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» » White Line Fever (1975)

Short summary

Returning from a stint in the Air Force, Carrol Jo Hummer borrows money to buy a truck, hoping to make enough money hauling produce to marry Jerri Kane and set up housekeeping. He discovers that the long-haul business is run by racketeers and decides to fight the corrupt forces that control the trucking business.

Dick Miller's character is named R. "Birdie" Corman, a tribute to producer Roger Corman, who was a mentor to director Jonathan Kaplan.

In a telephone conversation, one character says, "Go get Joe Dante". Director Joe Dante is an old friend of the film's director, Jonathan Kaplan, and, like Kaplan, is one of the legion of directors given his start by producer Roger Corman.

In Jan. 1976, Columbia distributed this film theatrically on a double bill with Bite the Bullet (1975) starring Gene Hackman and Candice Bergen.

Was commonly seen in the UK as the main film on a double bill with Peur sur la ville (1975).

According to an article in the September 1, 1975 edition of Newsweek magazine, the scene where the truck crashes through the corrupt company's logo cost $130,000 ($630,000 in 2018) to stage and shoot.

The primary truck used through most of the film is a 1974 Ford WT-9000. A total of six trucks were used for this film. The studio bought three and Ford supplied three.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Phallozs Dwarfs
    This is gritty 70's B-movie action at its best. The CB radio craze was at its height when this movie first came out (I saw it on a double bill with "Jaws" at an outdoor)and the country was fascinated by the lives of long distance truckers. There were also a lot of violent films portraying the "little guy" sticking up for himself against the powers that be. These concepts coalesce in this fast-paced and tough action movie.

    Carroll Jo Hummer is an independent long haul trucker whose whole life is tied up in two things: his wife and his truck The Blue Mule. He's no angel but he knows corruption when he sees it. When his greasy boss Duane (good ol' boy Slim Pickens) puts the arm on Hummer to deliver illegal cigarettes and slot machines, Carroll Jo refuses to go along. In doing so, he becomes an inspiration to other wildcat truckers looking to buck the system but he also becomes the target of a vicious campaign of intimidation endorsed by the corporate slimeballs in their ivory towers.

    There's fist-fighting, road racing and down and dirty dialog galore as Hummer's war with his enemies escalates to "Walking Tall" levels. The concluding image of the Blue Mule smashing the glass emblem of the corrupt corporation is iconic.

    This is a B-movie for sure and no Oscar contender, but the lives of the truckers are portrayed with some grit and realism. There's some breath-taking footage of cross-country journeys, particularly in a snowy Utah, and there's hardly a dull moment. Jan-Michael Vincent does fine as Hummer and it may be one of the best roles of his career (he did all his own stunts).

    And how can you go wrong with a 70's cast that includes L.Q. Jones, Dick Miller, R. G. Armstrong, Don Porter, Kay Lenz, Sam Laws and Slim Pickens? Only obvious signs of sloppiness were a couple of shots where the boom mike or its shadow are visible. That's a minor quibble. If you're looking for a hell-raisin' bare knuckled story that pits a tough man against the odds, chances are this is what you are looking for.
  • comment
    • Author: Stick
    This film catapulted Jan-Michael Vincent to stardom level for awhile, and contained a lot of good, exciting action scenes as well as politically correct assessment of some of the problems of independent truckers at the time. Of course, it contained some action and fighting scenes that are somewhat unbelievable, but in the context of the story, they work. Kay Lenz is the believable, not too lovely hero's wife who downplayed her attractiveness displayed in later films. There are lots of eye-pleasing shots of trucks and highway mayhem, and, of course, from a trucker and real-life perspective, lots of technically inaccurate scenes, but, all in all one of the very best trucking movies ever made -- and I've seen 'em all! Good cast, good flick. This $2 million film went on to be a big grosser.
  • comment
    • Author: Zonama
    This movie gave a slightly glamorized (and dirty) view into the world of the American trucking industry circa 1973-75. Without crossing over into making a film only truckers and their kin would enjoy, they kept the story and the action fast-paced yet clear as to what is happening unseen. It's not a "CB Fad" movie. A very "Americana" type film which gives a terrific look at the middle American fighting for himself and his ideals. Even though it is a semi-cheesy "B" movie by any standard, the characters are easily related to and the storyline is easy to get involved with, and the action is fun without getting too excessive (gee- a trucker who isn't a gravity defying martial artist!).

    Jan-Michael Vincent is at perhaps his best, with Kay Lenz as the perfect naggy whiny trucker's old lady- just cute enough to want to come home to. The musical score is cliché' by today's standards, but dead-on for that time. Some of the old country tunes actually sound pretty good even today (though the twang twang stuff, and the musically reproduced truck horns grew old after while).
  • comment
    • Author: Agarus
    One of the earliest -- and hence best -- of a handful of 70's trucker movies, a once quite hot, but now hopelessly passé sub-genre which beget a mixed bag of films which includes the stellar Claudia Jennings vehicle "Truck Stop Women," the not half bad Peter Fonda pic "High Ballin'," the great'n'gritty overlooked sleeper "Road Movie," Sam Peckinpah's excruciatingly stupid "Convoy," the alarmingly atrocious Chuck Norris chopsocky turkey "Breaker! Breaker!," and the sturdy made-for-TV item "Steel Cowboy." Jan-Michael Vincent, whose career in the Me Decade was all over the map, peaking with "The Mechanic" and "Big Wednesday" and hitting a wonderfully wretched all-time low with the gloriously godawful post-nuke sci-fi atrocity "Damnation Alley," here gives one of his strongest, most convincing and engaging performances to date as Carrol Jo Hummer, an earnest, moral, youthful independent Diesel driver who finds out that his employers are crooked bastards who sell illegal contraband on the side. Greatly appalled by this discovery, Hummer decides to blow the whistle on the entire unlawful business, becoming a modern-day folk hero in the process and subsequently putting both himself and his plucky wife Jerri (a stand-out portrayal by the always fine and assertive Kay Lenz) in considerable jeopardy.

    Director Jonathan Kaplan, who was then on a real B-movie roll churning out such kick-ass exploitation flicks as "Night Call Nurses," "The Student Teachers," and "Truck Turner" on a regular basis, hits a brisk, solid groove at the very start of the film and masterfully sustains it to the thrilling end, expertly milking the forever effective and appealing "one lone little man against the big, bad system" populist hero subtext in Ken Friedman's tightly efficient script for maximum socko entertainment. Kudos also to the exceptional supporting cast ridden with familiar film faces: the late, great, ever-delightful Slim Pickens as corrupt truck stop manager Duane Haller, L.Q. Jones at his most sublimely slimy and serpentine as head heavy Buck Westle, Martin Kove as one of Westle's thuggish goons, R.G. Armstrong as a shifty, manipulative prosecuting attorney, veteran character actor Don Porter as the smug CEO who's running the whole no-count operation, frequent Kaplan pic co-star Johnny Ray McGhee as an angry black trucker, Sam Laws as McGhee's rascally lovable ol' coot pop, and the irreplaceable Dick Miller as fidgety, peppery gear-jammer R. "Birdie" Corman. Further enhanced by Fred Koenekamp's crisp, inventive cinematography, David Nichtern's stirring score, and Valerie Carter tearfully warbling the marvelously mawkish country-and-western weeper "Drifting and Dreaming of You" all of three times on the soundtrack, "White Line Fever" gets a hearty ten-four from your good buddy film critic as quintessential 70's drive-in cinema at its most bluntly exciting and unpretentious best.
  • comment
    • Author: Qane
    My dad took me to see this movie in the theater in 1975. I was around 7 years old. I guess I remember it most because it was one of the first movies my dad took me to see. It is definitely a tough guys movie. The violence portrayed in the film stayed with me for years. Especially the scene where Slim Pickens is thrown in front of a speeding semi truck. I've seen the movie many times on television since 1975 and have grown to appreciate it more. Not being close to the trucking industry, I don't know how accurate a picture it paints for today, but I believe it hits pretty close for 1975.
  • comment
    • Author: Kulwes
    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!
  • comment
    • Author: Eyalanev
    I saw this film years ago at the cinema. On the big screen it was fantastic and since then I have been waiting for it to be released on either video or DVD. Its a very simple story about a lone trucker. He's an honest man looking to make an honest living but ends up fighting the corrupt system, a true classic of the seventies. The acting is acceptable, the director resisted the temptation to over play the main characters role. The film rolls along at a fairly good pace and is for the most part quite believable, the finale has the hero driving his truck through a large sign in a highly symbolic gesture. If this film was to be remade today I am sure the acting would be much better, the action scenes much more explosive and I am sure it would have the standard sex scenes. However White Line Fever is a classic of its time and in my opinion a remake would never match the originals simple plot and drama without adding too many unnecessary distractions. There have been very few good trucking movies ever made, so hopefully this one will be re-released.
  • comment
    • Author: Anayalore
    So I said "It better not end like this" and it did, a very disappointing end but towards the finish of the movie you could see the directors panic as he struggled to find an ending so I was aware that a 'bail out' was on the cards. To be fair even I half way through the movie I thought how on Earth are they going to end this.

    A unique trucker movie inasmuch as Trucker movies are usually a lot lighter this has some very dark and heavy moments which in turn keeps the viewer unsettled which is only a good thing in an action drama.

    But the Director needs to look up the word 'Revenge' in a dictionary or at least ask Charles Bronson (Once upon a time in the west) how it's done.

    The entire cast put in a good performance and the script and pacey direction keep things moving. JMV was great.

    Plus some nice old seventies American Trucks.
  • comment
    • Author: Cogelv
    SPOILER ALERT! Great action flick with well-written characters, often compared to "Billy Jack" and "Walking Tall." Fistfights and tough guys galore, Kay Lenz looking adorable, what more could you ask for? Climactic scene of Jan-Michael Vincent's "Blue Mule" diesel tractor truck barreling through a guard shack and becoming airborne is one of the most memorable bits of 70's action cinema. Highly recommended by me.
  • comment
    • Author: Dobpota
    This came out with the CB fad and is really a vintage film now. Is it a classic? Well, the truck driving scenes are classic. The other stuff like the plot and ending are apparently fabricated just so we could have a place for the great action. Where else can you see someone climb from the cab of a moving truck onto the van trailer's roof? Where else can you see a semi hit a bobtail truck tractor in the tandems and spin it off the road? Where else can you see a diesel truck burn? Where else can you see a truck tractor jump through the air? Jan-Michael Vincent shows us he can actually back a semi to a loading dock, too. White Line Fever gets the point across that truck driving is a great way of life. Then why was it so hard for him to make a living at it? Couldn't he just sign up with Mayflower Van Lines or something?
  • comment
    • Author: Lli
    Jan-Michael Vincent stars in this B-movie from the Redneck Renaissance which has an ex-military man buying a rig to achieve the American dream along w/his doting wife. Corruption rears its ugly head when his unscrupulous owners try to force him to do the wrong thing but w/a granite jaw & a handy dandy shotgun, he prevails. Co-starring 2 Sam Peckinpah regulars L.Q. Jones & Slim Pickens, this breezy actioner is a throwback to a simpler time when CG were just 2 letters that meant nothing.
  • comment
    • Author: Anarasida
    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...
  • comment
    • Author: Mojar
    ***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!
  • comment
    • Author: tamada
    "White Line Fever" was a big hit on the drive-in circuit when it was released. Seeing it today, it's pretty easy to figure out why it appealed to audiences then, having ingredients that appeal even more than 40 years later. The whole trucking industry angle, for one thing, though even more appealing is the irresistible there of the "little guy" against a corrupt system. Jan-Michael Vincent makes for an appealing little guy hero, fighting against some nice bad guys, including the dependable L. Q. Jones. Toss in some good action (there's an awesome stunt at the climax!), and you have a winner of a B movie.

    As appealing as the movie is, I will admit it's not perfect. Though Vincent is charismatic and you root for his character, his character is a little thin in some details (it's never explained why he's so honest.) It's also a little uncomfortable to see Vincent in several scenes drink alcohol knowing what eventually happened to Vincent in real life. Also, it's not clear if the chief bad guys get punished in the end or not. But if you can overlook minor flaws like those, the movie is still enjoyable to watch.
  • comment
    • Author: Nilasida
    This movie sucked production grade hole. It started to be about some in fighting among cheese ball truckers. It could have ended there. Instead, it becomes a romance story about the formation of a truckers union. One gets the distinct feeling the writer quit halfway through. This movie must have been a tax write-off.
  • comment
    • Author: The Apotheoses of Lacspor
    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.
  • comment
    • Author: krot
    Jan-Michael Vincent, at the peak of his charisma and movie stardom, registers strongly as good, honest young man Carrol Jo Hummer, fresh from a stint in the Air Force. He gets a loan, which he uses to pay for his own diesel truck, which he dubs The Blue Mule. Initially thinking of working for family friend Duane Haller (Slim Pickens), he ultimately decides to fight corruption in the transport business, making enemies out of slimy people like Buck Wessle (L.Q. Jones) and Cutler (Don Porter). Kay Lenz plays Jerri, the wife who stands by his side.

    The prolific director Jonathan Kaplan, who at this time was firing off one entertaining B picture after another, wrote the script with Ken Friedman. Like so many other young directors during the 70s, he'd gotten his start working for Roger Corman, and was able to hone his craft. Here he creates an adequately paced, sometimes pretty serious (but never overly melodramatic), gritty little movie. It gets a lot of mileage out of its time honoured premise of one good man at war with a corrupt system.

    Carrol Jo must do battle both on the road and off, and proves himself capable of handling himself in a number of scraps, which are often instigated by swaggering bully Clem (Martin Kove). The action in "White Line Fever" is well executed, and the photography, by Fred J. Koenekamp, is simply gorgeous. One sequence with Carrol Jo on the road as he makes his way to snowy Utah is breathtaking. This is overall very slickly made and engagingly written and performed.

    A bright-eyed and earnest Vincent is extremely well supported by the lovable Lenz, ever amiable Pickens, and an effectively sleazy Jones. The cast features other familiar faces such as the ever reliable Dick Miller, and R.G. Armstrong as a prosecuting attorney. Sam Laws, Leigh French, and Kaplan regular Johnny Ray McGhee also appear. Cinematographer Jamie Anderson ("Piranha" '78) has a rare acting role here as Jamie, and Ann Dusenberry of "Jaws 2" is seen briefly as a barmaid.

    David Nichtern does the flavourful score for this solid entry into the trucker cinema genre of the '70s. The ending is more low key than the viewer might expect, and may not be totally satisfying to some people.

    Seven out of 10.
  • comment
    • Author: Kagaramar
    "White Line Fever" is an American trucking/action movie about truck drivers released in 1975.Jan-Michael Vincent plays the hero who returns from Vietnam and takes over his father's trucking business in Tucson,Arizona.He soon discovers that the shippers are corrupt and want him to smuggle illegal loads of cigarettes and slot machines.When he refuses to load such commodities they load his trailer with manure out of spite."White Line Fever" features truly fantastic climax in which Jan-Michael Vincent crashes his truck into the giant sign of the greedy corporation.The film is well-acted,the action is fast-paced and there is an enjoyable country score.8 trucks out of 10.
  • comment
    • Author: Shadowredeemer
    Wonderfully 70's movie! Everything about it screams the mid 70's and you know what? Its all the more engaging for it! This NEEDS to be on DVD (its Sony/Columbia which gives me hope that it might one day see release on their Midnite Madness line of DVDs.) The story is a little confusing--but the movie is so fast moving and so colorful and so involving---the fact that the story keeps flipping the position of whether Jan Michael Vincent is in or out of the corrupt organization who keep alternatively trying to kill him and employ him (sometimes at the same time) just adds to the movie's charm! (really quickly the story is Jan Michael Vincent is a back from 'Nam truck driver who goes to work for a corrupt organization and rebels against their corruptness--he wants to unionize and only haul what he wants to haul--not the illegal contraband that his bosses want him to traffic in----and his bosses in turn try to kill him, his wife, and just about everybody else who happens to be driving on the road around him---that's it----Jan tries to testify in court about their corruption, but that doesn't really matter--because a couple of scenes later--he's back to driving his truck for the very same guys that he was just testifying against---what? exactly!) Story is really just an excuse to see Jan behind the wheel of a big rig while other big rigs try to oust him off the road.

    Its pretty awesome actually. There are a number of very well shot sequences---the first time Jan Michael has enough of his bosses b.s.--and they fire him---he marches back in his bosses' office with a gun--he forces them to give him work at gunpoint! Its a very well done sequence (although if you stop and think about it given the plot as its unfolded it doesn't make a whole Lotta sense--but hey A Man's Gotta Work And Put Food On The Table Damnit!) And Then They Drive Him Too Far--which leads to a very depressing ending--but an awesomely depressing one!!!! I won't ruin it--but its awesome! Seriously if this was on DVD--I think i would've bought it already---i wanted to see it again immediately after the end credits rolled---so Columbia get on it!
  • comment
    • Author: Hasirri
    I Saw White Line Fever many years ago when I was doing my weekend warrior thing and this was playing on the post theater in I believe Fort Stewart, Georgia. This is the kind of film that at best had a limited run in New York City, but played I'm sure to big crowds in every small town in red state America. I wouldn't be surprised, but that back in those days Jan Michael Vincent was a number one star there.

    It's actually a pretty good film in which Vincent plays a working class hero who stands up to gangsters trying to control the trucking industry. He's an Air Force veteran who marries the girl of his dreams in this case Kay Lenz and buys a big rig which he names the Blue Mule and pronounces himself ready to enter the truck driving game.

    Some really nasty people are in control of it though and when Vincent proclaims he won't haul illegal cigarettes and slot machines they come down on him like a ton of bricks. They hurt him in every way possible, even people like Slim Pickens who was once his father's best friend.

    But Vincent is a charismatic figure and the independent drivers rally to him. It all comes at a big price.

    A nice group of the best character actors around including Don Porter, L.Q. Jones, and R.G. Armstrong are some of the foes he faces as Jan Michael goes up the food chain of villainy.

    The film owes a lot to some of Frank Capra's work, especially Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. Thirty years earlier I could have Jimmy Stewart doing the part of Carrol Jo Hummer. Nice country music score moves the action along and sets a red state mood. I could see Taylor Lautner doing a remake today.
  • comment
    • Author: Arakus
    Jan-Michael Vincent plays an idealistic long-haul truck driver who wants no part of shipping illegal un-taxed cigarettes and slot machines (which by today's criminal standards seems positively quaint) for corrupt shipping company owner L.Q. Jones. He the finds himself blackballed and unable to find work until he holds Jones at gunpoint, forcing him to give him a delivery job. He gets a job, but also finds every trucker in the state out to get him. Co-staring Slim Pickens, R.G. Armstrong, Dick Miller, and Martin "Sweep the Leg" Kove, "White Line Fever" is super fun hixploitaiton with good ol boys cussin', fighting' and driving big rigs. I've always loved Jan-Michael Vincent's early work and in reflection upon his career have been fascinated and somewhat haunted a quote from Vincent, lamented that he could have been another James Dean if he'd made only three movies and then died, instead of seeing his career and personal life spiral out of control with drugs, alcohol, and multiple arrests (he's now even minus a leg). If we only remembered Vincent for "The Mechanic," "The Big Wednesday" and possibly this film, he's probably right. We'd have been remembered as a talented, handsome, leading man with a bright future ahead of him, instead of someone who squandered their career and talents. But back to "White Line Fever," this film was written and directed by Roger Corman protege Jonathan Kaplan, who'd later go on to write and direct some major films, including "The Accused" and "Unlawful Entry," so it's an early work by a quality filmmaker, which bring quality to this unabashedly low-brown exploitation drive-in material. Overall, "White Line Fever" is one of Jan-Michael Vincent's better films and is solid entertainment if you're in the mood for "Convoy" meets "Walking Tall."
  • comment
    • Author: Pedora
    First seen it when I was 8 years old at the drive inn theater. I'm now 43 and like it as much know as I did then. I think it has one of the most awesome stunts with a truck at the end. It just blows you away. Yep still a great movie.It made me want to drive a truck then and today I do.It's the classic battle of David and Goliath so to speak. They don't make movies like that anymore. where could you even assemble a cast like the one in this movie today. I never tire of seeing this one.It really tells a story that everyone can relate to. I simply think it should be considered a cult classic. I wish they could bring it back to the theaters. That stunt at the end was much better on the big screen.
  • comment
    • Author: Rich Vulture
    Saw this movie when I was about 7 yrs old and thought it was one of the better truck movies of the 70's. Movies back then were all about stunts, and cool cars and trucks getting trashed big time. Everything else like story lines and character development just got in the way. This film had the best truck crash stunt ever, no special effects then, if you wanted to jump a truck 200 ft through a giant glass structure, you had to use a real truck and a real glass structure. There was a killer chase scene where the Blue Mule and an old Ford Louisville battle it out. The Mule T-bones the louie a beauty at full noise. The producers did a top job on getting the right looking truck for the movie, the Blue Mule was a sharp lookin rig, for a while there.
  • Cast overview, first billed only:
    Jan-Michael Vincent Jan-Michael Vincent - Carrol Jo Hummer
    Kay Lenz Kay Lenz - Jerri Kane Hummer
    Slim Pickens Slim Pickens - Duane Haller
    L.Q. Jones L.Q. Jones - Buck Wessle
    Sam Laws Sam Laws - Pops Dinwiddie
    Don Porter Don Porter - Cutler
    R.G. Armstrong R.G. Armstrong - Prosecutor
    Leigh French Leigh French - Lucy
    Johnny Ray McGhee Johnny Ray McGhee - Carnell
    Dick Miller Dick Miller - Birdie Corman
    Martin Kove Martin Kove - Clem
    Jamie Anderson Jamie Anderson - Jamie Kane
    David Garfield David Garfield - Witness Miller (as John David Garfield)
    Nate Long Nate Long - Sunglasses
    Ron Nix Ron Nix - Deputy
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