High-Ballin'

Peter Fonda and Jerry Reed make a great team in this well-made Canadian-filmed action flick, which is very much of it's era. Made during the height of the time (late-70s) when movies about 18-wheelers and CB radios were all the rage (you may remember Reed from another HUGE hit of that time, "Smokey & The Bandit"), "High-Ballin'" plays alot like a modern-day western, with Fonda riding into town after an extended absence to help his buddy and former road partner Reed, an independent trucker, take on hijackers who are trying to run him and other independents out of business and into work for a local trucking kingpin.

There's nothing too fancy about the straight-forward story, but there's excellent camraderie between Fonda and Reed, as well as good supporting work from Helen Shaver as a saucy female trucker/groupie, and Harvey Jason as the chief henchman of the trucking company kingpin, King Carroll. It was also interesting to see Carroll played as a man who, while playing a not entirely honest hand, doesn't necessarily want to resort to violence in trying to achieve his means. There are several impressively staged action sequences along the way, as well as some nice cinematography showcasing the snowy Canadian locations. Director Peter Carter keeps everything moving at an interesting clip.

"High-Ballin'" is no masterpiece for the ages, but it's an entertaining time-killer and definitely a movie of it's time.

The main reason why I saw HIGH-BALLIN' is because it's one of Michael Ironside's first movies tho he appeared as an extra that if you blink you miss him. As for the rest it was a bit mediocre and could have been better considering its cast.

The Iron Duke is an independent trucker that stands up to the local truck boss King Carroll that tries everything to make truckers go out of business. Rane (Peter Fonda) comes for a visit and ends up helping Duke. Rane and Pickup have the idea of truck loading lot of illegal liquor to a lumber camp with the hope of making other truckers resist.

It doesn't go smooth as gang leader Harvey kidnaps Pickup and shoots Duke when he tries to resist. When Rane notices Harvey fleeing, he reaches him with his motorcycle and have a brawl until he manages to shoot him. Before fleeing on Harvey's truck he manages to save Pickup and take her with him.

As I said in the summary, a plot like this works better on those shows (on which Ironside would guest star two decades later, 2 episodes of the first one and 4 of the second) probably because the episodes last 45 minutes give or take while here it lasts 1 hour and 40 minutes so for the most time there is filler that is mostly boring. The actors, mostly unknowns except Fonda and Helen Shaver, did what the material and director required.

Overall, one of those movies with the plot reminiscent also remotely of a western (with trucks and truckers instead of horses and land owners) that is perfect for killing an hour and 40 minutes but not much more.

Having spawned an entire exploitation subgenera of outlaw biker films with his excellent "Easy Rider," could Peter Fonda do the same for movies about eighteen wheels of justice? "High-Ballin'" actually beat "Convoy" by one month on it's release date for being the first movie action movie about truckers (although "Smokey and the Bandit" came out the year before), but it's a pretty silly inconsequential hixploitation flick, and Jerry Reed is really the main character here. Reed and Fonda have to fight off a bunch of trucker thugs hired by a local crime boss who wants to put independent truckers like them out of business. Helen Shaver and Michael Ironside, in his first named-character role (he plays Butch), also appear in the film. Overall, I enjoyed this dumb movie and so will others if you're a fan fo hixploitation/rednexploitation type of films (think good ol' boys fighting one another ALA "Gator" or "Walking Tall"), even if it's pretty routine and nothing all that memorable. "Smokey," "Convoy," and "White Line Fever" are all still better trucker films, but I was entertained by "High-Ballin'."

If you think you might be getting into a jovial SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT type film thanks to HIGH-BALLIN's ad art, think again. What the film delivers is a dark, moody piece set in snowy Canada that doesn't seem to know what direction it exactly wants to go in. Reed plays Duke, an independent trucker who just happens to be next on the list of a bunch of local truck hijackers. Fonda is Rane, an old trucking buddy come to visit for a spell and ends up helping Duke take on the hijackers. Is it supposed to be a comedy? Well, there are some funny moments. Hard ass action flick? Well, there are some cool stunts. Romantic drama? Well, yeah, there are some tender moments. For some reason though, there is that aforementioned dark tone that somehow squeezes out any ounce of humanity and replaces it with an ominous aura that lays itself out on the characters and the landscape. Maybe it's 1970's Canada, as I got the same feeling watching Cronenberg's FAST COMPANY. It may sound as if I don't like this film but I do. It's different and odd, especially for it's genre. Definitely worth a look.

Reed and Fonda make a great combo in this truckin' action movie, you wouldn't want it any other way. Reed with a beard, so much resembles one of my Dad's friend's in this movie, it's almost uncanny, like in the way he answers people, especially in one response. Fonda, an ex truckie, a biker here of course, joins Reed on one last route, after a bit of friendly persuasion by Reed. Only this trip becomes one for survival. Truckies are being hijacked and robbed of their shipment and trucks, the players, are people in their own backyard, one a friend of a guy who gets in a fight with Fonda, the instigator, making a funny remark about his non use of roll on. The fight, where the players use irons is disappointing as it's over before it's even begun. The loser, if you can call him that, and it's not Fonda, was trying to crack on to female trucker, prior, a hot number (Helen Shaver) who really gave him a serve with her sweet talking mouth, while nibbling cutely on some jerky. Fonda becomes the hero, taking down this operation, one scene has him and Shaver surviving a shooting in a motel room. This is a fun adventure movie but a good drama too. Another scene where Reed, Fonda, and Reeds's little son, Tanker are being set upon by bad guys, firing bullets was compelling, where Fonda gets up on the second deck of the trailer at the back of the rig, and unhooks these cars, where they come flying back off the trailer into the path of the bad guys, one car making a backfire explosion which I thought was cool. Reed says to himself in the middle of all this chaos. "Oh boy, why couldn't I had a girl". It also had a good showdown between Fonda and his foe's mate, who holds Shaver at gunpoint. Also what was great, was we got to spend some time at home with Reed's family, which very much reminded me of when I was a kid and how I used to sit around the table, talking with Dad's friends. Even though this movie's dated, it's worth a look, another reason why American International Pictures was a cool movie company. Reed's performance here is impressive too.