Trucker's Woman (1975) User Reviews

Poor from start to finish

[bensonmum2 · 2/10 · 26 September 2019]

Truck driver Mike Kelly is sure his father's death was no accident. He sets out to prove his crooked boss had a hand in the accident.

This cheap, poorly made movie is barely worth writing about. Just about everything in Truckers Woman (or the more apt title, Truckin' Man) is bottom-of-the barrel - production values, acting, sets, sound . . . you name it and it's probably pretty bad. And unlike a lot of movies of this ilk, it's not sleazy enough to even be a good exploitation film. I will, however, give Trucker's Woman credit on two fronts. First, when it comes to the characters Mike Kelly and Karen Fontaine, they're relationship is somewhat oddly compelling. Second, the music fits perfectly with the film. A low-budget trucking movie set in the South should have a whiney, twangy country music soundtrack.

2/10

Secret pizza

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 2 February 2020]

Former test pilot Will Zens found himself a maker of hicksploitation movies, thanks to movies like this, The Road to Nashville, Hell on Wheels and Hot Summer in Barefoot County. It was originally called Truckin' Man until the producers thought a woman's name would draw more money.

This movie was acquired in 1983 by Troma, who released it to home video. They have nothing to do with it. Thank God.

Shot in Florence and Society Hill, South Carolina, this movie isn't about anything that's on the poster. Instead, it's all about a middle-aged man who drops out of college - maybe he was a non-traditional student - to go undercover as a truck driver so that he can solve the mysterious murder of his trucker father. I've noticed in so many trucker movies that the mob has killed dads, which seems like their chief job in this reality.

Michael Hawkins plays that trucker. He'd go on to play in plenty of soap operas, like Ryan's Hope, where he was Frank Ryan for 272 episodes. He's also a state trooper in The Amityville Horror and a Pepsi executive in Mommie Dearest - he's literally one of the people Joan screams "You drove Al Steele to his grave and now you're trying to stab me in the back? Forget it! I fought worse monsters than you for years in Hollywood. I know how to win the hard way! Don't mess with me, fellas! This ain't my first time at the rodeo" to - but he may be best known for being Christian Slater's dad.

Larry Drake, who would later play Durant in Darkman, is Diesel Joe here. Comedian Doodles Weaver also shows up. If you haven't seen his near-manic performance in The Zodiac Killer, I urge you to do so at the first opportunity. Actually, I shared it in our review of Bigfoot, so just click over there.

Perhaps most strangely, at around the one-hour eight-minute mark of this movie, trucker Mike Kelley goes to the back of his rig and reaches for his break line. For a split second, an image of a pepperoni pizza flashes on the screen. Due to the vignetting effect which was applied to it, several people believe that the insertion of this frame was not accidental, but instead a subliminal message to suggest o drive-in audiences that they should get up and go buy some pizza.

Man, I'm hungry for some pizza.

Nothing like a trucker movie!

[Aaron1375 · 2/10 · 23 May 2020]

Seriously, what is up with all the trucker films of the 70's, there is absolutely nothing all that enthralling about watching big rigs. Granted, there is Smokey and the Bandit, but that was not a pure trucker film where middle aged men drop out of college to pursue a career in trucking because their father was killed in an accident/possible murder. The film is very 70's and you get a guy trying to take out the trucker mafia plus some aggressive flirting that borders on sexual assault, yup, it's a 70's film!

The story literally has a guy die in his truck and his 'son' drops out of 'college' to become a trucker and follow in his dad's footsteps. Probably for the best seeing as how the son looked to be about the same age as his dad, must have been struggling to find a major. Well, an old man who really liked the main guy's dad suspects that the person that worked on his truck rigged it because he was planning on opening another terminal as the current one was fraught with corruption. Well trucker dude's son is going to get to the bottom of it no matter how much plaid he inexplicably has to wear!

No real stars of note in this one other than Doodle's Weaver, who I only really know his name and seen a couple of films of and Larry Drake who looked so pudgy in this thing. He would actually become much more healthy looking later in life, here he is in Dark Night of the Scarecrow mode. The main guy looks like a game show host in his late 30's or early 40's and nothing like a college student and the women are all mildly attractive.

So, this is a film that you are going to have to enjoy watching the wheels on the truck go round and round because there is not too much more than that. A brawl or two and a shootout at the end involving more barrels and pushcarts than guns are about all the action to see. We also get to see a lot of the 'hero' trying to make it with this girl and then proceed to do everything in his power to be a creep to her. This trucking man is a jerk and his woman needs to move on!

Brilliant horridness!

[howyoodoon · 1/10 · 22 July 2008]

Starting with its title, which contains a typo ("Truckers Woman," with no apostrophe) this little gem is the ne plus ultra of truly bad film-making. The cast consists of an oddball group of truly bad "actors". Michael Hawkins (who is actually Christian Slater's father)gives a hilariously off-kilter performance as the ersatz butch "Mike Kelly". His leading lady (Mary Cannon) is probably the most unattractive actress ever to be featured in a "starring" role, and couldn't act to save her life. She wears a helmet-like, streak-frosted fright wig throughout, even in her unfortunate nude scenes (she repeatedly exposes only one breast, mysteriously). Doodles Weaver (Sigourney's uncle) play's Mike Kelly's sidekick, Ben, and is obviously smashed throughout. Also, in a bone-chillingly over-the-top performance as "Diesel Joe," Larry Drake (who later won multiple Emmys for his role on TV's "L.A. Law") is hilarious. The writing, the dismal sets and appalling 70's polyester fashions all combine to make this one heck of a great bad film. I'm surprised more folks haven't caught onto this one yet. It's on DVD now on the Turner Classic Movies site...I suggest you RUN to get a copy!

Trucker's wardrobe

[JohnSeal · 5/10 · 25 February 2017]

A rare example of the 'corruption in the trucking industry' genre, this shot in South Carolina indie includes most everything you'd expect from a '70s drive-in circuit cheapie. There's risible dialogue ("something's not copacetic"), hideous wardrobe (star Michael Hawkins sports a tacky white two-piece), unbelievable hair (as modeled by co-star Mary Cannon), a splash of nudity, lots of country music, and a memorable performance by a drunken Doodles Weaver. The story revolves around Kelly (Hawkins), an independently-inclined trucker not willing to cooperate with the crooked guys running the local terminal. Naturally, trouble ensues when he and pal Ben (Weaver) set out to establish their own terminal. There's lots of footage of roadside attractions like the Flaming Pit Restaurant and, of course, the ever classy Ramada Inn, and look for the waitress's uniform that shows up again 20 minutes later as a maid's uniform!

If an overburnt turnducken transformed into a movie...

[debrecenisrac38 · 5/10 · 28 November 2018]

I have been of the opinion these past few years, that some films exists purely for stoners and the inebriated, this, I felt, is somewhere in between.

On a few occasions I've lambasted Slater for hammy acting, but that was before I knew the range of his father. Granted, compared to the rest of the cast, at least he could deliver the lines on the first try.

The fight choreography is not of this world, literally. Seriously, a light shove onto soft grass takes one down for the count? Many times I felt they just asked a kid what he thought a cool action scene looked liken before Bruce Lee movies came along... except even the knockoffs after his death have better fights.

Last, but not least, at one point the movie broke Newtonian physics by wanting to tell me, that in that narrow corridor (when Mike confronts the guy who cut his breaks) he had comfortably could move and turn, and the professional was already waiting for her. Must have been, because, taking their sizes into account, there's no room for her to get on top on the bottom bunk of the bed without going in second. Which brings me to how the "hero" has almost raped Karen, or how Karen was made out to be a femme fatale to make Mike look good.

Then again, it's a movie where a 40-something can play a college kid, who allegedly already had experience in trucking before going to college...

"Is Trucking A Sideline, Or A Hobby With You?!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 16 April 2020]

After a man dies in a suspicious trucking accident, his son, Mike Kelly (Michael Hawkins) decides to follow in dad's tire tracks, taking up the freight-hauling arts. Within seconds, he meets a beautiful woman, and gets into a brawl with a pair of ne'er-do-wells. Later, Mike visits the woman, and, of course, her clothes disappear.

Finally, getting to work, Mike visits the garage of the Fontaine Trucking Company, where he meets his buddy, Ben (Intergalactic omni-star, Doodles Weaver) and enormous mechanic, Diesel Joe (Larry Drake). We learn that Mike's "undercover", looking for clues in dad's demise.

He soon draws the ire of his manager and a company goon with shoulder-length sideburns. When Mike gets framed for a crime, he goes "undercover" for the cops.

But wait!

He's already "undercover"! Is he now "under-undercover"?!

Mike must use his truck fu on more company goons and their doormat-sized sideburns. Later, at the Flaming Pit Lounge, more goons show up in their goon-mobile. The chase is on, sideburns flapping in the wind like devil's wings! Accompanied by banjo music! Ushering in the final showdown!

WARNING: If the thought of Larry Drake in crotchless pants disturbs you, look away! Now! It happens right after his character is shot in the leg. I mean it! Avert your eyes!

TRUCKER'S WOMAN is a spectacle that must be viewed by every truck-loving, Doodles Weaver devotee on the planet!

EXTRA CREDIT FOR: The incredible array of sports jackets worn in this film!...

A Grade-B Trucker Movie

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 22 July 2021]

After his father is mysteriously killed while driving a tractor-trailer, "Mike Kelly" (Michael Hawkins) quits college and joins the same trucking firm to find out why. It's during this time that he meets an attractive woman named "Karen Fontane" (Mary Cannon) at a roadside diner and they begin to have a romantic affair not too long afterward. Meanwhile, Mike begins to encounter some suspicious people working at the company and combined with the heavy-handed tactics of the boss "Frankie" (Sid Rancer) begins to makes things quite difficult for management and things rapidly spiral out-of-control afterward. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was obviously a low-budget production with relatively unknown actors and rather poor picture quality as well. Yet despite these obvious faults this type of movie managed to fill a void at drive-in theaters who were often desperate for cheap films during this particular time in America. That said, while this may not have been a good film by any means, it wasn't terribly bad either and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Not too bad at all

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 26 February 2018]

TRUCKER'S WOMAN is a solid little independent thriller of the 1970s. It's not as slick or as exciting as higher-budgeted trucking-themed fare but it's not too bad. If you want the best of this genre, check out HELL DRIVERS and SORCERER. Anyway, this film's hero is an ordinary Joe who investigates his father's death and soon discovers that a local businessman is responsible. Murder attempts, minor shoot-outs, and much romancing of the ladies ensues. This film has some good turns from quirky cast members (including a youthful Larry Drake, later a Hollywood name) and the alluring Mary Cannon as the love interest with a secret background. There isn't much action but the pace is nonetheless fast and I found this more than watchable as a whole.

Wow! Doodles Weaver (enough said)

[bigbarry-88130 · 1/10 · 23 February 2022]

So bad...REALLY, So Really Bad! Saying Doodles Weaver as co-Star? This copy is so bad that it looks like fireflies are are trying to burn this film. SPOILERS...It's really so horrible that I couldn't even finish watching it on "Riff Tracks". Enough to say that the commercials were so much better than the movie I was watching. If you really wanna torture somebody that is a film buff, yeah and you have to show them this movie.

Subliminal pizza

[ulrichandhelvas · 1/10 · 10 February 2024]

The highlight of this all time turkey is the subliminal shot of pizza that lingers a little too long to actually be subliminal. It's the most subtle and profound part of this film that's otherwise about a bunch of unlikeable characters and the women who inexplicably go to bed with them.

If you missed the 1970's, this film will make you happy you're too young to remember the celebration of trucker culture.

Thank goodness I only watched the Rifftrax version. I can't imagine the regret and self-loathing that would have ensued if I had to watch this movie without their commentary.

Features Larry Drake 12 years before L. A. Law. Proof that aspiring actors just need work, no matter how terrible the work is.

So 70's I Had to Check my neck for Puka Shells

[societialreform · 9/10 · 21 March 2022]

This is a TV movie level film. Starring Christian Slater's father--he would later go on to be more successful in several Daytime Drama. Mike Kelly is a typical 70s trucker. He is called in after his father's death and slowly becomes aware that perhaps the old man was murdered by the officials at the trucking company. As Mike investigates, the daughter of the trucking company's owner falls for him--much against the will of her father. Mike--again typical of the 70s male attitude--leads her own, and through a series of misadventures the pair are drawn closer to each other. The film is light, and the humor tries. If you can catch the Rifftrax version you will enjoy it even more.