Truck Turner. 1974. USA. Directed by Jonathan Kaplan. Screenplay by Oscar Williams, Michael Allin. With Isaac Hayes, Yaphet Kotto, Alan Weeks, Annazette Chase, Nichelle Nichols. New 35mm print. 91 min.
What better way to play out the life and career of Jonathan Kaplan (1947–2025), who died this past August, than with a funk soundtrack and star turn by Isaac Hayes in Truck Turner, presented in a newly struck 35mm print? Originally intended for Lee Marvin, Robert Mitchum, or James Coburn, none of whom the grindhouse outfit American International Pictures could possibly afford, the movie quickly morphed into the B-side of a blaxploitation double bill with Foxy Brown, now featuring a lean, mean Isaac Hayes as the ex-NFL pro turned bounty hunter who spreads bullets as he hunts down a sadistic pimp (Paul Harris) while a pissed-off madam (Nichelle Nichols) and her hired gun (Yaphet Kotto) are in hot pursuit. Kaplan was a writer, director, and producer who learned the ropes from Martin Scorsese and Roger Corman, gave Matt Dillon his first big break with Over the Edge, and directed an Oscar-winning Jodie Foster in The Accused and an Oscar-nominated Michelle Pfeiffer in Love Field before settling into a long and successful career directing episodes of ER and Law & Order. But it was the stylish ease with which he made low-budget movies like Night Call Nurses and Truck Turner that inevitably made him a favorite of Quentin Tarantino and Ernest Dickerson.
New 35mm print courtesy of the Jon Davison, Jonathan Kaplan, and Academy Film Archive Collection; courtesy Park Circus.
Screening with trailers for Grand Theft Auto (1977) and TNT Jackson (1974).
35mm prints courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.