Owlwise
As a small boy, I loved ROUTE 66; as a teenager, it was THEN CAME BRONSON; as a young man, it was MOVIN' ON. And while there were other series about wanderers on the road, often pursued by others (THE FUGITIVE, THE IMMORTAL, KUNG FU, and later even THE INCREDIBLE HULK), what appealed to me most was a story about people who wanted to be on the road, meeting others, experiencing live & the breadth of human situations.Things had changed by the mid-1970s, of course; but trucking still provided a vehicle (ahem) for such human stories. Gifted with two fine actors in Claude Akins & Frank Converse, it presented the panorama of life as it was then, with all of the drama & humor & unexpectedness of simply being alive. No need for aliens, the supernatural, spies, conspiracies, etc. -- all of those fine & enjoyable in their own right, to be sure! -- just stories about people with needs, dreams, fears, meeting one another, their lives intersecting for a brief time.And these were "ordinary" people ... and by that I mean real people that you or I would have met, not the supermodels with extravagant lifestyles who seem to populate so many TV shows today. They looked & sounded & acted REAL, with real lives that we could identify with ourselves. I really miss that sort of show; and I'm delighted that MOVIN' ON is finally available on DVD at last. Now to relive those times once more!
boduke-10200
Movin'On was my absolute favorite Television series in the mid 1970's.I was 10 yrs. old when the movie/series premiered on NBC.Sonny and Will were my heroes along with my truck driving father, Bill SR.My dad and I watched this show together,that in-itself has provided many fond memories for me today.My father has since passed away.Last year I was able to meet the Creator/Executive Producer of Movin'On,Mr. Barry Weitz.Barry and his new partner, Mark Rathaus have revived the Movin'On series in recent years.I consider both as friends and I now oversee the Official Movin'On Museum in Wake Forest,N.C.The Museum has on display many Props/Autographed pictures and Licensed products from the two season Movin'On T.V. series and NBC Pilot movie,"IN TANDEM".Admission is free though we do accept donations for the American Cancer Society in honor of Claude Akins.........MOVIN'ON OFFICIAL MUSEUM- 14917 Creedmoor Rd. Wake Forest,N.C. 27587 USA....919-282-2372-leave message!
lightninboy
Claude Akins played Sonny Pruett. Frank Converse played Will Chandler. Sonny was making payments on a truck. Supposed to have been worth $45,000 back then. 1975? Kenworth conventional in a time when cabovers were more common for over-the-road semis in the eastern U.S. Seems like maybe Sonny was making payments on a 40' Fruehauf van too. His rig was on a Sheriff's auction once on the show. You used to be able to buy a model kit of the Movin' On tractor which said it had a 370 Cummins and a 16-speed, but I understand that the model kit wasn't necessarily true to the Kenworth on the show. Seems like Sonny's home town was Phoenix. That's where the great truck race was, anyway. Marine camp. NASCAR racing. Mobile, Alabama. A lady chicken farmer. San Francisco. A tobacco farm. A pianist in Virginia and Washington, D.C. Sonny singing in Nashville. Will renting a boat: was it for lobsters or shrimp? Trading rigs with Moose and Benji. The Pigpen was an old van trailer and a GMC crackerbox with a sleeper. It eventually got blown up. A trailer with a bomb in it on a ferry going across Chesapeke Bay or somewhere. Sonny renting another Kenworth and painting it green. Carrying a casket on the fifth wheel in New Orleans. Pairing up with a father and son and hauling fruit through Minnesota to Winnepeg. A hot air balloon and an Edsel.
Wolf (alphaspace)
This was a series about the trials and tribulations of being a long haul over the roads independent trucker. The core role was played convincingly by a rather cummudeonly but still emminately likable Cluade Atkins. The set of Movin On was effectively the open road and all the interesting people and places connected by it.I think this show was lavishly produced and tried to be very authentic to the world it tried to depict. This show might not have been the ER of its day but even now Moving On is still a charming deversion on a day where you just want a bit of enjoyable wholesome chewing gum for the eyes.I did rather like the series as it did show a slice of life and I like / needed such shows to aid in my evolving understanding of society. Moving On did follow the formula of a series where the main character was placed in all the predictable scapes a trucker could get into and you watched as he got out of them without being a ripe stinker. The plot lines were exactly as you expected and this show contained few plot surprises. I must admit I was a severely disabled kid who looked forward to seeing this show every week. Thanks to Moving On I came as close as I could to seeing what it was really like to really drive a huge 18 wheel truck over the open roads. I guess for me Movin On will always be a blast in my books! Thanks for the time behind the wheel dude!