Violent Road

[Warren D]

Trucker movie from 1958.  Had a pair of KW's and a Mack, all 10 wheelers, hauling rocket fuel thru the desert/mountains.  Brian Keith had the lead role.  Saw it on AMC last night, never heard of it before.

[Mike999]

I watched it and didn't know anything about it, either.  It was sort of a remake of the 1953 French movie "The Wages of Fear" with Yves Montand. That one was about truckers transporting dynamite. TCM shows it every now and then, so keep an eye out.

It was neat seeing Merry Anders (and her '57 Ford convertible!) in that movie.  I used to see her at work almost every day.  She was in quite a few movies during the 1950s/60s, and the 1960's version of "Dragnet" with Jack Webb and Harry Morgan. After a couple of bad years when she made very little money acting, with kids to raise, she went to work for an aerospace company.

The movie on before "Violent Road" was pretty good, too. "Red Hot Tires" from 1935, with Lyle Talbot and Mary Astor.  Lots of vintage stock footage of 1930's Midget and open-wheel racing action, including some incredible wrecks.  Some of it was filmed at Legion Ascot Speedway near downtown Los Angeles, which only operated from 1924 to 1936.