What's the name of this semi-trailer movie?

April 9, 2007 3:28 PM

I am trying to remember the name of a movie featuring a semi-trailer chase through a desert and a whole lot of action.

Please, help me remember the name of this movie. What I remember about it is vague, but any suggestions are welcome.

-I remember watching it during the mid-to-late 80's, so it's not too recent.

-It's in color.

-The majority of the movie consisted of a high-speed chase featuring a guy driving a semi-trailer through a desert road.

-This guy is being pursued by a bevy of souped-up, combat-ready vehicles (kind of like Twisted Metal-type vehicles), and he eludes them every time.

-The movie draws to an end when the guy passes through a tunnel to a facility of some sort, and gets out of the semi-trailer.

-I have tried Duel, Maximum Overdrive, and the perennial classic Over The Top to no avail. I just cannot remember this movie.

posted by aftermarketradio to media & arts (11 comments total)

Mad Max 2: Road Warrior?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:36 PM on April 9, 2007

Or maybe Damnation Alley?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:38 PM on April 9, 2007

Seconding Mad Max 2. I desperately want to be the Ayatollah of Rock N Rollah.
posted by shmegegge at 3:45 PM on April 9, 2007

Sounds like The Road Warrior to me too, except that chase wasn't the majority of the movie, and that's not at all how the movie ends.
posted by clh at 4:33 PM on April 9, 2007

I think it's the Mad Max 2 movie, and you've rearranged the scenes in your memory. (There is a tunnel/gate into a fortress, for example, that he makes it through just in front of the bad guys early in the film, before the main truck scenes.)

There were also some Mad Max copycat movies, too, and it is possible that you are remembering one of them. But the ones I saw took B-grade to a new low.
posted by Forktine at 5:33 PM on April 9, 2007

Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior was what came to my mind, too.
posted by pmurray63 at 9:50 PM on April 9, 2007

My brother had a movie a few years back that featured an 18 wheeler chase for pretty much the entire movie. I can't think of the name, it was kind of obscure (as in, not mad max) but it fits a lot of the description you gave. Damn, why can't I remember the name?
posted by othersomethings at 9:57 PM on April 9, 2007

Sounds like the early Spielberg ('71) made-for-TV movie, Duel.
posted by p3t3 at 11:50 PM on April 9, 2007

Oops, and I just realized that the original poster already mentioned my suggestion as a failed attempt, but perhaps this is the one othersomethings was trying to recall two posts up?
posted by p3t3 at 11:56 PM on April 9, 2007

Did the drivers of the truck end up abandoning it near the end and making the last part of the trip in a (previously hidden) pickup truck?

If so, you might be thinking of Thunder Run.

I remember watching it as a kid and thinking, even back then, how deeply poor it was... :-)
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 5:12 AM on April 10, 2007

I am currently in the process of trying to get a copy of Mad Max 2 to check that out since it seems to be the most likely suspect. But I'll check out Damnation Alley and Thunder Run as well because, really, any movie with giant trucks and explosions just begs to be watched. /Texan

Thanks to everyone for the prompt replies and the great suggestions.
posted by aftermarketradio at 3:42 PM on April 10, 2007