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Violent Road (a.k.a. Hell’s Highway), a long forgotten, little seen, loose remake of Clouzet’s classic The Wages of Fear, opens for a week-long run in a handful of suburban cinemas and drive-ins. Where the 1953 original (as well as William Friedkin’s exemplary Sorcerer from 1977) centred its sweaty-palmed tale deep in a South American jungle, this black & white Howard W. Koch cheapie, written by Richard H. Landau, relocates the premise to the US Midwest. Brian Keith stars as a wise-ass drifter heading up a three truck convoy racing against time to transport a shipment of highly unstable rocket fuel across a treacherous mountain range. Despite its acute budgetary shortcomings, a surprisingly adept B picture co-starring Dick Foran, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and a comely Merry Anders.
