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3/15/09
Tomb of Forgotten Film: White Line Fever (1975)



The Bugg Picture


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.


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.
Bugg Rating
This one is kind of hard to find so check out Cinema de Bizarre if you want to pick it up.
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This one was cast out in the wake of Phil Karlson's phenomenally successful WALKING TALL (1973) which was still playing in theaters where I grew up when it's sequel came out in '75! Hard-working, honest little guy up against the corrupt, sadistic big guy movies were H-O-T in the mid-'70's and I remember standing on a lonnnnnnng-ass line for WHITE LINE FEVER. Jan Michael was big news back then and it's great to see him with a face. Another great film from Kaplan who since had roosted on the small screen for some of the best episodes of ER and such. Nice that you remembered this one!
ReplyDeleteThanks FMB, glad you enjoyed the review!
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