Truck Turner (1974)

Truck Turner (Isaac Hayes) is a violent bounty hunter who goes after a criminal, and in the ensuing pursuit, the fugitive is killed. The lover of the dead crook swears vengeance and hires a gang of hitmen to kill Truck.

Apart from providing the voice for South Park‘s Chef, soul brother Isaac Hayes is probably better known for his Oscar-winning Shaft theme than for his acting. Here he makes a credible hero as the ruthless bounty hunter whose targets are pimps and pushers in a typical 1970s blaxploitation action movie in the mould of Black Caesar (1973) and Superfly (1972).

Director Jonathan Kaplan – who went on to make The Accused (1988) and once studied film under Martin Scorsese – provides the no-frills, in-your-face action, while also eliciting an outrageous performance from Star Trek‘s Nichelle Nichols as a mean, foul-mouthed whorehouse madam.

But feminists beware. At one point, a girl complains that Hayes’s ideal night out is getting her drunk and then hitting the sack. “OK, OK,” he apologises, “We’ll get something to eat first”.

Truck Turner
Isaac Hayes
Harvard Blue
Yaphet Kotto
Jerry
Alan Weeks
Annie
Annazette Chase
Gator
Paul Harris
Dorinda
Nichelle Nichols
Nate
Sam Laws

Director
Jonathan Kaplan

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