MovieChat Forums > Convoy (1978) Discussion > mistake in the movie i found after 25 ye...

mistake in the movie i found after 25 years ?

posted 14 years ago by star-sky-44
13 replies | jump to latest

hello,

today did watch convoy again, ( probely i did watch it already 100 times in the last 25 years...:-)
i did seen something wich i think its a mistake,or maybe not a mistake but something wich is weird......
its around 83.30 minutes on my dvd version, its a german dvdrip....
when the duck is on his way to the city where they keep spidermike in jail, the duck arrives and before he will enter the city, he stops his truck on side of the road ;so he pulls over; then bit later you see in the back the other trucks are coming also, the duck notice this and he
he looks in his left side rear miror,(driverside) in that shot you can notice
the air intake with chrome top, wich is weird because the mack rs 700 has the air intake on the otherside all over the movie.....
next shot when you see the truck again from the outside you notice the air intake is on the other side, normal side again,
i know they did use different trucks but i never seen one wich have the airintake on the driverside..........hard to believe for that shot they used another mack rs 700 ?
anybody elso wich did notice this?

greetings,
Reginald from Belgium

[–] repo136 13 years ago

I think you've watched it too many times...... ;-)

"I'm scheming like I'm dreaming on a couch with my feet up."

[–] MadSimian 13 years ago

Well, I'm watching the movie now and I'll tell you what I think after the scene happens(they're just about to leave the big trucker camp as I type). Otherwise, at this point I'll have to guess that the footage was mirrored.

**edit**Ok, just watched the scene. I don't think you are seeing the air intake and if I'm not mistaken what you actually saw was a chrome plate/handle on the side of the sleeping compartment of the cab(as can be witnessed in the following pic).

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/4791/convoy.jpg

Everyone has the right to be stupid. Most abuse the privilege.

[–] star-sky-44 13 years ago

hey,

look to this picture, and who is stupid now?

http://i41.servimg.com/u/f41/16/01/74/07/115.jpg

grtz

[–] MadSimian 13 years ago

Word your posts better next time and you might get a more accurate reply because the way it was written made it sound like you were talking about something reflected in the mirror and not part of the truck itself. Otherwise, I might have focused on the entire shot instead of just the mirror when I was watching that scene.

But, if you REALLY paid as much attention as you think you did, you'd have noticed that the mountains in the distance and the road and position of the truck next to it as seen in the reflection is that of the passenger side(only mirrored to appear to be from the driver's side). So, my first inclination was correct after all and it's not a different truck with the air intake on the driver's side like you thought.

It's likely they couldn't get a good shot from the driver's side because they couldn't find an angle to properly see the trucks coming up from behind or, if they did, it resulted in the crew/camera being visible in a reflection(a rookie mistake that a veteran like Peckinpah would have long since learned to not make) so they did the next best thing: mirror a shot from the passenger side to make it appear as if it was from the driver's side and hope that no one noticed. Which is a fair enough film making technique if a director is bound and determined to get the shot.

Also, what's with calling me stupid? Seriously, how old are you? Because your reply makes you sound like a spoilt teenager(which will be sad indeed if you end up actually being over 30).

Everyone has the right to be stupid. Most abuse the privilege.

[–] star-sky-44 13 years ago

or maybe you should read better ?

i was talking about kris, while he was looking in his drivers side mirror,i did notice a airintake, i did not say : i did seen a airintake in his mirror view,

anyway you did put in your message ,everyone has the right to be stupid,
so means you think i was telling BS ?
and for sure im old enough, im 48 so think old enough to say what i think.

so mirror shot can be, but even the airintake is a different model from the one we see in the movie, i know they used different trucks, i have a lot of pictures
from when they shoot the movie, about 250 behind the scenes pictures, even with unseen scenes wich never made it in the movie,( hitchergirl, swimmingpool scene,ect ect)
i dont have a picture where they use a truck with a drivers side airintake.
so yeah, maybe mirrorshot, but even then they used a truck wich i did not seen in the movie with that kind of airintake.

reginald

[–] MadSimian 13 years ago

So what you took offense to was that last part of my original post? Hate to break it to you but that's my signature and it shows up on ALL of my posts here whether the body of the post is purposely questioning the intelligence of another user or not. In other words, it wasn't directed at you personally. Considering all of that, you can't help but understand why I reacted so vehemently, right?

We both made stupid mistakes in this case so let's just shake virtual hands and move on. And with that bit of nastiness hopefully out of the way...

I'm pretty sure the shot is mirrored and is the actual truck. I even loaded my video file of the film into PowerDirector and reversed the mirror effect for that scene(which I can upload to my youtube account if you want to see it for yourself). Also, I went back to earlier in the film when you could see the intake on the proper side of the truck and in decent detail(a good spot for this is after the slow-mo barfight when RD and Melissa get into his truck and the waitress has to get out)and it appears to be the same. Of course, I wouldn't even pretend to call myself a big rig expert. lol I'm more of a sports and classic cars type of guy. :D

Everyone has the right to be stupid. Most abuse the privilege.

[–] star-sky-44 13 years ago

look at this picture.......maybe this will help to convice you,
from what i can see its a airtake on the drivers side , wich should not be there...like you can see in the second picture....

http://i41.servimg.com/u/f41/16/01/74/07/115.jpg

http://i41.servimg.com/u/f41/16/01/74/07/314.jpg

[–] 5thbeatle 13 years ago

Hey star-sky-44,
No offense, but you're spelling really sucks!! And by the way, it's a mirrored shot.

NO ONE WILL BE WATCHING US WHY DON'T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD?

[–] star-sky-44 13 years ago

hello,

yeah, maybe my spelling is not 100% ,but seems its not that bad,otherwise people would not understand what im trying to say here,
im from spain,i speak some english,maybe not like you,probely because english is your home language,but i speak perfectly spanish and italien,and pretty good french and german also,even some dutch i do understand.
so if i may aks,how many languages do you speak perfect?
i hope more then me otherwise maybe you should keep your opinion for yourself.
and by the way it tought its a message board about convoy ,not about speaking/spelling languages.
i know the shot is mirrord.
regards

[–] samdvd1 13 years ago

5thbeatle - When you point out the grammar and spelling of others, make sure your own is 100% correct first. It's your, not you're.

[–] 5thbeatle 13 years ago

I stand corrected.

NO ONE WILL BE WATCHING US WHY DON'T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD?

[–] tgs333 13 years ago

Kissshhhh - Breaker one nine Breaker one nine, sum days eye can't spell anything write, over and out! - Kissssshhhh

"I'm a vehemently anti-nuclear, paranoid mess, harbouring a strange obsession with radioactive sheep."

[–] Phydeaux50 12 years ago

Well spotted! There should also be a telephone pole and line, very low hills. There shouldn't be higher hills, a fence line and cattle, but all are there. You can see some bitumen, too, yet the rig pulls up on the left side of the road (right of screen). So; logically Rubber Duck can only see what is coming down the highway by looking in his right hand mirror, 'cos his rig is blocking his view of the road in his left mirror. The suspect shot is reversed to make it appear to be his left mirror. It no doubt was done because either they had only a shot of Duck looking in his left mirror, or because it played better in the edit. I'd guess the first one- they wanted an intercut to show Duck's point-of-view, but Peckinpah didn't get the coverage.

Edit: Just looking at it again, it seems that Peckinpah's original script break down was: Duck looks into his left mirror and then turns and leans across the cabin to look into his right mirror, then we see the intercut of the right mirror for his pov. I guess that it didn't play well in the edit, and that having 'Duck looks into left mirror, intercut pov' and then cutting his right mirror look down to almost not being there explained the first person shot better, thus observing the Kuleshov effect. Peckinpah didn't get the coverage, so they had to reverse the intercut. I hope that makes sense... :)