We’ve got something to tell you… the holidays are coming! Yes, in case you somehow haven’t noticed, tis the season of cheer and goodwill.
At Nick’s Truck Parts, we think one of the best things about the festive season is being able to watch all our favorite movies as they’re shown on TV. It just so happens that a lot of our favorite films happen to be trucker movies! Must be an occupational hazard…
Here’s a list of some of our favorite films about trucks and truckers, in no particular order:
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Our first choice is the ultimate guilty pleasure movie, and is definitely an example of a film that is so bad, it’s good! Telling the story of a group of humans trapped at a truck stop, fighting for their survival against a barrage of sentient, homicidal trucks. This film also happens to have the distinction of being the only directorial effort from horror master Stephen King.
Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
A time honoured classic that tells the story of a truck driver trying to deliver a much needed supply of beer from Texas to a truck show in Georgia, who finds himself tangling with a sheriff when he picks up an attractive hitchhiker the sheriff wanted his son to marry. Starring the inimitable Burt Reynolds, Smokey and the Bandit was a film favoured by legendary director Alfred Hitchcock.
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Kurt Russell stars in this film about a tough as nails truck driver who, in his efforts to help his friend rescue his fiancé from a Chinatown crime lord, ends up embroiled in an unfortunate series of events that includes an ancient Chinese prince, immortal spirits, martial arts and, of course, trucks. Big Trouble in Little China was a rare comedic effort from John Carpenter, the director responsible for horror masterpiece “Halloween.”
Duel (1971)
Duel, from renowned director Steven Spielberg, tells the story of David Mann, an unassuming salesman who finds himself being stalked by a monstrous oil tanker after he makes the mistake of overtaking it. Thus begins an epic chase as David desperately tries to outrun, outthink or hide from the psychotic truck driver.
Joy Ride (2001)
When a college student, on a cross country journey to pick up the girl he loves, gets persuaded by his brother to play a prank on a lonely trucker using a CB radio, things don’t go well. The truck driver, known only by his CB handle “Rusty Nail,” doesn’t take kindly to the prank, and so the two brothers must fight for their lives against Rusty’s killer desire to get the last laugh.
Convoy (1978)
In this film directed by the late, great Sam Peckinpah, a group of truckers work together using their CB radios to avoid persecution from corrupt policemen. When the local sheriff becomes hip to their tactics and starts using his own CB broadcasts to entrap the truckers, the truckers work together to build a massive, mile long convoy to take back control of the road.