Road Movie

Two independent truckies( Bostwick and Drivas) pick up an emotionally battered prostitute(Baff) en route to Chicago. Her presence forces them to change their plans drastically.

Gritty seventies flick has all the hallmarks of the era that make it so great when compared to today's franchised McMovies; excellent performances, gritty characterisation and overall gritty downbeat feel. I found this film to be constantly engaging and intriguing with it's meandering plot taking the viewer on a journey not dissimilar to the film's protaganists. ROAD MOVIE is in a micro genre all by itself and is a fascinating glimpse into the darkside of the truckies' world. The perfs by all three leads are excellent,with Regina Baff a standout as the unstable and unpredictable hooker with a heart of molten lead. The script is solid and the characterisations are full of ambiguity and subtlety. How refreshing to see a flick where the characters aren't cliched cutouts. Cinematography is gritty and portrays the ever changing American landscape as a post apocalyptic wasteland. At times I felt as if I were watching a low key science fiction movie. ROAD MOVIE is an excellent antidote to anyone burnt out by the soulless franchised marketing -driven fx reels that pass for cinema in the current climate.

What should i say about this movie. Overall it's a good movie. The actors are doing a great job and the story is interesting. Two hardworking men, working as independent truckdrivers picks up a prostitute on their journey to Chicago. The movie is about what happens during that trip. The movie is an adventure, a dramatic roadmovie sort to say and the director is very good mixing the elements of exploitation and art and does it in a very talented way. And i think those last elements makes the movie a bit unique. But i think the end of the movie is the weak part. I think it's a bit over-dramatic and can't figure out why things needed to end the way it did in the absolute finale. Just when you thought things was gonna calm down a bit and the situation would get solved, that "thing" suddenly occurred that made it even worse (a bit illogic in my opinion but what the heck). i grade it only 6/10 cause of that (Not that bad grade anyway).

Occupying that particular niche where the grindhouse and the art-house overlap and sharing an ambiguous air of the American dream turned South with such distinctly 70's underground classics like TWO-LANE BLACKTOP and VANISHING POINT, ROAD MOVIE, although far from a rousing success even as a cult exploitation movie, its obscure, almost forgotten, status fully justified, enhanced by haphazard directing and storytelling deficiencies of all calibre, is a peculiar beast: moody and evocative enough to dismiss as without merits, but too technically challenged to ever come into its own or become visceral or absorbing enough to make its roughshod nature work in its favour.

The story of two independent truck drivers making their way to Chicago to deliver a meat cargo who pick up on their way a whore all out of luck plays second fiddle to the moody portrait of the squalid underbelly of 70's industrial America captured through grainy guerilla tactics. Huge factories smoking in the distance, old iron barrels rusting away in garbage heaps, derelict warehouses, small, nameless towns and cheap motels - all captured from the windows of a moving truck give to the movie a raw, bleak atmosphere that ends up being its strongest point. The director tries for something 'artsier', and while he's no Werner Herzog and the movie is no STROSZEK, the found locations in all their seemy glory enhance an otherwise lackluster film.

On the surface there's not much to "Road Movie". Two loser truck drivers pick up a lot lizard and that's where the fun begins. The girl has gangster ties and ends up getting the boys into a lot of trouble...

But the intense mood of this gritty film marks it as different from the rest of the pack. I still think it's one of the most realistic films ever made. There's very few light-hearted scenes and the movie borders on claustrophobic; though the scenery is ever-changing you're drawn into the world inside the truck- everything else is just an obstacle in the way of making a dollar.

As a Class A driver I recommend this film as almost required viewing for anyone planning on getting into the world of trucking. For anyone that thinks life on the road is more like "Smokey and the Bandit" then watch this film. Though some minor things have changed since then a great majority of what still goes on is exactly like it's depicted in the film.

This is one of those films that you watch every five or ten years. Any more then that would probably make you hate it (the sheer bleakness of the picture leaves you little alternative). But once you do see it, you'll never forget it.

The drive-in's redneck trucker genre gets the art house treatment in this intense, grungy 70's obscurity. Two novice independent truck drivers pick up the wrong passenger. Surreal, somewhat supernatural and soaking in sexual politics that are definitely up for heated debate. There's a lot going on here, especially with it's subtle depiction of independent business vs. corporate giants and unions. This is independent film as it was and should be. Essential.