Cool News
A Movie A Day: ROAD GAMES (1981) + DUEL (1971) ”Tomorrow’s Bacon”
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the newest October special horror run of A Movie A Day!
[For the entirety of October I will be showcasing one horror film each day. Every film is pulled from my DVD shelf, recorded on the home DVR or streamed via Instant Netflix and will be one I haven’t seen. Unlike my usual A Movie A Day or A Movie A Week columns there won’t necessarily be connectors between each film, but you’ll more than likely see patterns emerge day to day.]
ROAD GAMES mixes a few of my favorite things. These are Australian genre films of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, be it MAD MAX or BMX BANDITS, young ‘n hot Jamie Lee Curtis, road-set thrillers and prime-of-his-life Stacy Keach.
I’m also a fan of director Richard Franklin. His PSYCHO II is a very underrated sequel which never really gets its due because it has to follow up Alfred Hitchcock’s brilliant original.
Hitchcock is an obvious influence on ROAD GAMES with Keach being the wrong man this time instead of Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant. Keach plays an American ex-pat working as a Truck Driver in Australia. In the first 20 minutes we essentially just get Keach talking to himself to a voice on the CB or his dingo, Boswell.
If it wasn’t for seeing a naked girl getting strangled by a gloved man we wouldn’t know we’re in a thriller. Keach’s stuff plays out almost like a comedy, but that’s smart. Keach is a likable guy and his character, Quid, is allowed time to curry the audience’s favor.
Franklin also uses this time to introduce us to the road travelers. Anybody who has ever been on a long road trip will recognize the familiar characteristics Keach points out… the miserable family, the too-careful driver hauling a ridiculous load, etc. You’ll also recognize the weird familiarity you feel on these long drives when you’re leap-frogging the same dozen or so vehicles over the course of a few hundred miles.
Whether Keach ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time or if the killer has had him in his sights before we start the movie I have no idea. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that Keach is drawn into this killer’s world and we’re along for the ride.
One of the interesting things to me about this film is that Quid isn’t the typical lead, especially for this type of film. He’s not trying to prove his innocence (right away at least), he’s not trying to stop the killer so much as he’s using his theories about the man in the green van and what the fuck was he burying out in the desert?!? to keep himself occupied as he hauls a freezer full of pork from one side of Australia to the other.
Quid’s decisions struck pretty true to me. I’m sure his actions in the movie, especially in the first half, are how I’d react if it were me. Talk is easy, speculation is easy, but there are a million reasons why this one guy isn’t the dude they’re talking about on the radio, the new Jack the Ripper.
Jamie Lee Curtis comes into the picture rather late, over 40 minutes into the film, as a hitchhiker that is intrigued by Keach’s theories.
I quite liked the romance that develops between the two of them. It’s nothing overt, just a common bond that sparks a bit more than it probably sure given the age difference.
If I had a bone to pick with the movie it would be in a decision to take this film into a happy-ending territory. Maybe I had HITCHER on the brain and was anticipating a bleak ending, but it seemed to me that Franklin and screenwriter Everett De Roche was setting up a darker conclusion.
I could be very wrong, especially when you consider the Hitchcock influence, but it seemed like all indicators were pointing to Keach getting the shit end of the stick. He doesn’t get off scott free, but it’s certainly not the fucked up downer I was expecting.
Final Thoughts: This flick is very entertaining and the chemistry between Curtis and Keach is awesome. It’s a great turn for Keach and with all the landscapes we see it’s almost like Outback-pornography. Also, fans of the cultastic STUNT ROCK keep your eyes out for the killer’s face. You’ll recognize him as noneother than Aussie stuntman and star of STUNT ROCK Grant Page!
Now, in thinking up my recommendation title the obvious choice was THE HITCHER. It’s a very similar story, but trade out Stacy Keach in a hero role for Rutger Hauer in a villain role, Jamie Lee Curtis for Jennifer Jason Leigh and add in C. Thomas Howell for good measure.
I like THE HITCHER, but ROAD GAMES strongly reminded me of another movie, a favorite of mine…
As much as I like SUGARLAND EXPRESS, I find Duel to be the first and best pre-Jaws Steven Spielberg movie. You feel his style all over this flick, originally made for TV, but it was so good that it got a major and successful theatrical release overseas as well as a theatrical push stateside.
ROAD GAMES is like the mirror universe version of DUEL. Instead of the truck driver being the good guy, he’s the villain. Actually, the way Spielberg films the movie the driver of the truck is inconsequential. It could be Satan for all we know. The truck itself is a monster, rusted and wicked.
The only thing we ever see of the driver is his booted feet much like the majority of what we see of the killer in ROAD GAMES are those crazy gloves.
There are plenty of other comparisons, but if you haven’t seen one or the other take my word for it.
Dennis Weaver plays the main character. Up front, Dennis Weaver is a huge whopping chunk of vanilla sitting on Michael Jackson’s zoot suit. He’s whiter than white and a fairly bland man, but in a stroke of genius or plain old fashioned luck Spielberg cast him in a role that is almost tailor made for this kind of personality.
The poor bastard who crosses the evil truck is supposed to be a boringly average guy. That’s the whole point of the story. What would happen if Joe Blow Anybody was thrown into a situation where he (or she) is being stalked by a monstrous truck. The dude’s not trained for situations like this and is in a constant state of panic until he’s pushed to the point where he has to make a stand.
My adoration of the film isn’t just some blind Spielberg love, either. I’ve also seen his TV horror film called SOMETHING EVIL which managed to suck big time despite having Darren McGavin in the lead. Spielberg really does show his chops here. You’ll see visual trademarks, like his split-focus diopter (that neat lens that lets you have the foreground and background in perfect focus, usually leaving a blurry line in the middle of the frame).
Duel is suspenseful, fun and fascinating as the beginnings of such a well known filmmaker. An absolute must-see for any Spielberg fan or movie lover in general. It makes me wish we could get Spielberg to drop his next studio movie in favor of a seat-of-your-pants no budget pure-filmmaking exercise like Duel. Granted, he had Richard Matheson writing for him on Duel, but I’m sure there’s at least one writer out there who can deliver something as simple, yet fucking awesome as Matheson did time after time.
Here are the next week’s worth of AMAD titles:
Monday, October 12th: DEAD END DRIVE-IN (1986)
Tuesday, October 13th: PSYCHIC KILLER (1975)
Wednesday, October 14th: THE BODY SNATCHER (1945)
Thursday, October 15th: THE LEOPARD MAN (1943)
Friday, October 16th: WOLFEN (1981)
Saturday, October 17th: MADHOUSE (1981)
Sunday, October 18th: THE HOUSE WITH THE LAUGHING WINDOWS (1976)
Yep, I have yet to catch up, thanks mostly to me falling head over heels in love with WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, which took up my planned AMAD catch-up time from me. My next two movies are Aussie genre flicks, including another from the same director as ROAD GAMES called PATRICK. Since there’s two more Aussie flicks left I’ll do my damndest to double feature them tomorrow and be back in tune with the line-up.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
AMAD Halloween Spectacular 2009:
October 1st: Nothing But The Night (& The Wicker Man)
October 2nd: Beware! Children At Play (& The Devil Times Five)
October 3rd: Cameron’s Closet (& Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood)
October 4th: Afraid of the Dark (& The Lady In White)
October 5th: The Pit (& The Gate)
October 6th: Brain Damage (& Basket Case)
October 7th: Brain Dead (& Braindead, aka Dead Alive)
October 8th: Visiting Hours (& Dressed To Kill)
October 9th: Macabre (& The Beyond)
October 10th: Private Parts (& Eating Raoul)
Click here for the full 215 movie run of A Movie A Day!
-
+ Expand All
-
Ah Titus.
-
Quint, is there a scene in this were Keach goes to a weighing station, and they tell him he is 120lbs to heavy, and Keach realizes it is the weight of a dead body the killer has stashed in his cab?
Or am I thinking of another movie (and if so, what one is that?) -
Looking forward to Dead End Drive-In...I saw that in the 80's and liked it a lot. Never saw it anywhere since then.
-
Have to check this one out!
-
You've got the right movie. That's right out of Road Games. The whole time he's itching to get out of the weigh station because he's hot on the green van's tail... He actually watches on in a "fucking seriously?!?" way as the van, out of gas, is helped along to the gas station by two cops, pushing the killer's van. Pretty awesome.
-
I'm gonna have to check this out again because I can barely remember it. I must have been like 10-12 years old and seen it late at night the first and only time I saw it. But I do remember that weighing station scene and remember it being very suspenseful.
-
Anyone else notice that many top notch directors coming out of the late 70s all had their start (or at least first big hit) making true thrillers? I am speaking of Spielberg, Carpenter, Ridley Scott.
Something about that period made thrillers the perfect genre to demonstrate your skill as a director... -
Oct 13, 2009 4:00:48 AM CDT
Holy Shit! I just found out that the director of Roadgames
by continentalop
Did LINK, a film about a chimp that goes crazy and kills his masters. Terrance "Zod" Stamp and Elisabeth Shue are both in it. I haven't seen it in years.
Quint, you should get a copy of it. If I remember right, it is a damn entertaining little movie. And it has got killer chimps... -
... is a great example of great storytelling on a limited budget. Simple, concise and self contained. A fantastic tense film!
-
it shows how all it takes to make a great movie is talent, not big budgets
-
...amazing film and Breakdown was a damn good remake.
-
with ordinary person driving to a remote highway,and suddenly evil appears and he has to face it.The original Hitcher is my favourite movie of this genre.btw how is this genre called? horror-driving movies or something?
-
role in another movie of this genre.He is a truck driver and his son is killed by a passing trucker while he was changing the tire of his car in a highway.Keach tries to find who is this mysterious trucker,who has killed other guys too.The movie is not very good but it does have a small suprise at the end of the movie,when keach catches the driver.
-
a scene where Keach drives his truck in a very narrow passage and he cant get from there,and there is a crazy guy who spits at his windshield and breaks their wipers? if so,they i have just discovered the title of another horror movie i watched as a kid,but never knew its title.
-
Might have to watch COHEN AND TATE again tonight...
-
I remember seeing that on VHS when my dad was in the process of emptying out the local video store of any watchable titles (the "good old days" way before broadband and Netflix). What a great fricking show. Especially that shocking final scene.
Kudos to partnering it with another road classic, DUEL. -
Where a guy and his girlfriend glimpse a girl caged in the back of a truck that they're driving behind. They tail the truck to a motorway service station (yes it was filmed in the UK - partly at Trowell services, no less : big up the East Midlands!!) and then the shit REALLY hits the fan as curious guy's girlfriend DISAPPEARS...
I'm a MAJOR fan of DUEL, so I'll give this a spin. Cheers Quint! -
I saw this when it was shown on UK tv back in 1987. It has a real chill to it, and does make one feel uneasy. I must see Hush as well!!
-
and i am not talking about death proof.
-
Just like Jaws is a necessary watch before going to the beach. Hey wait, those are both Spielberg movies!
-
...should be part of this conversation. Awesome black car possessed by Satan...can't beat it!!
-
but saw the cover of the VHS in the old movie store. I never rented it. The Car is classic. The Car kicks Christine's ass.
-
about movies with possessed items or bodily parts.There is a movie with a refrigerator killing people and a movie with Michael Cain where his right hand got possessed after an accident,and started acting by its own.great weird stuff.
-
I think I remember we get to see a little more of him at the very end. I could be wrong though.
-
You're right - best road movie after DUEL, very much in the same vein, and Kurt Russell is awesome in it. Props also to Kathleen Quinlan, for being so damn convincing, and massive props to J T Walsh, for being the baddest bad guy EVER. Great, great movie.
-
job based the work he did on Road Games. And Psycho 2 was good, but how could you ever do a sequel to one of Hitchcock's best known works, and not come up short?
-
He's a comic strip artist who loses his hand in an accident. The hand is never recovered, and it takes on a life of its own. I never saw it, but it looks cool. I mean anything with Caine has to try hard to be crappy. Jaws IV is probably his worst.
-
Still not as good as the book, but it was probably technically impossible to go with the book's plot. Whatever happened to the director afterward, Michael Wadleigh? He did the Woodstock documentary, this, and then......?
-
I couldn't choose between the original Hitcher and Duel, would have to include both. The Richard Matheson short story Duel appeared in Playboy, and fucking blew me away when I read it. I about came in my pants when the ABC Movie of the Week announced Duel was soon to bless the small screen. I consider Duel among the very best adaptations of page-to-screen ever! Then again, the original Hitcher is totally badass; Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, and Jennifer Jason Leigh all delivered in spades. Both films are in my DVD collection, soon to be joined by Road Games. Haven't seen it in many years but looking forward to reacquainting myself with it.
-
Unfortunately I believed he committed suicide, but found this on IMDB..."Works as a transit bus driver in Akron, Ohio."Which is worse?
-
He did awesome in Man From Hong Kong. And also check out Blurs Music Video for M.O.R. It was dedicated to him!
-
regarding someones comment that a lot of big directors got their start with low budget thrillers, the Hand was directed by Oliver Stone.
-
road games.a lot of thanks quint for helping me rediscover one tiny part of cinematic experience from my childhood.thanx.
-
Though there are a number of scenes that really try my patience because they go on forever. I specifically recall the sequence with the school bus as being pointless (I believe this sequence was added for a theatrical release, and was not in the original televised version though). The bit where he goes in the diner seemed to drag after a bit as well. Still, I love these types of movie (THE HITCHER, BREAKDOWN, etc).
I'll be interested in seeing the review for HOUSE WITH THE LAUGHING WINDOWS. Its a pretty weird movie that I just could not get into. -
with the school bus and the train crossroad were added later,in order for the movie to gain a theatrical release.
-
And one of the greatest Goldsmith scores too.
-
Duel is awesome as is The Hitcher (80's version). I've never seen Road Games. Sounds good, but maybe not different enough from other movies for me to rush out to see. On the other hand I wasn't a big fan of Psycho II. I had a fun time watching it with a friend, but I didn't really like it over all. I down right hated Dead End Drive In though. Hope you have a better time with it, Quint!
-
is without a doubt the best pre-jaws spielberg movie. it truly was like nothing that had ever been made before in its time. it's hard to compare it to anything, really. lets hope it never gets raped by the hollywood remake factory.
-
Spielberg when he was young and hungry. Check out his reflection in the glass of the phone booth that Dennis Weaver uses before it's run over by the trucker. Thankfully not Lucas-ed out.
-
I put Road Games in my Netflix Queue after watching Not Quite Hollywood! Now it'll take forever to show up!Actually, I saw this on Cable back in the day like many of you, so there's no rush. I heartily recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet!
-
are you kidding- it's his hands down best film ever! no overblown cgi or overly sentimental plot. It's pure gritty film making and its intense as hell!
-
wow, that's saying something considering his body of work. look, i fucking LOVE duel, and i hear you about the overblown cgi, but movies like munich, jaws, close encounters, saving private ryan, schindler's list, minority report, etc are all masterpieces of their respective genres.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 171 total posts 169 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 157 total posts 111 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 138 total posts 75 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 67 total posts 67 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 479 total posts 62 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 59 total posts 59 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 62 total posts 59 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 48 total posts 45 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 116 total posts 32 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 181 total posts 30 posts