Truck Turner (1974)

Blaxploitation film about a former professional football player who becomes a bounty hunter in Los Angeles.

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
Jac Emel	...	Reno (as Jac Emeil)
Stan Shaw	...	Fontana
Wendell Tucker	...	Wendell
Sonny Barnes	...	Toro (as Clarence Barnes)

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 | year 1973 | topless female nudity | bare breasts | creme de menthe | 

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Taglines:

Skip tracer - but not the fuzz; he's tougher

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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:

Truck

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Gross USA:

$2,230,000

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

Originally developed as a film for Robert Mitchum. After Mitchum, James Coburn was attached to star- but that fell through as well. Having already invested in the script, American International Pictures decided to turn it into an "urban picture" and cast a black actor. Dick Anthony Williams, best know for his work in The Mack (1973) and Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973) was initially cast, but was quickly replaced by Isaac Hayes, who wanted to get into acting. It was also felt that Hayes was a bigger name draw than Williams.

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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

Jerry: You didn't get shit!
Truck Turner: Just follow the bouncing ball, nigger.

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Alternate Versions

The original cut ended when Truck and Annie happily embraced in the car with her new kitten, but the theatrical version ended with a montage of the city and them driving down the freeway over the credits. Jonathan Kaplan admitted he hated what AIP did to the ending, but had no choice but to accept it.

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Connections

References Super Fly (1972)

User Reviews

Number 8 with a deadly Black Bullet which is Hayes's show

As blackploitation movies go, this is one of the really better ones. Hayes has great screen presence and is in fine form here as a bounty hunter, who you don't want to push too many of his buttons. I love the start, where he finds his cat has p...ed on another of his shirts. His partner best/friend is a racey talking dude who Hayes coaxs into taking his new sports car on a speed run, and of course he's pulled over and ticketed, where Hayes smugly says after, "In future you should drive more carefully". A.k.a Black Bullet, this is good solid rate entertainment. Hayes who of course is Truck Turner, or Truck Mac Turner, if you wanna get more technical, has gone too far with his latest bounty, that has him accidentally killing him. The dead pimp's girlfriend, who runs her own stable of high class girls, is none too pleased, and puts a bounty on Truck's head, employing, mob guy acquaintance (Kotto) to take him down. As a madam, she's a sour, loose tongued ho, a real nasty so and so, describing some of her beauties, with references to finger lickin' Fried Chicken, and turnpikes. And if you want to leave her stable, girls, you better have one hell of a reason. In the wake of this tragedy. Kotto, even pays his respects by slagging into an open casket containing the poor SOB. How respectful is that. She wants so bad to kill Hayes, where earlier questioned in a salon, surrounded by her beauties, she plays funny buggers, Hayes finding this scene not so funny. I've never seen such hostility between cop and madam in this, than I have in other blackploitation movies which gave it a nasty edge about it, I liked. After one ho, knife's Hayes partner (Weeks) in the back Hayes, he knocks her out than says "Bitch" in a "Damn you" manner. Hayes too has a woman, he really loves, and will do anything to protect her, even if it means setting up for theft and putting her in prison. The last twenty minute revenge part of the film was great, Kotto staggering back to his car, outside a hospital, after killing Weeks, and being shot in the back by Hayes, showing such determination for the black guy. When he steps inside the car, his head hits the horn. Dead. Too, I loved the shootout bit between Hayes and the Madam, where I was rooting for Hayes, always the winner here. If blackploitation movies are your thing, and by high chance, you haven't seen this-my advice to you. Hunt it down. This one's a classic, and one with style, plus some of Hayes's scores, the magic singing voice of a black god, who could act too.