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Truck Turner

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Truck Turner
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJonathan Kaplan
Screenplay by
Story byJerry Wilkes
Produced by
Starring
Music byIsaac Hayes
Production
company
Sequoia Pictures
Distributed byAmerican International Pictures
Release date
  • June 26, 1974 (1974-06-26)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.23 million[1][2]

Truck Turner, also known as Black Bullet,[3] is a 1974 American blaxploitation film, starring Isaac Hayes and Yaphet Kotto, and directed by Jonathan Kaplan. The screenplay was written by Michael Allin, Leigh Chapman (under a pseudonym, Jerry Wilkes), and Oscar Williams. Hayes also scored the music for the soundtrack.[4] The film was released by American International Pictures as a double feature with Foxy Brown.

Synopsis

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Mack "Truck" Turner (Hayes) is a former professional football player who becomes a Los Angeles–based bounty hunter after an injury. Truck visits his girlfriend, Annie (Annazette Chase), who is in jail and wants to leave LA when released. Truck and his partner Jerry Barnes go to collect their bounty from Nate Dinwiddie, a bail bondsman, who refers them to Fogarty (Dick Miller), a bail bondsman after a pimp who skipped bail named Gator.

The two visit Dorinda (Nichelle Nichols), a Madam who runs Gator's stable of prostitutes. Truck and Jerry wait for Gator to visit, and chase him, but Gator escapes. A tip from Truck's friend Duke (Scatman Crothers) allows them to locate Gator again, and kill Gator when he attempts to shoot Truck.

Dorinda threatens Gator's former whores to keep them in line. Dorinda offers Gator's competing pimps a deal: whoever kills Truck gets to replace Gator while she runs the stable. The only pimp interested in the violence is Harvard Blue (Kotto). Truck survives several ambushes by Blue's goons.

When Blue points out that Dorinda will not be able to deal with Truck, they agree to share the cost of getting rid of Truck, and Blue will take over more control of Gator's stable. Blue's men force Nate to call Truck and tell him that there is a big job. Truck does not feel sober enough after a night of partying, so he calls Jerry, who dies in Blue's ambush.

Nate warns Truck of the hit out on him. Truck frames Annie for shoplifting, and the police arrest her. Truck visits Nate again in the hospital. Truck gives Nate Jerry's gun for protection, and then they shoot Blue's goons when they burst in. Blue flees, but Truck shoots him. Blue dies a few minutes later in the driver's seat of his car. Truck confronts Dorinda and more goons at her house, and kills her when she reaches for a gun.

Truck makes up with Annie as she gets out of jail. All of his belongings are packed in the car, and he promises he will go away with her, right away, if she takes him back. They drive off together, leaving LA for good.

Cast

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Production

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The film started as a script by Leigh Chapman about a caucasian bounty hunter. It was bought by Fred Weintraub who was in partnership with Larry Gordon. Chapman later recalled, "I remember going into the office and, with my usual insouciance? arrogance? announced that, in that case, I wasn’t going to do any freebie re-writes. The response? That’s OK. He doesn’t want you on the project anyway.... And then, it became a blaxploitation film … about pimps and whores, right? I don’t think any of that was in my script and I’m not sure why I even received a story credit. I used Jerry Wilkes [as a pseudonym. That’s part of my ex-husband’s name." [5]

Kaplan says the film was written for Lee Marvin, Robert Mitchum, or Ernest Borgnine. "Larry Gordon at AIP said, "Well, we can't get any of them so now it's a black picture." Isaac Hayes was cast and that's how that came about."[6]

Reception

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Truck Turner received a mixed to positive critical reception. The film holds a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on five reviews.[7]

The Los Angeles Times called it "an extraordinary visual experience... as successfully surreal as Point Blank."[8]

Home media

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  • In 2001 it was released on DVD.
  • In 2010, it was digitized in High Definition (1080i) and broadcast on MGM HD.
  • On July 7, 2015, Truck Turner was released on Blu-ray.[9]

Attempted remake

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In 2004, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Queen Latifah's production company, Flavor Unit Entertainment, attempted to remake the film, which was to have been written by Chris Frisina.[10][11]

Soundtrack

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Truck Turner
Soundtrack album by
Isaac Hayes
Released1974
Recorded1974
GenreFunk
Length72:01
LabelEnterprise
ENS-2-5702
ProducerIsaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes chronology
Tough Guys
(1974) 		Truck Turner
(1974) 		Chocolate Chip
(1975)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[12]

The soundtrack of Truck Turner was composed by Isaac Hayes. The soundtrack failed to reach the mass popularity of the Hayes' previous soundtrack effort, Shaft soundtrack. It was originally released on a double record album on vinyl, which are mostly found in bargain bins. However, in 1993, it was released in a double-CD album alongside Hayes' other lesser-known soundtrack of the movie Three Tough Guys and again released on its own CD in 2002. Some of the music score was used by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino in the Kill Bill series.

Track listing:

  1. "Main Title (Truck Turner)"
  2. "House Of Beauty"
  3. "Blue's Crib"
  4. "Driving In The Sun"
  5. "Breakthrough"
  6. "Now We're One"
  7. "The Duke"
  8. "Dorinda's Party"
  9. "Pursuit Of The Pimpmobile"
  10. "We Need Each Other Girl"
  11. "A House Full Of Girls"
  12. "Hospital Shootout"
  13. "You're In My Arms Again"
  14. "Give It To Me"
  15. "Drinking"
  16. "The Insurance Company"
  17. "End Theme"

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Samuel Z Arkoff & Richard Turbo, Flying Through Hollywood By the Seat of My Pants, Birch Lane Press, 1992 p 206
  2. ^ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 301. ISBN 9780835717762. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
  3. ^ "Truck Turner (1974) - IMDb". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2013-08-18. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  4. ^ Ignoring the Obvious By Bob Thomas. The Washington Post and Times-Herald (1959–1973) [Washington, D.C] 26 Dec 1973: D13.
  5. ^ "Lotsa Teeth: An Interview With Leigh Chapman". Classic TV History. 17 Nov 2015. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  6. ^ Taylor, Paul (1 Feb 1989). "Keep on Truckin' - Jonathan Kaplan". Monthly Film Bulletin (56.661 ed.).
  7. ^ "Truck Turner - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 2023-02-07. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  8. ^ Thomas, Kevin (28 June 1974). The Los Angeles Times. p. 16. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ^ "Official KINO Insider Announcements Thread: STRICTLY MODERATED: READ GUIDELINES". Archived from the original on 2015-02-26. Retrieved 2015-02-26.
  10. ^ Gardner, Chris (14 February 2004). "Latifah takes the wheel of 'Truck'". The Hour. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  11. ^ Linder, Brian (12 February 2004). "LATIFAH TRUCK-ING AT MGM". IGN. Archived from the original on 12 May 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  12. ^ Unterberger, Richie. Review: Truck Turner Archived 2017-03-06 at the Wayback Machine. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2017-04-14.
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