# Truck Turner
**Truck Turner** is a 1974 American action film directed by Jonathan Kaplan, starring the soul musician [Isaac Hayes](https://www.edgepedia.org/isaac-hayes) as Mack "Truck" Turner, a Los Angeles bounty hunter who becomes the target of a contract after killing a pimp during a chase. The film was produced by [American International Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-international-pictures) (AIP) and Sequoia Productions, runs 91 minutes, and carries an R rating.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/truck_turner) It is regarded as a blaxploitation picture, the low-budget, black-cast action genre that flourished in American cinema in the early 1970s.[3](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Truck_Turner)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | New York and Los Angeles openings on 26 June 1974; Rotten Tomatoes lists an original theatrical release date of 19 April 1974[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/truck_turner) |
| Director / writers | Jonathan Kaplan; screenplay by Oscar Williams and Michael Allin, story by Leigh Chapman (credited as Jerry Wilkes)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER) |
| Principal cast | Isaac Hayes (Truck Turner), Yaphet Kotto (Harvard Blue), Alan Weeks (Jerry), Annazette Chase (Annie), Nichelle Nichols (Dorinda), Paul Harris (Gator)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER) |
| Production | 12 November to late December 1973; a Hollywood Reporter brief of 6 November 1973 said photography was set to begin 12 November in Los Angeles[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER) |
| Music | Score composed by Isaac Hayes, released as a double LP on Enterprise/Stax[4](https://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/23788/Truck%2BTurner) |
| Critical scores | 67% Tomatometer from 6 reviews and 73% Popcornmeter from more than 1,000 user ratings on Rotten Tomatoes[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/truck_turner) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Turner and his partner Jerry (Alan Weeks) work as skip tracers, pursuing people who have skipped bail. In the opening sequence they capture a rapist named Garrity at a [United States Air Force](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-air-force) base by driving their car through the gate after guards refuse them entry.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER) Their next assignment is the pimp Richard Leroy "Gator" Johnson (Paul Harris); Gator is killed while Turner is chasing him.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/truck_turner)
Gator's girlfriend and partner Dorinda ([Nichelle Nichols](https://www.edgepedia.org/nichelle-nichols)) vows revenge and offers ownership of her successful call-girl operation to any pimp who can kill Turner.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/truck_turner) The upscale pimp Harvard Blue ([Yaphet Kotto](https://www.edgepedia.org/yaphet-kotto)) takes the offer and brings in professional assassins, and Turner, his partner, and his girlfriend Annie (Annazette Chase) become targets.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/truck_turner) • [5](https://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/truckturner.php) Blue, knowing that taking over his rival's operation would give him control of the city's prostitution trade, conspires with the fellow pimp Desmond (John Kramer) to bring in the killers; after Turner disposes of the hired help, Blue goes after Jerry and Annie directly.[5](https://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/truckturner.php)
## Production and casting
The project began as a story by Leigh Chapman about a white bounty hunter, and AIP originally intended it as a vehicle for [Lee Marvin](https://www.edgepedia.org/lee-marvin), Robert Mitchum, or [James Coburn](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-coburn), none of whom the studio could afford.[6](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/11118) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072325/trivia/) Having already invested in the script, AIP decided to turn it into an "urban picture" with a black lead. The actor Dick Anthony Williams, known for *The Mack* (1973) and *Slaughter's Big Rip-Off* (1973), was initially cast but was quickly replaced by Isaac Hayes, who wanted to move into acting.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072325/trivia/) Hayes came to the role on the strength of his 1971 score and Oscar-winning theme song for *Shaft*.[8](https://www.avclub.com/truck-turner-1798194981)
Chapman wrote the initial draft of the screenplay, but her work was significantly altered, and she asked to have her credit as screenwriter removed in favor of a pseudonym. After an arbitration, the Writers Guild of America West ruled in her favor, and she is credited onscreen under the name Jerry Wilkes.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER)
[Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) was set to begin on 12 November 1973, and the AFI Catalog records the production period as 12 November to late December 1973.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER) The film was released as the B-side of a blaxploitation double bill with *Foxy Brown*.[6](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/11118) The crew included the cinematographer Charles F. Wheeler and the editor Michael Kahn.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER)
## Music
Isaac Hayes composed and performed the score, his follow-up to *[Shaft](https://www.edgepedia.org/shaft-1971-film)*. The soundtrack was issued in 1974 as a two-LP set on the Enterprise label (a Stax imprint), with tracks including "Main Title 'Truck Turner'", "House of Beauty", "Blue's Crib", "Pursuit of the Pimpmobile", and "Hospital Shootout"; the album runs 17 songs over about 71 minutes.[4](https://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/23788/Truck%2BTurner) • [9](https://music.apple.com/us/album/truck-turner-original-soundtrack/1443080411) In the film's credits, the rhythm section is credited to The Isaac Hayes Movement with back-up voices by Hot Buttered Soul Unlimited, under musical supervisor Lester Snell.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER) Reviewers have treated the score as one of the film's distinguishing assets: Kevin Thomas of the *Los Angeles Times* called it "riveting" in a rare positive review of 28 June 1974, and later critics have described the double album as among the era's underrated soundtrack work.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER) • [10](https://crimereads.com/isaac-hayes-life-art/)
## Reception and legacy
Contemporary critical reception was largely negative, with Thomas's review the notable exception.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER) Later assessments have been mixed but often favorable within the genre. Reviewing the MGM DVD in 2004, Paul Corupe judged that the film lacked the social conscience of *Super Fly* or *Coffy* and felt more like a drive-in cheapie, while praising Kotto's performance as Harvard Blue and Hayes's funky score.[5](https://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/truckturner.php) The critic George Morris, writing in *The Village Voice*, found that the film had "a moral and emotional center that is conspicuously absent in most blaxploitationers."[11](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8568-blaxploitation-baby) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 67% Tomatometer from six critics and a 73% audience score.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/truck_turner)
The film has remained in circulation on home video and streaming. Kino Lorber released it on Blu-ray in July 2015 with a director commentary, and a 4K Ultra HD edition from Shout Factory has been listed with [Dolby Vision](https://www.edgepedia.org/dolby-vision) and HDR10 presentations of the 1.85:1 picture.[12](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Truck_Turner/BluRay) • [13](https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Truck-Turner-4K-Blu-ray/383373/) The Museum of Modern Art screened a newly struck 35mm print in January 2026 as part of a retrospective for Jonathan Kaplan (1947–2025), the director who learned from Martin Scorsese and [Roger Corman](https://www.edgepedia.org/roger-corman), gave [Matt Dillon](https://www.edgepedia.org/matt-dillon) his first major role in *Over the Edge*, and later directed Jodie Foster's Oscar-winning performance in *The Accused*; MoMA noted that Kaplan's stylish low-budget work on films like *Truck Turner* made him a favorite of Quentin Tarantino and Ernest Dickerson.[6](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/11118) For Nichelle Nichols, best known as Uhura on *Star Trek*, the role of the foul-mouthed madam Dorinda was her only appearance in the blaxploitation genre.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072325/trivia/)
## References
1. [Truck Turner (1974), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55439-TRUCK-TURNER)
2. [Truck Turner, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/truck_turner)
3. [Truck Turner, The Grindhouse Cinema Database](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Truck_Turner)
4. [Truck Turner (1974) soundtrack details, SoundtrackCollector](https://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/23788/Truck%2BTurner)
5. [DVD Verdict review of Truck Turner (Paul Corupe, 2004)](https://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/truckturner.php)
6. [Truck Turner. 1974. Directed by Jonathan Kaplan, MoMA](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/11118)
7. [Truck Turner (1974) trivia, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072325/trivia/)
8. [Truck Turner, The A.V. Club (Keith Phipps, 2002)](https://www.avclub.com/truck-turner-1798194981)
9. [Truck Turner (Original Soundtrack), Isaac Hayes, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/truck-turner-original-soundtrack/1443080411)
10. [Bad Mutha: On the Life and Art of Isaac Hayes, CrimeReads](https://crimereads.com/isaac-hayes-life-art/)
11. [Blaxploitation, Baby!, The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8568-blaxploitation-baby)
12. [Truck Turner/BluRay, The Grindhouse Cinema Database](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Truck_Turner/BluRay)
13. [Truck Turner 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray.com](https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Truck-Turner-4K-Blu-ray/383373/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action thrillers before 1980*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license