Incredibly Strange Video
Film lovers Ryan and Cassie take a critical look at films that are often only laughed at, lovingly dissecting b-movies, cult cinema, and "so bad it's good" flicks to gain a new appreciation for unusual cinema.
Incredibly Strange Video
Ep. 28: Flatbed Annie & Sweetie Pie: Lady Truckers
When 2 women, 18 wheels, and 16 gears are rollin'...move over! The two women in question are Annie Potts as Flatbed Annie and Kim Darby as Sweetie Pie, two lady truckers on the run from a relentless repo man (played by Harry Dean Stanton before he'd again play a repo man in, um, Repo Man) and menacing cocaine traffickers. Fred Willard and Joe Estevez are also hanging around the fringes of this obscure made-for-TV movie that has been relegated to general obscurity...until now!
Or at least whenever this podcast itself escapes obscurity itself. In any case, the ISV crew is approaching this film with one big question: Is this a feminist movie? At the bare minimum it is surprisingly respectful of its female leads, especially for a film made in 1979. They have agency, they aren't sexualized, and they grow together as platonic friends who are never shoehorned into a romantic relationship because that's what audiences might expect - but does it go further than that? Is this a long lost gem of feminism in film?
In addition to that discussion, Ryan and Cassie introduce a new segment called "Exploitation or Empowerment?", wherein Ryan offers up a scene for Cassie and she decides which way it swings in that (sometimes very fuzzy) dichotomy. And in the "Thoughts From Letterboxd" segment, they counter some negative reviews that claim the film is poorly constructed, by analyzing the cinematography and editing and how it comes together to create emotional impact from the very beginning of the film.
It's a unique spin on the 70's/80's trucker genre that you can stream for free on Tubi! So come hit the road and explore this forgotten road trip classic. Oh, and did we mention it's from the same director as Xanadu?
Flatbed Annie & Sweetie Pie: Lady Truckers
Directed by Robert Greenwald
1979, United States
Additional music by Infraction No Copyright Music
Incredibly Strange Video is produced and edited by Ryan Quinn and Cassie Kay. Follow us on Bluesky @isvpodcast.bsky.social for updates on the newest episodes!
Theme music:
The End by EVA
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
All excerpts from the films discussed are used for educational and critical purposes only.
