Convoy - 35th Anniversary Special Edition (Uncut) Blu-ray Review & Comments

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Even Sam Peckinpah didn't like it.

His penultimate movie, 1978's Convoy, actually ended up being his biggest financial success. Despite this, the cast, crew – and Peckinpah himself – along with critics and audiences alike, failed to see anything particularly noteworthy about the lightweight trucker movie before, during or after the troubled production. It doesn't feel like a Peckinpah movie, it doesn't look like a Peckinpah movie and, whatever strand of sense he wanted to make of the pathetic script simply does not come across in the finished product. Running over-schedule and over-budget, with cocaine, alcohol and subsequent health problems stifling his art, and with long-time collaborator James Coburn drafted in to shoot half of the footage himself, the film ended up losing to the massively successful, similarly-themed 1977 flick, Smokey and the Bandit, which hit cinemas before Convoy was even completed (although not before it was due to be completed...

Read the full review...written by Cas Harlow
 
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More like "jumped on the bandwagon". Both Jonathan Demme's Citizens Band and the hugely successful Smokey and the Bandit came out a year before Convoy. ;)
 
Booooooooo hiss hiss Boooooooo...for the actual movie review :thumbsdow;) It's a classic, and was one of my favourites when I was a kid. This Blu-Ray edition needs purchased asap :thumbsup:
 
Booooooooo hiss hiss Boooooooo...for the actual movie review :thumbsdow;) It's a classic, and was one of my favourites when I was a kid. This Blu-Ray edition needs purchased asap :thumbsup:

I hear ya, and I'm sure all my old classmates would have felt the same way, but much of what I wrote was factual: the director hated it, was on drugs for most of the shoot, spent most of his time in his trailer and had the second unit shoot the film; the shoot was hampered by accidents at every turn and ran massively over-schedule and over-budget, and the producers eventually fired the director and re-edited the film; almost all of the cast and crew involved thought the movie was a mess and a complete and utter failure - nobody had a clue what the message was, where the story was heading, what it all meant, mainly because Peckinpah lost focus and didn't know himself, but also because the entire film was founded upon a generic 6-line trucker's ditty.

Somehow I missed seeing this film in its entirety during my childhood and, as a result, don't have any rose-tinted nostalgia goggles on here, which is why I just told it the way it was in my review.

If its big trucks driving through the desert you want, Wages of Fear and the underrated Friedkin remake Sorcerer are infinitely better. For my money. They also have a plot.

Glad you found enjoyment in it, though, you're certainly not the only one.

Cas
 
Somehow I missed seeing this film in its entirety during my childhood and, as a result, don't have any rose-tinted nostalgia goggles on here, which is why I just told it the way it was in my review

You should get a pair, they're awesome :smashin:

It's not a movie I have ever done any research on, so I wasn't aware of all, or any, of the problems detailed in your review, and I have to say, I'm a little sad over finding out. You just just took a big dump on a big part of my childhood :nono::laugh: Just kidding of course. Now where did I leave those glasses :D
 
You should get a pair, they're awesome :smashin:

It's not a movie I have ever done any research on, so I wasn't aware of all, or any, of the problems detailed in your review, and I have to say, I'm a little sad over finding out. You just just took a big dump on a big part of my childhood :nono::laugh: Just kidding of course. Now where did I leave those glasses :D

Lol, I do have a pair - I use them when watching Seagal films :eek:

I know what you mean about finding out things you wish you hadn't - I recently read an interview with the director of Under Siege and he had little good to say about the ponytailed reincarnated buddha.

As for Peckinpah films, pretty-much every single film he made had an interesting backstory - after all he made most of them drunk. But the Peckinpah historian makes a valid point, alcohol appeared to make him work better, but cocaine just tipped him over the edge. I think sometimes that works in the opposite direction for other directors, certainly Scorsese and Abel Ferrera made some crazy-ass films on coke that are amidst my favourites.

One Peckinpah film that even the director was happy with - perhaps the only one - was Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, which I'm reviewing next... :thumbsup:
 
I posted a link to another review with screengrabs but it's diappeared.

Here, I'll try again http://www.blu-raydefinition.com/re...-special-edition-uncut-uk-blu-ray-review.html

I always thought Convoy was a great film -not just an 'action' film and not great in the way I enjoy Somkey and The Bandit -just great late 70s' cinema with something actually to say about authority.

And it has a great [American] story & cast.
 
I also loved this film as a kid. Must have rented about 100 times from our local video store.
 
Here's poor naive me, thinking I could walk into HMV today and **gasp** just pick this up off the shelf and give someone,(preferably a staff member), some cash and then I could leave with it.

LOL!
 
Here's poor naive me, thinking I could walk into HMV today and **gasp** just pick this up off the shelf and give someone,(preferably a staff member), some cash and then I could leave with it.

LOL!
LOL - Same here...

Drove to Liverpool HMV today with the intention of picking Convoy up - no such luck :-(

Went straight over to the Blu Ray section and rifled through the "C's", had high hopes but found nothing! Drove home and ordered from Amazon, also Breaking Bad season 4 for £16 - £19.99 in HMV..
 
Yeah -in a railway station today and you couldn't buy a ticket but they had facilities to wipe ****e off the arse of sprogs etc.

This release is one of the very very few were I'd get it if I seen it immediately and as mentioned above it was nowhere to be seen.

My Amazon order is still in place but if I see it in HMV on Thursday I'll pick it up.
 
Hello

This is probably a really daft question........but....I have this bluray, but the case says the audio is mono 2.0 LPCM where nearly every review I read says it is in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Is there a difference, or I am missing something?

I ask as I am only getting the sound through the front centre speaker, and I was expecting things to be moving left to right and have the full "surround experience". Perhaps I was expecting too much as I note the use of the word mono?! Any advice most welcome. Thanks!

Amp - Yamaha RX-V775 - Speakers - Monitor Mass 5.1
 
I recently watched Convoy again on DVD and was blown away by the quality of the image on that, when upscaled. If the Blu-ray image is half as good as you're suggesting then this is a must. I've always had a soft-spot for this movie with it's glorious vistas and great big trucks, and a brilliant soundtrack. All I've got to do now is actually FIND a copy on the high-street to buy (can't help it... I still prefer to shop off-line).
Thank you, Cas for a great review
 
Hello

This is probably a really daft question........but....I have this bluray, but the case says the audio is mono 2.0 LPCM where nearly every review I read says it is in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Is there a difference, or I am missing something?

I ask as I am only getting the sound through the front centre speaker, and I was expecting things to be moving left to right and have the full "surround experience". Perhaps I was expecting too much as I note the use of the word mono?! Any advice most welcome. Thanks!
Bit of a late reply, but you won't be getting surround sound from a mono source. You should be getting sound from both your left and right front speakers though, irrespective of the audio codec used.
 

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