VIOLENT ROAD (1958)

The Cyclone Rocket Company launched a test missile which crashed in a schoolyard, killing several children and mothers (we assume, based on a low-budget special effects shot), and now it must move out of its small city headquarters near a military base to a remote area in the desert. Mitch (Brian Keith) is a trucker who recently lost his job but heard through the grapevine that drivers would be needed to transport hazardous rocket fuel cargo. He arrives in town and is dropped off at the rocket company by Carrie, his lovely one-night stand—the two seem to be negotiating for a longer-term relationship but nothing gets settled. George (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), a researcher at the company, agrees to let Mitch get a gang of drivers together to transport the fuel in three trucks across dangerous mountain and desert roads. They will each get $5,000 (over $40,000 in today's money) but he emphasizes that it must be done in two days' time, and that he's coming along (I was expecting a Quint/Brody rivalry like in JAWS but it doesn't happen). The drivers Mitch collects at the local tavern include Frank, a depressed retired officer who wishes to relive his glory days; Ben, a compulsive gambler; Ken, a young hot-shot race car driver; and Manuelo, a Latino mechanic who hopes to use his pay to go to engineering school. They take off, two in each truck, fresh and optimistic, with Ken singing a jaunty little tune about breezing down the road, but problems soon crop up, including a road obstacle, a runaway school bus, and a dangerous leak of rocket fuel. We also get a couple of flashbacks that show us Frank's troubled marriage and explain that George's wife and daughter were killed in the rocket accident.  One of the drivers dies, two sustain hand and arm injuries leaving only three able drivers, and one truck breaks down. The odds don't favor success, but they keep pushing on.

The description of this movie makes it sound like the French classic The Wages of Fear (men transporting nitroglycerine through dangerous South American mountains) though this is strictly B-level movie-making. However, that doesn't mean it should be dismissed; considered as a second-feature, it's fairly entertaining even if the tension and suspense never get ratcheted up very high. For beefcake fans like me, there’s the burly, hairy Brian Keith bossing everyone around (but in a nice-guy way). There's also the fairly young Efrem Zimbalist, looking suburban-dad handsome. Perry Lopez (Escobar in CHINATOWN) is just as handsome as Manuelo. Best of all is 20-year-old blond pup Sean Garrison as Ken—he's sexy (in a kind of bland late 50s way) and his character is the most likable. Joanna Barnes has a small role in flashbacks as Efrem's wife, and starlet Merry Anders is Keith's pick-up who magically turns up at the finale. There are plotholes galore: Why were rockets being tested in a suburban town in the first place?  Why did no one else from the company drive along with the men for safety's sake? Why does Frank's wife turn up out of nowhere at a dramatic moment? Still, there's enough action here to sustain its 90 minute run time. And, another plus, it looks like all the road scenes were shot on location rather than on a backlot which helps (marginally) with the realism of the trip. Pictured are Keith and Zimbalist [DVD]