ehrldawg This is an interesting documentary. It got quit abit of the various aspects of the trucking industry. But,I've been in it for over twelve years and have heard it all. Some of it is stale.The funniest part is when the truck driver beaned his son with the baseball. I was taking my father to see his grandson quarterback Newberry football. On the way there,we stopped at Uncle Petes because of this documentary. Uncle Pete was busy,but finally came over to our section of the restaurant. I spoke up. "I saw you on that big rig documentary". His response---"Whoopee". WOW!! Was that a waste of time or what!!!Loretta and Doris are hot!!!erldwgstruckermovies.com

poe426 Because I used to make a (meager) living as a driver, I can appreciate what the folks who drive "the big rigs" go through- especially in this country, where things like our current economic Depression make it exceedingly more difficult to make a living behind the wheel. As a cab driver, I was forced to pay for my own gas every time I got behind the wheel. (College kids, who thought it was funny, would "jump and run" from time to time- never knowing (or caring) that the only person they were really hurting were the drivers; the company itself never lost money on a bail-out: the driver owed half of every fare metered, as well as a full tank of gas at the end of the night...) This past year, doing an on-going comic strip for a local ad paper (CAPE FEAR COMICS, which can be seen, I'm told, at encorepub.com), I did a panel showing big rigs lined up beneath a DIESEL $4.29 sign at a service station. The caption above the cartoon read: THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. To all the drivers out there: you are not alone.

tookie_38 I have to admit that I was very impressed with the film. While I wasn't too concerned about the actual film making aspect of it, I was paying close attention to the reality and detail of what the film was presenting to the viewers (after all it was a documentary). The subject matter that was presented was great, and the choice of drivers in the film was very diverse and a very real portal to some of the characters one would meet at any truck stop, anywhere, on any day in the US.The film may be scattered somewhat jumping from driver to driver, and it never really gives an idea of what happens or where the people end up at the end of the film. It's more of a snapshot of the daily life of the truck driver, and relies more on stories about how they got to that point in their lives and includes some road stories from the past. It barely touches the surface of the actual daily struggles of a truck driver, but it's done in a nice neutral way that doesn't try to sway the viewer. Some drivers are likable, some are not. The situation throughout the film "is what it is".If you've ever been curious about who those drivers are in those big trucks sharing the road with you, this movie is a very good place to start and get an idea.

JustCuriosity Big Rig screened this week at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX where it was very well-received. Big Rig is an entertaining and very personnel look at truckers that attempts to counter the many negative stereotypes that Americans have about truckers. The film acts to humanize this group that most Americans know little about. The cinematography of the American landscape as viewed from trucks driving across America is quite beautiful. This is backed up by an entertaining soundtrack. The truckers interviewed are often quirky characters who come off as much smarter and reflective than most of us would expect.In the film, we see a great variety of truckers of different backgrounds, races, personalities, ages, and politics. The film also includes several female truckers and talks about the difficulties that they face in a male-dominated world. The focus is mostly on who the truckers are, why they do what they do, and the difficulties that they face (rising gas prices, time away from their families, government regulation, etc.). The film also tries to show us how crucial and under-appreciated the role of trucking is in our national economy.The only real weakness is that by only telling the story entirely from the truckers' perspective, they provide a portrait that is almost entirely sympathetic and essentially uncritical. They never speak to any consumer advocates or critics of trucking industry, for example. They don't discuss many of the problems that truckers cause for the roads, other motorists, or the environment. They don't really explore much about trucking industry and its faults. The view is more personal and in this case that's mostly a positive. The film is charming and scenic view of an under-appreciated American subculture that is in many ways the unseen backbone of much of the American economy.