Let me start right off with a few, ok, more than a few, words about the cast we have here. First off we’re talking JMV in his prime. Some nine years before he would become something of a big name with Airwolf, Vincent throws down not only a pretty fine display of acting skill but also the chops to sell the fight scenes. White Line Fever revolves 100% around his character and there is very little screen time without his presence, and surprisingly after I finished watching the film I instantly wished there was more to this character’s story. While many people may see this film as another variation of the Walking Tall or Billy Jack formula, the performances from Vincent and the other lead actors give this film much more depth than one would expect. So it would be dismissive of the film to assume it was just a mere clone.

Now onto the other leads, and it reads like a Who’s Who of genre film actors. First off you’ve got Kay Lenz as Carroll Jo’s wife, Jerri Kane. Lenz was a veteran of films such as American Graffiti where she appears as the girl Ron Howard‘s Steve dances with. Strangely enough, Howard and Lenz also co-starred in one episode of The Andy Griffith Show. She would also go on to become a frequent bit player on tons of TV shows and also providing the voice for American Maid in the animated Tick cartoon. In White Line Fever, Lenz is cute as a button and looks the prefect ‘70’s down home trucker wife. Her chemistry with Jan Michael is one of the things that give the film the authentic feeling which really sells the story.

I hate to keep going on about the cast so I’ll make a few of these short. Dick Miller, you know him, you love him, and he’s been in everything. Don’t think you know who he is, well, you do. Slim Pickens. All I need to say is Dr. Strangelove. A word about L.Q Jones. He’s got The Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid on his resume, but where I knew him from was as the Vegas councilman who tries to get Joe Bob Briggs his job back in Casino. Here the very young, blonde and very mustachioed Jones was second only to Vincent for sheer entertainment to watch. But wait there’s more, how does Martin Cove hit you. That’s right the Cobra Kai sensei showing up here as one of the thugs, a thug named Clem to be exact. Even the small roles tend to have someone interesting in them. The prosecutor who goes after Carroll Jo for Duane’s death is R.G Armstrong who some may recognize from roles in The Red Headed Stranger, Lone Wolf McQuade, and his turn on Millennium.

So needless to say it was a powerhouse cast, but director Jonathan Kaplan was no slouch either. Having just come off directing the much acclaimed Isaac Hayes film, Truck Turner, he teamed up with cinematographer Fred J. Koenekamp, the Director of Photography for Patton. The result is a flick which has a much in common with seventies cinema as it did John Ford. Many of the shots are stunningly realized, and the scenes involving the Rigs are filmed in such a way that it delivers the sense of power these machines have. That is one other thing about the film that Kaplan and co-writer Ken Friedman got very right. Instead of films such as Convoy or Smokey and the Bandit which mainly feature full on 18 wheels of fury, White Line Fever concentrates most of it’s time focused on the rig. As this is the story of an owner/operator making a stand against the corporation I think this makes good sense. After all, a trucker with a load on his back is just an employee.

So needless to say I really liked this one, and it goes to the top of my list of truck-sploitation flicks, and pretty high up there with cult movies overall. I’m going to try and be as realistic about my rating as I can. Personally for me this is a 5. It’s a solid film which I will want to watch time and time again, but I’m going to shave a bit off of that to account for my enthusiasm not just for the film, but for the sub-genre as well. That being said, if you only see one film about the fight of one trucker going up against the big corporation, make it White Line Fever.