloris Leachman	...	Darla Jean
Gary Bisig	...	Buck
Gary Grubbs	...	Junior
Corey Feldman	...	T.C.
Megan Jeffers	...	Annie
Tommy Aguilar	...	Jesus
Freddye Chapman	...	Mrs. Beaudry
Trudy Marshall	...	Lady Trucker

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Jerry Leider Productions/Dove Inc.

Fairly decent trucker melodrama

Willa (Deborah Raffin) is a hash joint waitress who's always dreamed of being a trucker. When she finds out that local produce distributor Virgil (John Amos) offers truck driving lessons in exchange for labor, she persuades him to take her on, convincing him that she can work just as hard as the men, and that she's serious about driving a truck.

So for the next several weeks she maintains the grueling schedule of waitressing during the day, loading produce at night, and training on the big trucks. This latter activity provides many moments of amusement, with Willa running over and backing into things, eliciting Amos's trademark exasperation in response.

The movie's dramatic tension comes from the fact that Willa has two small children, with another on the way (the derelict father is nowhere to be found), an alcoholic mother (Diane Ladd) at home, and a welfare worker threatening to remove the kids from the home because their mother has the audacity to want to raise them by herself, without a man around.

Raffin gives Willa the appropriate degree of pluckiness and verve. The supporting performances are all good, particularly Clu Gulager as Willa's suitor, who respects her individuality enough to resist the urge to 'take care' of her, as he was raised to do. Cloris Leachman is a hoot as an impossibly buxom lady-trucker who takes Willa on as a co-driver. In addition, Hank Williams Jr. has a cameo in the first few minutes, and Corey Feldman makes his movie debut as Willa's little boy.

This movie may be unique in that it's the only trucking-themed film I've ever seen that doesn't have any chase scenes, or semis crashing through barricades and disposable cop cars. In that regard it's totally refreshing. Good luck, however, finding it on video. It had a very small release in the mid-eighties (I actually have a copy), so it's pretty scarce even as a rental.