Themes: Space Travel, Fighting the System, Hijackings
Main Cast: Dennis Hopper, Stephen Dorff, Debi Mazar, Charles Dance, George Wendt
Release Year: 1997
Country: IE/US
Run Time: 96 minutes
Plot
Former National Lampoon editor Ted Mann, who scripted this $27 million science-fiction comedy, calls it "the first outer-space road movie." According to Mann, the film has "no scientists, no techies, none of the usual polished, sanitary environments we're used to in our space films. Space is like anywhere else -- the people who are there are underpaid and poorly regarded." In the year 2196, freight pilot John Canyon (Dennis Hopper), one of the last of the independent truckers competing against the huge mega-corporations, is hassled by high-tech interference plus corrupt bosses. After Canyon delivers a cargo of pigs, genetically engineered to be square and stackable for more efficient shipping, he finds his profits siphoned off by a crooked labor boss (George Wendt). When Canyon heads for Earth with a secret cargo, he's accompanied by young apprentice trucker Mike Pucci (Stephen Dorff) and waitress Cindy (Debi Mazar), who plans to marry Canyon if he gets her safely to Earth. The trio goes through the asteroid belt and are captured by pirates, led by engineering wiz Captain Macanudo (Charles Dance), who discovers the secret cargo of the army androids stolen from him by capitalist corp chief E.J. Saggs (Shane Rimmer) -- who's plotting an android takeover of Earth. Filmed at Ireland's Ardmore Studios, Space Truckers was shown at several 1997 film festivals (Sundance, Sitges, Vancouver). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Shane Rimmer - Saggs; Birdy Sweeney - Mr. Zesty; Vernon Wells; Barbara Crampton; Denis Akiyama; Sandra Dickinson; Sean Lawler; Graeme Wilkinson; Dave Buffy; Billy Clark; Pat Laffan; Sylvan Baker
Credit
Simon Lamont - Art Director, Heidi Leavitt - Associate Producer, Mary Louise Queally - Associate Producer, Heidi Leavitt - Casting, Morgan O'Sullivan - Co-producer, John Bloomfield - Costume Designer, Ann Bloomfield - Costume Designer, Charles Rotherham - First Assistant Director, Stuart Gordon - Director, John Victor Smith - Editor, Guy Collins - Executive Producer, Stephen Kay - Executive Producer, Colin Towns - Composer (Music Score), Simon Murto - Production Designer, Mac Ahlberg - Cinematographer, Stuart Gordon - Producer, Ted Mann - Producer, Peter Newman - Producer, Mary Breen-Farrelly - Producer, Greg Johnson - Producer, Malcolm Stone - Set Designer, Paul Gentry - Special Effects, Brian Johnson - Special Effects, Glenn Freemantle - Sound/Sound Designer, Ted Mann - Screenwriter
John Canyon is one of the last independent space transport entrepreneurs. Bad times have forced him to carry suspicious cargo to Earth without questions being asked. During the flight the cargo turns out to be a multitude of deadly killer robots that are virtually unstoppable.
Tagline: They've shipped everything from square pigs to anti-gravity beer... But now they've got a load of real trouble.
