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May 2006
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5 for the road
By Randy Grider
A candid look at your favorite trucker movies.
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Ask most highbrow movie critics to name the best trucker movie of all-time, and they’re likely to sneer in disgust. It’s a genre most latte-sipping movie reviewers love to hate.
We can take solace in the fact critics’ opinions are often refuted by the movie-going public. Independence Day and Forrest Gump are prime examples of award-winning films panned by many critics and embraced by audiences. Sometimes the elitists forget we like to be entertained.
This is not to say that all trucking movies deserve a pity party for being underappreciated. Some are simply bad. But many do warrant a certain amount of credit for not only being entertaining, but also spotlighting a slice of Americana.
Movies involving trucks and truckers are almost as old as the film industry itself. Many silent movie classics showcased working delivery trucks of the day, and you’ll even find an actor or two credited as a truck driver, like Charlie Hall in the 1929 Laurel and Hardy short, Bacon Grabbers.
Among the earliest notable movies with truck drivers as central characters were The St. Louis Kid (1934) with James Cagney and Patricia Ellis and the 1940 melodrama They Drive By Night, starring Humphrey Bogart and George Raft. The films were the genesis of the trucker-struggling-against-corruption theme that would serve as the plot of future trucking flicks.
The next three decades saw trucking sporadically used as a centerpiece with movies like Thieves’ Highway and The Wages of Fear.
But that drastically changed during the 1970s, the heyday of the trucking movie. From the suspense-filled thriller Duel to the still-popular, cross-country smash-’em-up Smokey and the Bandit, the CB-crazed ’70s spawned no less than 12 trucking films.
Since then movies like Black Dog and Over the Top have continued the trucker tradition.
Whether inspired by real-world issues, popular music, stereotypes or simply the creativity of a screen writer, trucking movies have made their mark on society and the image of the truck driver.
In the following pages we take a look back at the classics as ranked by readers on our website, eTrucker.com. Enjoy the ride.
- Smokey and the Bandit
Year of Release: 1977
Director: Hal Needham
Notable Stars: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, Jackie Gleason
Mix a catchy theme song, (“East Bound and Down” by co-star Jerry Reed — see sidebar on page 26); the charismatic Burt Reynolds and the one-of-kind Jackie Gleason with a fast sports car and a truckload of illegal beer, and you’ve got the key ingredients of a cult classic.
This high-speed, freewheeling comedy was the second highest grossing movie of 1977, topped only by Star Wars. When adjusted for ticket price inflation, it ranks 61th all-time in revenues. That’s not bad considering blockbusters like Top Gun and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring fall below the Bandit and company.
The plot is rather simple as the Bandit (Reynolds) enters into a bet with two small-time con men that he can make a run between Atlanta and Texarkana in 28 hours. He must bring back a load of Coors beer, which was at that time illegal to sell in states east of the Mississippi.
The Bandit and his truck-driving partner Cledus Snow (Reed) get mixed up with a runaway bride-to-be (Sally Field) and are chased across the country by her prospective father-in-law, Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Gleason).
There are many things that make this movie stand out. First, Gleason is at his comedic best (relax Honeymooners fanatics, Gleason got even better with age). Second, the interstate chase scenes are plentiful and fun in a Dukes of Hazzard kind of way. And finally, the chemistry among the cast was excellent. Reynolds’ and Field’s love interest is flirty cute, and Reed fits the part of a wise-cracking, fun-loving good ol’ boy perfectly. And you can’t forget Fred, Cledus’ ride-along basset hound, whose stoic, lazy demeanor adds subtle flavor between police car crash scenes.
It’s not hard to figure out why the movie is so popular among truckers. It’s a fun watch. It’s one of those movies that allows the viewer to be entertained without putting any effort into it. That’s rare.
- Convoy
Year of Release: 1978
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Notable Stars: Kris Kristofferson, Ali McGraw, Ernest Borgnine, Burt Young
Many die-hard Sam Peckinpah fans refer to this movie as the worst in his directing portfolio. Convoy is definitely a 180-degree turn from his critically acclaimed westerns like The Wild Bunch and his controversial Straw Dogs.
Inspired by Bill Fries’ (aka C.W. McCall) popular hit of the same name (though the lyrics were rewritten in an attempt to support the movie’s storyline), Convoy manages to overcome a rambling plot with the help of a memorable performance by the multi-talented Kris Kristofferson. As independent trucker Martin “Rubber Duck” Penwald, Kristofferson plays the anti-hero role with a quiet passion that outshines the paper-thin plot. Ernest Borgnine also does his character justice as the corrupt Sheriff Lyle “Cottonmouth” Wallace.
While critics hammered away at the movie’s plot, one has to take into consideration the internal struggles with making the movie and its timing. Insiders point out that Peckinpah was struggling with his widely publicized alcohol and drug abuse problem during the filming of the movie. (It was widely reported that actor and longtime associate James Coburn pitched in to help out with directing when Peckinpah’s condition made him questionable for certain scenes.)
Over budget and long past the shooting deadlines, Peckinpah turned in hours of film and walked away from the project, which gives some explanation of its meandering storyline. The unwarranted comparison with Smokey and the Bandit, which came out a year earlier, and the winding down of CB fanaticism also bolstered its detractors.
In the film, Rubber Duck and his friends beat up Sheriff Wallace and his cronies a few hours after they were illegally shaken down by Wallace.
Tired of being extorted, Rubber Duck leads a mile-long convoy of truckers across state lines with law enforcement in hot pursuit. It all boils to a head when Wallace arrests and beats up Rubber Duck’s black friend, Spider Mike. This leads to a classic break-’em-out-of-jail scene, followed by a final, dramatic showdown between Wallace and the Duck.
Convoy displays the ’70s-era rebel trucker persona that was sparked by many state and national issues involving the transportation industry. It’s a protest film with elements of human drama, humor and spectacular stunt work. For those who love trucks, lots of trucks, it’s a must-have in the video collection.
- Black Dog
Year of Release: 1998
Director: Kevin Hooks
Notable Stars: Patrick Swayze, Meat Loaf, Randy Travis
It’s hard not to get caught up in the action of Black Dog. Maybe it’s because Patrick Swayze is cast in the starring role that it could be characterized as Roadhouse takes to the open highway.
In true Hollywood irony, the good guy is ex-con and former trucker Jack Crews, who is trying to get back on his feet as a mechanic after serving time for vehicular homicide for falling asleep at the wheel.
Crews is given a trucking opportunity he can’t refuse. Of course, there is a catch he’s not aware of — he has been duped into hauling illegal weapons. With a fanatical associate of the boss named Red (Meat Loaf) and his goons trying to steal the cargo and government agents in pursuit, it’s a slam-bang flick. Now, throw in Crews’ family being kidnapped and you’ve got the conflict of a man trying to do the right thing and not get the people he cares about killed. If that wasn’t enough of a challenge, Crews must face the source of his personal demons — Black Dog, a haunting apparition.
Country music star Randy Travis (Earl) does an admirable job as a wannabe singer. But it’s a host of other singers that make the soundtrack for this movie really roll.
There are elements of Black Dog that parallel the 1975 movie White Line Fever, but the stunts are much more powerful and explosive, thanks to director Kevin Hooks.
In an era when trucking movies were few and far between, Black Dog put big rigs back in the spotlight.
- Duel
Year of Release: 1971
Director: Steven Spielberg
Notable Stars: Dennis Weaver
An embellishment of a 1963 real-life incident involving sci-fi author and screen writer Richard Matheson (The Incredible Shrinking Man), Duel is a thriller that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning until end.
The fact that the viewer knows little about the main character, businessman David Mann (Dennis Weaver), and nothing about the villain, the never-seen driver of a filthy tanker-truck, doesn’t detract from the storyline. It only adds to its eerie atmosphere.
The plot is simple. Trying to return home from a business trip, Mann’s red Plymouth Valiant is being chased across the desert by an unknown driver of a 281 Peterbilt for no logical reason.
Mann can’t get anyone he encounters to believe his story that a psycho trucker is trying to kill him. (The exception, in one of the most famous scenes, is the reptile lady who witnesses the trucker’s wrath but is too worried about her snakes to help).
Originally shot in 13 days as a 74-minute ABC network movie, tenderfoot director Steven Spielberg gave Duel viewers a sneak peak into the brilliance to come in later films. Watch closely and you’ll see similarities between Duel and Jaws in terms of setting up suspense.
In 1973, Universal Studios added scenes (railroad crossing and school bus shots) to expand it to 90 minutes and released Duel in Europe to rave reviews from audiences. Due to the popularity of Spielberg films, Duel had a limited released in theaters in the United States in 1983. It has now gained classic status for many Spielberg fans, suspense fanatics and movie enthusiasts.
Not bad for a work that started out as a movie of the week.
- White Line Fever
Year of Release: 1975
Director: Jonathan Kaplan
Notable Stars: Jan-Michael Vincent, Slim Pickens, Kay Lentz
White Line Fever is one of those movies that tells a lot about the period it was filmed. It’s is an action-drama that is more low-key than the onslaught of trucking movies that would follow over the next five years.
Its plot revolves around Carrol Jo Hummer (Jan-Michael Vincent), a serviceman returning from war with dreams of buying a big rig and marrying his sweetheart. But Carrol Jo’s fledgling career as an independent owner-operator is turned upside down when forced by corrupt trucking bigwigs to haul contraband. Carrol Jo and his 1974 Ford WT9000 get their revenge in one of the best climaxes in trucking movie history. (The late Carey Loftin, the faceless driver in Duel, handled many of the driving stunts for the movie).
White Line Fever, while exaggerated in many ways and playing on stereotypes, gives a glimpse into trucking before deregulation. Its gritty, rebellious storyline was well received by many working-class audiences. It could have had even broader appeal had Columbia Pictures not “dumped” its primary distribution into neighborhood theaters and drive-ins. Many middle-class audiences of the time avoided White Line Fever because it didn’t start out in first-run movie houses.
Some critics, who originally dismissed the film as B-movie trash, have in hindsight given it decent-watching status today.
Not to Be Forgotten
Also making our poll (listed by year):
They Drive By Night: 1940 (Humphrey Bogart, George Raft)
The Great Smokey Roadblock (aka The Last of the Cowboys): 1977 (Henry Fonda, Susan Sarandon)
Breaker, Breaker: 1977 (Chuck Norris, George Murdock)
High Ballin’: 1978 (Peter Fonda, Jerry Reed)
F.I.S.T. : 1978 (Sylvester Stallone, Peter Boyle)
Smokey and the Bandit II: 1980 (Dom DeLuise joins original cast)
Other trucking flicks:
The St. Louis Kid: 1934 (James Cagney, Patricia Ellis)
Thieves’ Highway: 1949 (Richard Conte, Lee J. Cobb)
The Wages of Fear: 1952 (Yves Montand)
Deadhead Miles: 1972 (Alan Arkin, Loretta Swit)
Truck Stop Women: 1974 (Claudia Jennings, John Martino)
Sorcerer: 1977 (Roy Scheider, Francisco Rabal)
Citizens Band (aka Handle with Care): 1977 (Paul Le Mat, Bruce McGill)
Steel Cowboy: 1978 (James Brolin, Rip Torn)
Flatbed Annie & Sweetiepie: 1978 (Annie Potts, Kim Darby)
Coast to Coast: 1980 (Robert Blake, Dyan Cannon)
Roadgames: 1981 (Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis)
Smokey and the Bandit III: 1983 (Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed)
Over the Top: 1987 (Sylvester Stallone, David Mendenhall)
Hoffa: 1992 (Danny Devito, Jack Nicholson)
Joy Ride: 2001 (Steve Zahn, Paul Walker)
A Chat With Jerry Reed
Editor’s Note: Jerry Reed has had a storied career, country music hits, television shows and hit movies. But for most truckers, he’ll always be Cledus “Snowman” Snow in the Smokey and the Bandit movies, as well as the voice behind the film’s anthem, “East Bound and Down.” Late last year, the quick-witted Reed chatted via phone from his home near Nashville, Tenn., with Truckers News Editor Randy Grider about the movie and his music.
TN: How did you get cast as Cledus Snow?
JERRY REED: I had done two movies with Burt [Reynolds], and Hal Needham, who had been Burt’s stunt double, called me up in Hollywood one day when I was doing The Glen Campbell Show. Hal came by my hotel for lunch and told me about this trucking movie he was trying to sell to Universal Studios. He had talked Burt into doing Smokey and the Bandit, and he wanted me to be his trucking partner. It all started over that conversation at lunch with Hal.
TN: What were the two previous movies you had done with Burt Reynolds?
JERRY REED: The first was W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings that Burt did here in Nashville. I read for the part as the band leader and got the part, and that’s how I met Burt. Because of that movie, Burt called me about a movie he was doing called Gator. He wanted me to be the heavy. I said, “Wait a minute, Burt, I don’t weigh 155 pounds — how can I be a heavy?” He said, “Don’t worry about it. I’m going to give you a sawed-off shotgun to carry in your coat.” I said, “OK, son, count me in.”
TN: Did you study truckers for the part in Smokey and the Bandit?
JERRY REED: No, I didn’t study truckers. The people I come from are the people truckers come from. One of my wife’s cousins was a trucker, and he just loved it. But I never associated with many truckers because I was a guitar picker at nightclubs trying to get ahead in the music business.
TN: What was working on Smokey and the Bandit like?
JERRY REED: It was a hoot. All we were doing was running up and down those Georgia highways wrecking cars as fast as we could. It was a real hoot.
Plus I got to meet my idol, Jackie Gleason. I grew up watching Jackie in The Honeymooners. When he was on the set, I’d go out just to watch him. I got to hang out with him and play golf with him. He beat me and I didn’t like that, but we had a great time.
Jackie was quite an individual. I tell everybody that it was a Gleason movie as far as I’m concerned. If you take Jackie out, you don’t have a movie. The movie was basically a cartoon. If you did what you did in the real world, we’d never get out of jail.
TN: What moment about making the movie stands out the most?
JERRY REED: There are a couple of things that stand out in my mind. I’ve still got a headache from that bar scene where I get into the fight with the bikers. Hal Needham was a stunt man, but he was directing this movie. At the end of the fight, they set up the camera, aimed it at the door and this biker hits me and I’m supposed to hit the door without anticipating it, knock open the door and fall out in the parking lot.
Well, being a guitar picker and not a stunt man, I kind of anticipated it. Hal would say, “Cut, come here, Reed. Quit worrying about that door. OK, hit that door.” Bang. I’d say, “That door’s hard. Can’t I have a double?” He’d say, “No, you can’t have a double.” I did it five times before I got through that door. I finally said what the heck. The fifth I hit that door and my head’s ringing. When you look at me outside, my bell’s really rung.
TN: You said there were a couple of moments that stood out.
JERRY REED: The other thing is writing the song “East Bound and Down.” I remember that song was hot and when I sung it, you’d have thought that I had just sung the National Anthem. Beats anything I’d ever seen: people standing up and throwing babies up the air.
TN: Tell me about Fred, where did you find that basset hound that rode with you?
JERRY REED: Fred the dog weighed 65 pounds. In the scene where we pull off the road and Fred runs out into the water, well, let me tell you something, a basset hound’s legs are about an inch and half long. What the viewer didn’t know is that dog couldn’t wait to get to me.
TN: Yeah, Fred was supposed to be enjoying messing with you …
JERRY REED: Off camera, they were holding him in this little john boat. When they threw him in the water and I’m hollering, “Come here, Fred. Don’t make me come after you, Fred,” well, that dog was paddling for all he was worth. He couldn’t wait to get in my arms.
Fred was a piece of work. They would set him up on the dash of that truck with his face looking right out the window. But on the hood of that truck they had what they call nine lights. There were two sets of them with each one of them about 5,000 watts. They set Fred exactly where they wanted him and when Needham yelled, “Action!” they hit those lights, but Fred wasn’t having any part of them. He’d turn around and put his butt toward the camera. I’d say, “Way to go, Fred. I wish I could do that.”
TN: What do you think has made Smokey and the Bandit such an American icon?
JERRY REED: It was the timing that originally made it popular. The CB craze was on. The combination of the music, script and actors, and it’s just one of those things that keyed into the American spirit. It was a free-wheeling, let’s-have-fun-out-there adventure movie. Everyone would like to do what we did in that movie and get away with it, wouldn’t they?
We knew that we had a hit when we premiered it down in Savannah. In the scene where I ran over those motorcycles, people were hooting and hollering to the point you couldn’t hear yourself think. Man, everybody was looking at each other grinning, and we knew we had a smash movie. I don’t think it’ll ever quit playing.
TN: Do you ever watch Smokey and the Bandit with your kids or grandkids?
JERRY REED: No, I don’t watch any of my movies. I can’t stand to look at myself. I watched one time after about 25 years, and I won’t watch it for another 25 years if I live that long. I’d rather watch the Atlanta Braves.
TN: Of all your movies, which was your favorite?
JERRY REED: That one. Smokey and the Bandit was my favorite. My second favorite was Waterboy. Working with Adam Sadler was a lot like working with Burt. It was a relaxed, have-a-good-time shoot. No pressure, just hang out and shoot a football movie.”
TN: You also made a movie with Robin Williams.
JERRY REED: Yeah, Survivors. Robin Williams was a piece of work, and it was also great working with Walter Matthau. What a great gentleman, and so was Robin. But it was more like a Hollywood shoot. It was different from working with Burt, who was relaxed and all about fun. Survivors was shot up in New York and Vermont and was freezing.
Smokey and the Bandit was down in a warmer climate with a bunch of hooters.
TN: Between making movies and your music, which one wins out with you?
JERRY REED: My music. I’ll do no more movies unless they make me an offer I can’t understand. I’ll tell you why music is so important. What would you have if you didn’t have any music in movies? I tell you what you’d have — a glorified home movie. Who’d sit through a movie with no music? So there’s a message there. Everything revolves around music. There’s nothing in the world like music. When music is happening, people stop and listen. The rest of my life on the planet, before I cash in to go see the Father to find out if I passed the course down here, will be devoted to what I’m most grateful to my creator for, and that’s having the gift of music.
TN: Jerry, you have your latest CD out — Jerry Reed Live.
JERRY REED: We did it live at a show out in Kansas. Really all I wanted to tape was the second song, “Father Time and Gravity,” but my producer taped the whole show and I said, “Let’s just make an album out of the whole mess.” The CD has been doing great.
TN: What’s next for you?
JERRY REED: I’m still touring a little, and I’ve got two [CDs] under way now. I’m just trying to figure out how I’m going to finish them. One song is totally off the wall; it’s 23 minutes long.
TN: Trying to give “Free Bird” a run for its money?
JERRY REED: I told you it’s completely off the wall.
TN: Finally, Jerry, after your trucker movie experiences and your life on the road as an entertainer, do you have a greater appreciation for the trucking life?
JERRY REED: I’ve been on the road for years. Truckers are like brothers. We’re on the same slab running our brains out to get somewhere. You start to appreciate what truckers mean to this country. I was coming out of New York City one night and looked and saw all these trucks lined up waiting to bring everything this city needs. It’s awesome just to think what it takes to feed and clothe that city for one day. Taking care of all them arm pits for one day. If them truckers quit running, this country shuts down. It’s that simple. They are this country’s lifeblood.
Famous Rigs
Collectors go the extra mile(s) to own historic trucks
What’s the most recognized tractor-trailer in the country? Arguably, it’s the grimy-looking tanker-truck that played a menacing game of “chicken” with the red Plymouth Valiant in the 1971 movie Duel.
Dan Bruno found out just how popular it is when he purchased the surviving Duel truck from a California man last year and attempted to bring it back home to Missouri. “When I started back with it, word got around on the CB that the Duel truck was coming through,” Bruno says. “All along the highway, trucks were pulling over and truckers were giving the thumbs up. It was a blast.”
The 31-year-old Bruno, a small trucking company owner in Shady Valley, Mo., and incident management coordinator with the Missouri Department of Transportation, is among a very small group of people who can say they own an actual truck from a hit movie or television series.
Another is Kraig Cummins, a 31-year-old Australian trucker, who has purchased the only truck known to exist from the TV series B.J. and the Bear (1979-81), starring Greg Evigan, as well as one the original tractors used in filming the movie Black Dog.
With Bruno’s current project of building the most detailed replica of the Rubber Duck black Mack from Convoy (none of the originals still exist), he and Cummins can likely lay claim to the majority ownership of famous television and movie trucks held in private collections.
Bruno purchased the 1960 Peterbilt 281 Duel truck and tanker from Neil Losasso. It was one of three trucks used in the movie. The original truck, a 1955 Peterbilt 281, was destroyed in the final scene of the movie, and the third truck, a 1964 Peterbilt, is long gone.
The Duel truck had popped up on the small screen a few times over the years — in television commercials and a David Lee Roth music video — but mostly it was kept parked in Hollywood stuntman Greg Sack’s yard just north of Los Angeles. That’s where Bruno picked it up last October. Near Kingman, Ariz., the truck had mechanical troubles and had to be towed back to the St. Louis area.
Despite a few dings and a couple of original tags lost in the transport home, Bruno is optimistic he’ll have the truck returned to its rustic glory before long. “I plan to rent it to the right people and take it to a few truck shows,” Bruno says.
His real passion, though, is his Mack RS786LST RD. He has purchased several Mack RD trucks and gliders to build his replica of the famed Convoy truck. Bruno’s soon-to-be-completed copy is true to detail, right down to the bull bar over the grill and duck ornament on the hood.
Five trucks and gliders (ranging from 1972 to 1977 models) were used in the filming of the truck driven by Rubber Duck (Kris Kristofferson). Bruno has watched the movie (frame by frame) countless times in his quest to make his truck as perfect as possible.
“I want it to be right,” he says. “I may not keep the Duel truck forever, but I’m going to keep the Convoy truck forever.”
Bruno is a little sheepish when asked how much money he has spent on his Convoy truck project. “I don’t want to talk about it. My wife would kill me if she knew,” he says jokingly.
Cummins knows something about the high price of owning a piece of trucking movie history. After purchasing one of the four 1994 Peterbilt 379 models used in filming Black Dog, he paid $14,000 to have its shipped from California via Japan to Australia. It’ll cost three times that much to have it retrofitted for use in the Land Down Under.
“Its still left-hand drive, and I haven’t worked it since I brought it in 2002,” Cummins says. “I need to have it converted to right-hand drive, which will cost $45,000 if I wish to work it down here in Australia. I just use it to move trailers around the yard and the occasional truck show.”
As for the B.J. and the Bear truck, he’s leaving it in the United States — at least for now. Cummins’ transcontinental path to owning this truck started when he was a young boy. “Growing up in Australia, at the age of 6, I was a fan of the show and The Dukes of Hazzard,” Cummins says. “I grew up around Cat machinery and Mack trucks, and any show with a truck in it was a winner for me. Both those shows led me to travel to the U.S.A.”
One day while surfing the Internet, Cummins stumbled across a website for a B.J. and the Bear fan club. He joined and found out that one of the original trucks from the television series existed. After a couple of years of haggling over price, Cummins purchased the truck, which had been working, but now had engine problems.
The 1978 Kenworth Aerodyne still has the original decals on the door and a plaque on the dash from Kenworth stating it was built for the show. In 1980, the KW was given back to Kenworth. The truck manufacturer raffled it off, but the winner didn’t have a CDL. It was then sold to its first private owner for $50,000.
“I told my folks at the age of 6 that I wanted the B.J. and the Bear truck and trailer and a Dukes of Hazzard General Lee car,” Cummins says. “I now have both the KW and a screen-used General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard.”
For more information on Dan Bruno’s Convoy, visit this site. For more information on Kraig Cummins’ B.J. and the Bear truck, visit this site.
Small Screen, Big Rigs
Trucking TV shows inspire nostalgia for the way they painted truckers as heroes
Though the heyday of trucking television series and movies has passed (for now), truckers still fondly remember the shows, the stars and especially the trucks that lit up the small screen in the ’70s and even as recently as 2001.
The critics panned the trucking shows for their tendency to be cheesy, and truckers criticized them for inaccurately depicting life on the road. Still, truckers say there was something irresistible about watching the big rigs rumble to life on-screen and truckers portrayed as heroes instead of road hogs.
In an eTrucker poll of 108 drivers, 53 percent said Movin’ On was their favorite trucking TV show. The show ran from 1974 to 1976 and starred Claude Akins as Sonny Pruitt, a gruff, salt-of-the-earth veteran trucker who teamed up with college-educated youngster Will Chandler (played by Frank Converse) to haul cargo across the country. Along the way, the pair got in and out of scrapes with criminals, runaways and misfits.
The theme song “Movin’ On,” sung by country star Merle Haggard, topped the country charts, but the show itself never attracted a wide audience. It went head to head against such popular programming as Happy Days at a time when many households only had one television.
Many viewers (including many future truckers) tuned in just to see the green Kenworth the pair drove. Several trucks were used during the show, and at least one of the trucks — a 1976 Kenworth 900-A with a 72-inch flat-top sleeper — is still in service.
A close second in the eTrucker poll was B.J. and the Bear at 41 percent. The wholesome family comedy/drama was a hit from 1979 to 1981. Greg Evigan starred as charming young owner-operator B.J. McKay, and a chimpanzee named Sam starred as his ridealong buddy Bear (named after Paul “Bear” Bryant). No one claims a show co-starring a chimp is a serious depiction of the trucking industry, but it was good at what it did — lightweight fun.
Georgia good ol’ boy McKay drove a red, black and white Kenworth K100 Aerodyne across the lower 48, wooing pretty ladies and eluding the crooked Sheriff Lobo (also played by Claude Akins). The show spawned the spinoff The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, starring Claude Akins.
Evigan, who also sang the show’s theme song, has attended the Mid-America Trucking Show for the past two years, hanging out at the booth of his friend Kuenn McClinton, owner of De-Elegant Custom Model Truck Fleet, talking to truckers, signing autographs and posing for photos.
Owner-operator Arthur Culbertson of Franklin, Ky., came to the show with one goal in mind: meeting Greg Evigan.
Sporting a B.J. and the Bear T-shirt and a big grin, Culbertson got autographed photos for himself and a friend and had his picture taken with “B.J.” himself.
A distant third at 6 percent in the eTrucker poll, 18 Wheels of Justice is the most recent trucking show to hit the airwaves. The show ran from 2000 to 2001 on TNN and starred Lucky Vanous as a Justice Department agent who goes undercover as an over-the-road trucker to elude a vicious crime boss (G. Gordon Liddy) … and help solve crimes along the way.
As in any trucking show, the truck itself was a star. 18 Wheels of Justice featured the Kenworth T2000 technology truck with extras such as a fingerprint identification system that recognizes individual drivers, a navigational system that talks the driver into the destination, night vision and driver drowsiness monitoring systems.
-Kristin L. Walters
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