White Line Fever

A brief movie review originally posted on Amazon in the early 2000s

One of the best trucking movies

Having driven a truck myself and been exposed to the industry since the '70s, when my father was an owner-operator, I've long had an interest in trucking related movies. Most movies that portray truckers and their work are very unrealistic: the drivers are often borderline lunatics and there's usually no focus at all on the nitty-gritty realities of the trucking lifestyle. Unquestionably enjoyable gems such as Smokey and the Bandit, Convoy, and High Ballin' typify the over-the-top antics of most trucking movies. White Line Fever is one of the earliest and best films of the genre, because it's relatively low-key, and the traveling sequences feel true-to-life.

There are, of course, the inevitable "big rig movie" cliches — fights, chases, crashes, and not least, the independent-trucker-fights-corruption storyline itself. But the performances of Jan-Michael Vincent (who also performed all his own stunts in the movie), Slim Pickens, Kay Lenz, L.Q. Jones and Sam Laws keep things believable and interesting. Also note that this was one of the early directorial efforts of Jonathan Kaplan, who later won acclaim for The Accused.

Ultimately, this movie may have the most appeal to those who have an abiding interest in the truck driver mystique.

The opening montage is made memorable by the use of the wonderful, haunting song "Drifting and Dreaming" by Valerie Carter.