Film

Convoy

Name: Convoy
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama
Released: 1978
Cast: Kris Kristofferson, Ali MacGraw, Burt Young, Madge Sinclair, Franklyn Ajaye

Other titles called Convoy: the 1940 film.

A 1978 action-comedy about truckers using CB radios to outsmart corrupt cops and coordinate a massive convoy down the highway. It's gleefully anarchic and oddly touching—a populist fantasy about working people standing up to authority, filmed with genuine affection for the open road and the culture of trucking. For anyone who loves '70s cinema's scruffy charm and anti-establishment spirit.

TMDb rating

3.1

If you liked this

Smokey and the Bandit1977

The direct spiritual predecessor: a car-chase film that's pure joy, with Burt Reynolds and Sally Field's chemistry, incredible stunts, and a sheriff you actually want to see outwitted. Peak '70s fun.

But The plot is tissue-thin and it doesn't pretend otherwise. If you need character depth or a story that builds, this will feel like spinning wheels.

White Line Fever1975

Jan-Michael Vincent as a independent trucker fighting corruption and mob control. Grittier than Convoy but the same romantic vision of the open road and trucking as honest work under siege.

But It's genuinely dark in places and the tone lurches between action and noir. Less fun than Convoy, more cynical.

Breaker! Breaker!1977

An actual CB-radio comedy thriller from the same moment, with similar energy about truckers as a community. Short, weird, and surprisingly charming about the subculture.

But It's extremely obscure and made on a shoestring budget. The production quality is rough and the plot meanders.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Convoy

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Ghostbusters II1989

Both climax in a coordinated uprising where rank-and-file citizens use communication to outmaneuver power structures.

A film that seems completely different but shares Convoy's essential DNA: a rag-tag team assembling allies and ordinary New Yorkers to defeat corrupt authority and coordinate mass action. It's about community and CB-radio-style distribution of information creating a wave of resistance.

But It's a comedy about the supernatural, a decade later, with completely different tone and scale. The connection is structural, not tonal.

Duel1971

Spielberg's debut: a man and a massive truck engage in an existential battle across the desert. Paranoid, perfectly taut, and fundamentally about the road as a zone of danger.

But It's slow-burn tension, not action spectacle. If you want broad comedy and camaraderie, this is the opposite.

Every Which Way but Loose1978

Clint Eastwood as a bare-knuckle brawler, but it's really a rambling road-trip comedy about misfits and community. Same year as Convoy, same populist warmth and shaggy, generous spirit.

But There's an orangutan. The tone is deliberately scruffy and the plot meanders deliberately. Some find it charming; others find it formless.

Two-Lane Blacktop1971

A cross-country drag race that's really a meditation on movement, masculinity, and the American road. Warren Oates and a genuine sense of myth-making about driving.

But It's deliberately slow and philosophical. No dialogue explains what you're watching. Minimalist to the point of indifference about plot.

The Gypsy Moths1969

Burt Lancaster as a skydivers drifter; it captures a specific American restlessness and the code of men finding freedom in movement. Elegiac and strange.

But It's a character piece about dissatisfaction and estrangement, not a romp. Surprisingly sad.

Vanishing Point1971

A man drives a Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in an almost mythic odyssey. Visually stunning and genuinely peculiar, with the road as obsession and religion.

But The plot is a frame for atmosphere and imagery. If narrative momentum matters to you, this will feel like a drift.

Black Sunday1977

A sprawling disaster thriller with genuine stakes and a vivid portrait of a conspiracy. Robert Redford and Bruce Dern at the top of their game in a film that feels important.

But It's long, complicated, and occasionally clumsy in its execution. The tone shifts between procedural and spectacular.

Bread and Roses2000

Both are fantasies of the working class discovering that they outnumber and outthink the machinery designed to control them.

Ken Loach's film about immigrant janitors unionizing. It has Convoy's exact moral: ordinary working people discovering collective power, using communication and coordination to challenge an indifferent system. Serious and furious where Convoy is comic, but the heart is identical.

But It's a stark, political film about labor struggle and police violence. No fun, no music, no joy. If you loved Convoy for the party, this will feel like a confrontation.