Lorry Drivers in Film?5 Villains and a Hero!

Those of us who work in haulage companies sometimes wonder what we?ve done to deserve such a villainous portrayal in the film world. Especially in B movies and horror films, it seems that every time someone runs into trouble on a deserted highway, the bad guy inevitably turns out to be a lorry driver?

The Driver, ?Duel? (1971)

The lead character in this movie (Steven Spielberg?s debut film as a director) makes the foolish mistake of aggressively overtaking a tanker truck on a deserted mountain road. From that point on he is chased and hounded by the truck and its driver, until he eventually manages to trick his adversary off the edge of a cliff. You never see the face of the tanker driver in ?Duel?, and this has become a trend for lorry driver villains on the silver screen ? more often than not, they are the unseen enemy behind the wheel of a colossal lorry or tanker.

Ryder, ?The Hitcher? (1986)

Strictly speaking, the villain in this film isn?t identified as a lorry driver, but makes such gruesome use of a lorry and its trailer that he has earned his way on to the list. After embarking on a murderous killing spree, the Hitcher ties the hero?s girlfriend to the cab and trailer of a large Mack truck. He then uses it to tear her in half, presumably breaking a large number of haulage safety regulations in the process!

Red, ?Breakdown? (1997)

As if having a single lorry driver as a villain wasn?t enough, there seems to be an entire evil gang of them in this film. ?Earl?, ?Red? and their friends and family team up to kidnap Kurt Russell?s wife (always a bad move in the movie world) after Russell?s character almost hits one of them on (yet another) deserted American highway. At the climax of the film, Red is crushed to death beneath his own cab ? a tragic way to go for any lorry driver.

Rusty Nail, ?Roadkill? (2001)

After two young men play a prank on a lorry driver, known only as ?Rusty Nail?, via his CB radio (never mess with the lorry driver?s radio!), he pursues and terrorises them for the remainder of the film. Perhaps in homage to ?Duel?, the lorry driver in this film is also never seen.

The Creeper, ?Jeepers Creepers? (2001)

In this film, Hollywood?s demonisation of lorry drivers reaches a truly ridiculous level ? the bad guy in this film is actually a demon! After being chased by yet another aggressive lorry on a deserted highway (spotting a pattern here yet?), a brother and sister spot the lorry driver unloading corpses into a well. As the driver chases them throughout the rest of the film, it is revealed that he isn?t a human being, but is a predatory flesh eating monster. Lorry drivers are used to being portrayed badly on film, but this is really pushing it!

The pattern for lorry driver villains in film seems to be: 1) The heroes accidentally antagonise a random lorry driver on the road 2) The lorry driver turns out to be a criminal/psychopath/flesh eating monster, 3) The heroes spend the rest of the film running (or driving) for their lives. The moral of the story is clear; don?t annoy a lorry driver!

But they aren?t all villains in the film world ? every once in a while, lorry drivers get to be heroes as well?

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

At last, in ?Smokey and the Bandit?, we have a lorry driver in a heroic leading role ? Bo "Bandit" Darville, who is given the challenge of getting a trailer full of Coors Beer from Texas to Georgia in 28 hours, for a promised reward of $80,000. Perhaps typically, when a lorry driver actually gets to be the hero of a film he hardly spends any time in an HGV, leaving the hard haulage to his sidekick ?Snowman? whilst he distracts the police in a flashy Pontiac Trans Am.

He has flawless driving skills, a no-nonsense attitude to problem solving, a healthy disrespect of petty authority and he always gets the girl ? in the figure of the Bandit, there is finally an onscreen portrayal of a lorry driver that is almost true to life!

Lyall Cresswell is the Managing Director for the Transport Exchange Group. Haulage Exchange, their freight exchange for the 7.5 tonne and above market, offers an independent environment for its members to exchange haulage and owner operator jobs.

Unlimited Downloads No additonal fees!

bookmark eMovieSearch

Link Partners

Friends of eMovieSearch
StreetCred
Movie Online
Coming Soon Movies
Evomedia Forum
DVD
Watch Prison Break Season 3
Super Bowl Videos
flash games
Free Movie Trailers to Watch
Movie Stunts
Swords

Entertainment Download Sites Reviewed
Top Game Download Sites Reviewed
Top MP3 Download Sites Reviewed
Top PSP Download sites Reviewed
Top iPOD Download Sites Reviewed
Top Music Download Sites Reviewed
Top DVD Copy Sites Reviewed

Vintage Movie Posters

Unlimited iPod Movies-Feed your iPod!

Start your dream movie collection today!

U Rent DVDs - Unlimited Adult DVD rentals

MovieTexts | e-Cards
MovieTexts aren't ordinary e-cards, they're real little movies starring your words. Your message is right there as part of the scene - not just stuck on the end of 2d cartoons. And because MovieTexts are movies you can send them to any phone that can play videos, as well as via the web.

Rock-n-Roll Ringtones
1 - Hinder- Lips Of An Angel
2 - Guns N Roses- Sweet Child Of Mine
3 - Lynard Skynard- Sweet Home Alabama
4 - Xmas- Jingle Bell Rock
and more...

Movie Information Service

Video DownLoads

Bring your movies & music with you
Download Virtually any Movie, TV Show, Music Video or Song FREE in minutes and transfer them to your iPod with ease!

"Hollywood Trailer Awards" and "Hollywood Trailer Festival" Announced by the Hollywood Film Festival
"Hollywood Trailer Awards" will honor the best in motion pictures previews

SPILL.com Releases Animated Film Review for The Dark Knight Movie
Review Of Hotly Anticipated Gotham Adventure Dark Knight Goes Live Today

Movies.ie - New Cinema Site for Irish Movie Fans
A new site has been launched in Ireland for cinema fans. Irish movie goers have been neglected for far too long but now Movies.ie offers a jaw-dropping amount of content! The site has a web 2.0 back-end and includes video interviews with major movie stars, exciting Hollywood features, daily movie news, cinema times, podcasts, blogs and so much more.

Movie, Film And Video Voiceover Actors Now Available at Voice123.com
The online voice over marketplace offers a complete database of professional voice actor for all types of movies, films or videos.

Sinister Cinema is Selling Movie Downloads on EZTakes
Sinister Cinema has partnered with EZTakes to sell movie downloads that consumers can burn to playable DVDs.

Family Movie - Find The Right DVD Movie Club For Your Family
Looking for a good online family movie club or family movie review?Family movies sell lots of tickets at the box office and every year there are one or more blockbuster movies that are family films.But with the high price of movie tickets and theatre concessions, watching movies on DVD as a family movie night in the comfort of your own home, is quickly becoming very popular.

Hollywood Filmmakers Unite to Contribute to a New Film Blog Community About Movie Making
Film Industry Bloggers offers multiple behind the scenes film blogs detailing how movies are made.

DVD Movie Club - Movies Delivered Right To Your Mail Box
The Dreaded Video Store ExperienceIt's dark, cold, raining or all three as you get in your car and fight your way through traffic to the nearest video store.When you finally arrive, you quickly discover that the movie your really want isn't even available, the check-out line is way too long, the clerk is too slow, you forgot your store card and you have a movie that's over due.

Convert a DVD Movies to MP4 Ipod Movies
Firstly, before you get started your conversion from DVD movies to Ipod Movies, you must get all your equipment ready. You will need a blank DVD, USB Port on your computer, USB Cable that will extend to the USB port on the computer and so forth. Make sure you have downloaded all the software necessary to perform all actions on your Ipod.

New Movie Downloads Review Site Makes Discovering Reputable Sites to Download Movies Easy
Moviesanddownloads.com provides comparisons, database of movie downloads sites.

Watch Movies On The Go With Your Video Ipod Movie Player
With Apple Computers most recent evolution of their venerable iPod, music, movies, as well as TV programs are now all portable enough to take with you whenever you want and can be listened to through your iPod portable speaker or through headphones.

Fandango's Halloween Haunt Showcases Top Movie-Inspired Costumes and Cinema Scares
Nation's leading moviegoer destination offers special "30 Sleepless Nights" sweepstakes as part of Halloween guide.

Download Full Length Movies  Unlimited DVD Movie Downloads
Downloading full length movies sitting in your comfortable armchair at home is the new trend nowadays. Buying the movies can be quite expensive and thats why many people try to add more and more DVD movies to their personal collection without paying too much.

Vanguard Cinema Has Teamed with EZTakes to Sell Burnable Movie Downloads
Vanguard Cinema, a leading independent movie distributor, will be selling a catalog of 250 films on EZTakes as downloadable DVDs.

ReelzChannel TV Website Reaches Out to Movie Fans With New Video Player Featuring Free Movie Trailers, Movie Clips, Actor Interviews and Exclusive Con
ReelzChannel.com offers a free video player for embedding their content on movie websites and blogs.