It's
all Black. It's all action. It is all bitches, whores, fucks, niggers and
attitude that are thrown around like chips at an all-night poker game. It
is Blaxploitation to the max. Crude, rude and in your face. And it is all
Isaac Hayes. Isaac Hayes was just a super cool guy whether on film or in
music. I even loved his appearances on Rockford. Brought up in a poor
sharecropping family, he found his escape from poverty in music once he joined
Stax as the in-house musician and producer and finally as a record artist.
He did Symphonic Soul and his albums Hot Buttered Soul, The Isaac Hayes Movement,
Black Moses, Joy and Chocolate Chip are classic albums. He also composed
the soundtracks to this film, Tough Guys and of course Shaft. He is great
here. His imposing physique, his shaven head, the gruff but mellow voice,
the glint of humor in his eyes, the stream of always ready curse words. He
looks like he is having the time of his life in this role. When he says "Baby
I love you", you have to believe him. I was reminded the other day that I
had never seen this when a friend on Facebook posted a picture of a movie
theater in Kabul circa 1975 and much to my surprise the film playing was
Truck Turner!
Turner (Hayes) and his partner Jerry (Alan Weeks) are bounty hunters for
bail bondmen. Sometimes they cases are easy, sometimes like pulling out your
own teeth. They take a case involving a pimp who gives them a run for the
money. A long chase. It must last for fifteen minutes first in the car, then
on foot, then in the car and then on foot where the two partners have to
fight their way though a bar of toughs. The pimp gets away that time but
not the next time. His woman who takes care of the girls, puts out a hit
on Turner. Played by our old friend Nichelle Nichols - far away from the
Enterprise.
Nichelle is a trip. A mean kick-ass women who says "Those two bitches who
left they better learn to sell their pussy in Iceland because if I ever see
them again I am going to cut their fucking throats". What would Captain Kirk
say? Of one of her girls "She's called Turnpike because you got to pay her
to get on and pay her to get off." Once she puts out the contract with
half of her girls as the reward every low life in the city tries to kill
Truck. Then they bring in the professionals - called in by Blue. Another
rival pimp played by Yaphet Kotto. Shooting his partner is one thing but
hanging his cat is another. John Wick should have warned them. Now it is
pay-off time. Good fun. A relic from a different time. Could you make a film
like this any more? I don't know but it would not have Isaac Hayes.
