The Great Smokey Roadblock

After being admitted to a hospital in California for a terminal illness, a truck driver named "Elegant John Howard" (Henry Fonda) has his big rig repossessed by the finance company. But rather than stay there and die he decides to retake his truck and drive it one last time on a trip across the country. On the way he picks up a hitchhiker near Cheyenne named "Beebo Crozier" (Robert Englund) who wants to go to Florida. Unfortunately, neither he nor Beebo have enough money to pay for the food and fuel necessary to get there. As luck would have it, however, while driving near Laramie, upon stopping to visit an old friend named "Penelope Pearson" (Eileen Brennan)-who happens to be the madam of a brothel--he discovers that she and six prostitutes desperately need to get to South Carolina. Needless to say, with their ability to make money, combined with his need to fund one last cross-country trek, both Elegant John and Penelope reach a business agreement of sorts to accomplish their respective goals. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an entertaining and light-hearted drama which kept me interested from start to finish. Admittedly, it is a bit dated but I thought it definitely managed to capture that particular period of time quite well. In any case, although this isn't the best "trucker film" ever made, I thought it was well worth the time spent and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

"The Last of the Cowboys" (also known as "The Great Smokey Roadblock") is a film made in the final years of a great actor, Henry Fonda. While Fonda made some terrific movies during this time, the quality of the productions varied widely...from "On Golden Pond" and "Gideon's Trumpet" to crap like "Meteor" and "The Swarm". Sadly, "The Last of the Cowboys" is closer in quality to the latter two films.

John Howard (Fonda) is a sick man, as he's been diagnosed with cancer. However, instead of getting treatment, he leaves the hospital in order to 'steal' his 18 wheeler, as when he got sick the bank repossessed it. Now with his truck, he's out to make one final run. Along the way, he picks up a religious drifter (Robert Englund...definitely playing against type) and a group of prostitutes...and he's out to get them to Kansas City or get caught by the police trying.

This is a VERY meandering film and the plot is strange, as it's hard to tell whether they wanted it to be a lighter story or a compelling one about death. According to IMDB, some post-production tinkering de-emphasized the death and dying aspect of the tale to try to improve the marketability of the movie...and to capitalize on the success of films like "Smokey and the Bandit" (hence the name change for this film).

So is it any good? Well, it has a strike against it because it promotes the 'hooker with a heart of gold' cliche. The realities for such women sure are different than in this movie! And as for the story, it's sad to see Fonda in it as he's fine playing the old, dying man but the goofy avoiding the police aspect of the story didn't work so well with him in the lead.

Elegant John (Henry Fonda) is a terminally ill truck driver who steals his old rig to make one last great cross country run, but this time has the law on his tail as who pursue his 18 wheeler across State lines. Along the way he picks up an odd assortment of hitch-hikers and passengers, including a band of evicted prostitutes, the madam (Eileen Brennan) being his old flame.

A rather odd film cheaply shot by a one time director John Leone that pre-figures the CB radio craze and such popular road movies as SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (1977) and CONVOY (1978). This odd curio did become a cult favourite following the CB radio craze and with the emergence of the home video boom. A curious film for Fonda that one would suspect was not quite the film he thought it was going to be. Some of the band of followers, from the odd Robert Englund character to the band of prostitutes that includes Susan Sarandon; Sarandon was also a co-producer on the film.

Any henry fonda film is worth a look ...gary sandy shows what a real moron acts like when put on the big screen and embarrasses himself ... the women were delightful, and daina house was especially beautiful and bountiful ... loved eileen brennan too

A dying trucker (Henry Fonda) throws caution to the wind by stealing back his repossessed semi and venturing his last haul across the country with a Bible-spouting sidekick (Robert Englund), a madam (Eileen Brennan) and her six girls.

"The Great Smokey Roadblock" (1977) was originally titled "The Last of the Cowboys" and was presumably changed to take advantage of the success of "Smokey and the Bandit." While this one focuses on a trucker and a band of prostitutes, it's just as entertaining as that more popular road farce and maybe a smidgen more.

The movie repeatedly points out that Fonda's character is 60 years old, but he was actually 71 during filming and looked it. Don't get me wrong, he looked good for his age and had his usual charisma, but he didn't look 60, unless he had lived a very hard life.

Curvy Daina House is the highlight on the feminine front, but I strangely found grumpy Alice (Mews Small) notable too. Susan Sarandon is also on hand before she made it big. Actually the entire female cast is entertaining because they're fleshed out as individuals.

The geography is disingenuous as Northern California is passed off for places like Missouri, the Smokey Mountains and the Carolina coast. Yet even big budget movies back then did this, let alone small flicks like this one.

The film runs 1 hour, 44 minutes, and was shot in Oroville, California.

GRADE: B-