Truck Turner
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''Truck Turner'', also known as ''Black Bullet'', is a 1974
blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president o ...
film, starring
Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...
and
Yaphet Kotto Yaphet Frederick Kotto (born Frederick Samuel Kotto; November 15, 1939 – March 15, 2021) was an American actor known for numerous film roles, as well as starring in the NBC television series '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' (1993–1999) as ...
, and directed by
Jonathan Kaplan Jonathan Kaplan (born November 25, 1947) is an American film producer and director. His film ''The Accused'' (1988) earned actress Jodie Foster an Oscar for Best Actress and was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 39th Berlin International ...
. 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. The film was released by
American International Pictures American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...
as a
double feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera ho ...
with '' Foxy Brown''.


Synopsis

Mack "Truck" Turner (Hayes) is a former
professional football In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...
player who becomes a
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
-based bounty hunter after an injury. Truck visits his girlfriend, Annie (
Annazette Chase Annazette Chase (born May 20, 1943) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films ''The Mack'' (1973) and ''Truck Turner'' (1974). She also portrayed Muhammad Ali's wife Belinda in '' The Greatest'' (1977), in which Ali p ...
), 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 Richard Miller (December 25, 1928 – January 30, 2019) was an American character actor who appeared in more than 180 films, including many produced by Roger Corman. He later appeared in the films of directors who began their careers with Corm ...
), a bail bondsman after a pimp who skipped bail named Gator. The two visit Dorinda (
Nichelle Nichols Nichelle Nichols (, born Grace Dell Nichols; December 28, 1932 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress, singer, and dancer best known for her portrayal of Nyota Uhura in ''Star Trek'' and its film sequels. Nichols' portrayal of Uhura was gr ...
), 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 Benjamin Sherman Crothers (May 23, 1910 – November 22, 1986), known professionally as Scatman Crothers, was an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show ''Chico and the Man'', and Dick Hallo ...
) 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


Production

The film started as a script by
Leigh Chapman Leigh Chapman (March 29, 1939 – November 4, 2014) was an American actress and screenwriter. She began her career in acting during the 1960s, notably in a recurring role as Sarah Johnson, a secretary in the NBC television series, '' The Man fro ...
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 blaxloitation 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 Kaplan_says_the_film_was_written_for_Lee_Marvin.html" ;"title="s a pseudonym. That’s part of my ex-husband’s name." Kaplan says the film was written for Lee Marvin">s a pseudonym. That’s part of my ex-husband’s name." 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."


Home media

* In 2001 it was released on DVD. * In 2010, it was digitized in High Definition (1080i) and broadcast on
MGM HD MGM HD was an all high-definition television cable network owned by the MGM HD Productions subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a division of Amazon's MGM Holdings, Inc. It featured movies from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer library of 1,200 movie ...
. * On July 7, 2015, ''Truck Turner'' was released on Blu-ray.


Attempted remake

In 2004,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
and
Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...
's production company,
Flavor Unit Entertainment Flavor Unit Entertainment is an American entertainment company originally launched in Jersey City, New Jersey, but is now based in Miami, Florida, United States. The company was founded by Queen Latifah and Shakim Compere in 1995. The company p ...
, attempted to remake the film, which was to have been written by Chris Frisina.


Soundtrack

The soundtrack for ''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 the "bargain bins". However, in 1993, it was released in a double-CD album alongside Hayes' other lesser-known soundtrack for the movie ''
Three Tough Guys ''Three Tough Guys'' (also known as ''Tough Guys'') is a 1974 crime-action film directed by Duccio Tessari. It may be regarded as an example of the Blaxploitation genre. It stars Lino Ventura, Fred Williamson and Isaac Hayes, who also compose ...
'' and again released on its own CD in 2002. Some of the music score was used by filmmaker
Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...
in the ''
Kill Bill ''Kill Bill: Volume 1'' is a 2003 American martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a team of assassins (Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, and Vivica A. Fox) an ...
'' series. Track listing: # "Main Title (Truck Turner)" # "House Of Beauty" # "Blue's Crib" # "Driving In The Sun" # "Breakthrough" # "Now We're One" # "The Duke" # "Dorinda's Party" # "Pursuit Of The Pimpmobile" # "We Need Each Other Girl" # "A House Full Of Girls" # "Hospital Shootout" # "You're In My Arms Again" # "Give It To Me" # "Drinking" # "The Insurance Company" # "End Theme"


See also

*
List of American films of 1974 A list of American films released in 1974. ''The Godfather Part II'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Highest-grossing films (U.S.) A–Z Documentaries See also * 1974 in the United States References External links 1974 films ...
* List of blaxploitation films


References


External links

* * * * {{Jonathan Kaplan 1974 films 1970s action thriller films American International Pictures films Blaxploitation films American thriller films Films directed by Jonathan Kaplan Films scored by Isaac Hayes Isaac Hayes soundtracks Albums produced by Isaac Hayes Stax Records soundtracks 1970s English-language films 1970s American films