Choice voiceover (by star Jerry Reed) from A.I.P.’s easygoing trailer: “Shift over to the fast-lane, brothers and sisters, and see this story of two throttle-jockeys who get into it up to their eyeballs, in HIGH-BALLIN’!”
Although produced hot on the heels of Hal Needham’s commercial super-smash SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (1977) and co-starring Jerry Reed as yet another amiable hard-rollin’ truck driver, Peter Carter’s Canadian-lensed HIGH-BALLIN’ (1977) actually has more in common with Jonathan Kaplan’s WHITE LINE FEVER (1975), an earlier, pre-SMOKEY pedal-to-da-metal trucker flick starring Jan-Michael Vincent, which, like HIGH-BALLIN’, likewise played with the classical mythology of American westerns, albeit replacing horseflesh with big rigs. Co-produced by American International Pictures (AIP) at the tail-end of their rich cinematic history, this consistently-entertaining film has languished far too long in the video graveyard, so kudos to Kino Lorber’s Studio Classics imprint for giving it a brand-new HD overhaul.
In their bid to take control of every trucker in the area, King Caroll (Chris Wiggins) owner of the all-powerful trucking cartel King Caroll’s Cargo, orchestrates a series of rig hijackings to coerce and intimidate all the local drivers into joining his ever-expanding monopoly. One of the last remaining ‘independents’, “Iron” Duke Boykin (Jerry Reed), is at first propositioned far more cordially when he’s offered (quote) “good buck and security”, but when he and his long-time friend Rane (Peter Fonda), a drifter and former trucker himself, refuse to join, they become the targets of an attempted hijack during a routine transport job, which not only results in some impressive vehicular mayhem, but enrages King Caroll and his silent, even-more-unscrupulous partner Harvey (David Ferry) no end.
Much like George Stevens’ iconic western SHANE (1953), Peter Carter’s film also incorporates many of that film’s plot structure and themes while still maintaining plenty of gear-jammin’ trucker action and CB radio jargon. Essentially reprising Alan Ladd’s role as Shane (here renamed the soundalike “Rane”), Peter Fonda acquits himself well as the enigmatic drifter (it’s also alluded that he was a stuntman) who is first introduced riding into town on a motorcycle. Just like in any western, he promptly visits Duke at the local truck-stop greasy spoon (i.e., saloon) wherein he gets hassled by local shitkickers about his leather biker boots (“I’ve never seen anybody but fags wear boots like that!”). Rane quickly proves his mettle against the rowdies with a handy pair of tire-irons, however. Stubbornly holding-out as long as he can as an independent despite his colleagues being picked-off by King Caroll’s men like (quote) “flies”, Reed just about steals the show right out from under Fonda’s fancy boot-wearing feet in his reinterpretation of Van Heflin’s role as the put-upon rancher from the aforementioned Stevens film; in yet another similarity, even Duke’s son (Christopher Langevin), who is aptly nicknamed “Tanker” here, also has plenty of admiration for Rane (“I bet you go everywhere! I bet you’ve seen the whole world!”) just like little Joey (Brandon DeWilde) had been in complete awe of Alan Ladd’s iconic Shane character. In an early role for Canadian actor David Ferry, he oozes all the appropriate slime from every pore as King Caroll’s ‘muscle’ and hired gun, and, fittingly enough, just like Jack Palance’s merciless gunfighter in SHANE, is also dressed in black, which properly – if heavy-handedly – accentuates the film’s darker side. Also along for the ride is ‘Pickup’ (Helen Shaver), an oddly-sketched wannabe trucker / groupie named after her decked-out GMC pickup camper, which even comes complete with a modified truck exhaust system. On more than one occasion, she comes to the rescue of either Rane and/or Duke, and, befitting the alternate implications of her CB handle, Pickup is also referred to as the (quote) “mobile beaver”.
Although ostensibly taking place in the United States (at one point Duke is seen wearing a jacket emblazoned with a U.S. Mail emblem, and at another he off-handedly mentions transporting a shipment to Green Bay, Minnesota), the film’s Canadian origins are highly apparent here: including numerous lingering shots of Ontario license plates and views of Toronto’s most-famous landmark, the CN Tower, from the now-long-gone and since-heavily-redeveloped TO waterfront; further establishing the film’s Cancon (“Canadian content”), Canuck actors Harvey Atkin and Les Carlson also appear, as does a pre-fame Michael Ironside in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him bit part. Despite being nicely shot by prolific French-Canadian DP René Verzier, who had also honed his camera chops on such Canadian classics as David Cronenberg’s RABID (1977) and Peter Carter’s extraordinary RITUALS (1977), to name just a few, HIGH-BALLIN’ isn’t the prettiest film to look at, but Verzier’s cinematography really captures our bitterly cold and wet Ontario winters perfectly with its barren trees and slushy, snow-covered roads; you can just about feel the chill deep in your bones!
Difficult to see for many years outside of its 1983 Vestron Video Beta / VHS videocassette release, HIGH-BALLIN’ easily rates a “big 10-4” on Kino’s new Blu-ray, which was taken from a (quote) “brand new 2K master” and far eclipses any version seen before it. Everything is far sharper and much better-balanced, with excellent detail throughout, even during many of the film’s darker scenes, which had been especially problematic on Vestron’s murky old VHS tape. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 also sounds clean and well-captured, especially during all of the film’s obligatory CB chatter, which includes all sorts of colourful handles (e.g., “Bruiser Cruiser” and “Spud Rancher”). Extras are limited to the film’s aforementioned theatrical trailer (2m56s), some radio spots (1m30s) plus trailers for some of Kino’s other titles, which feature either Peter Fonda, Jerry Reed, Helen Shaver or more 18-wheelers. Dare I say… “Keep on truckin’!”
While it may lack the driving dynamism of WHITE LINE FEVER or SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT, it’s all handled convincingly enough and never fails to entertain, plus it also features one of Jerry Reed’s funkiest, foot-stomping C&W theme songs. Recommended! Order it from DiabolikDVD.
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