Convoy (1978) review

A trio of truck drivers, "Pig Pen" (Burt Young), "Spider Mike" (Franklyn Ajaye) and their leader "Rubber Duck" (Kris Kristofferson), land themselves in a bunch of trouble with ornery Arizona Sheriff Wallace (Ernest Borgnine), who fines them for various bogus infractions ... and then their "battle" continues across state lines, with "Rubber Duck" taking on Melissa (Ali MacGraw) as a passenger, other semis trailing them for "support" and Wallace calling in reinforcements.  It's trying to be this Smokey and the Bandit knock-off, except the dialogue and jokes are mediocre, the stunts aren't as dazzling and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense - apparently Peckinpah, fueled by booze and pills (he also makes an uncredited appearance as a news director), originally turned in a 3½ hour cut that then had to be whittled down to a still-wearisome 110 minute version.  It's not the most well-known picture from the filmmaker's oeuvre and "adapting" a song into a full screenplay was probably not the best idea to begin with, although fans might want to take a look: Kristofferson and Borgnine are both fittingly stubborn, and it was a success in, of all places, the Soviet Union: workers uniting is a wonderful thing, etc.