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Road Games | Year: 1981 Classification: Action/Adventure Directed: - Richard Franklin Actors/Actresses: - Stacy Keach - Jamie Lee Curtis More Hitchcock Than Hitcher [...] It is very much in the Hitchcock tradition, with a twisting plot line in which Stacey Keach finds himself the primary suspect in a string of murders of young women. There is a lot of humor, and some very unusual scenery to enjoy along the way. You get a view of some spectacular Australian countryside as Keach drives from Sydney to Perth. It's a fun movie, deftly made, and I'm happy to see it finally reach DVD. only one more Jamie Lee Curtis Scream Queen flick to go!!! At last, one more Jamie Lee Curtis horror flick to make it to DVD. Now we can just hope Terror Train follows! Okay, this isn't so much horror as super suspense. Jamie Lee doesn't even appear in like the first half of the movie. Stacy Keach spends the time driving across country trying to get away from some unseen psycho in a truck. But after he picks up Jamie Lee, you really feel like you've entered a classic Jamie Lee slasher flick! This movie is a must for Slasher/Scream Queen fanatics. A very suspenseful vehicular stalker movie You know, the phrase 'this movie will have you sitting on the edge of your seat' gets thrown around a lot to the point of being cliché, but it really does seem to apply to this movie. Not in the literal sense, mind you, as I was lying down when I saw it, but figuratively speaking, that is, unless you are prone to sitting on the edge of your seat anyway in which case forget what I just said and move on. (seems like a dumb place to sit anyway...I mean, aren't you just asking for trouble?) Road Games, released in 1981 and directed by Australian born director Franklin Richards and starring Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis, is an excellent little movie I had heard absolutely nothing about until it was recommended to me on this website. The story follows an American truck driver working in Australia, hire to drive a load of slaughtered hogs from Melbourne to Perth across a desolate stretch of highway. Stacy Keach plays Quid, an intelligent, self-educated man who is keenly observant of his surroundings, trading quips with his companion, a pet dingo that travels with Quid in his cab. Seems there's a serial killer stalking female victims, and Quid begins to suspect a green van he's seen on the roadways. Soon Quid picks up Hitch (Jamie Lee Curtis), and things begin to unravel at an alarming pace. Quid quickly finds himself a suspect, set up by the real killer, in the spate of grisly murders, and must not only clear his name, but also save his own life, as the mysterious stranger in the green van soon goes from being pursued to being the pursuer with the backdrop being some really beautiful wide-open Australian scenery. Think this sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock movie? Well, that's exactly what the director was going for and he achieved his goal very nicely. He manages to build the suspense and maintain it throughout the movie, driving it to one of the more exciting conclusions within a film I've seen in a long time. Another nice touch is the way he directly avoids showing the violently visceral aspects of the killer's crimes, only alluding to them. There are many wonderfully, slyly humorous moments littered throughout the film as the director gradually tightens the screws on the viewers. I found the scene with Quid and Hitch at the rest stop/gas station especially grueling. Along with a beautiful, wide screen presentation, Anchor Bay provides a number of interesting features including an audio commentary by producer/director Richard Franklin, a 20 minute featurette with the director and actor Stacy Keach, a trailer, talent bios, original storyboards, a poster and still gallery, a wonderful five page insert on the movie, and even the original screenplay available on DVD-ROM. If you enjoy thoughtful, well-directed thrillers chocked full of suspense and a minimal amount of violence, then see this movie. It'll be worth your time. If you like this one, I might suggest Duel (1971), Breakdown (1997), or Joyride (2001). Very likable Hitchcockian thriller! It's amazing how many pleasant treats you'll find on TV Friday nights at one o'clock in the morning. Take "Roadgames" (or "Road Games") for example: The Hitchcockian story of a trucker delivering meat across Australia who becomes entangled in a possible mystery involving an unapprehensible serial killer who may or may not have murdered a helpless hitchhiker traveling the roads he's driving on. Often referred to as "Rear Window" on the road, self-proclaimed Hitchcock enthusiast Richard Franklin has directed a quaint, low-budget thriller with a likable (although quite unusual) lead actor in the role of Frustrated Hero. Pat Quid (Stacy Keach--who is indeed a man) is driving across Australia in a meat truck when he thinks he's noticed a strange happening--a man in a van seems to be burying a bag in the middle of a desert in Australia, and when he is noticed he climbs back into his blue van and speeds away into the distance. Pat puts this event into the back of his mind when he decides against regulations to pick up a wandering hitchhiker named Pam Rushworth (Jamie Lee Curtis), who has run away from home in an effort to escape her famous father's life. The two bond together on the road and have some fun playing various games--until she is kidnapped by the same strange man in a van. At first, Pat thinks he's just being paranoid--he even starts to think that Pam left him for the man. But then he realizes that Pam has indeed been kidnapped, and he suspects that the strange man in the van might be a notorious serial killer who has been killing young women and scattering their body parts miles apart from each other. After the police offer no help, Pat takes matters into his own hands and sets off on a quest to bring back Pam to safety and apprehend the killer before he can strike again. Some twists and turns ensue, although nothing very surprising. If this were a mainstream horror film with an overblown budget and big-name actors, I'd probably give "Roadgames" a bad rating. But this is the type of pleasant, likable low-budget thriller that is easy to watch and knows it's nothing more than a shadow of greater film noir mysteries/thrillers like "Rear Window" or "The Third Man"--the type of film that thrusts its hero on a one-man venture into the heart of darkness in order to find out the truth. Stacy Keach is strikingly likable as the lonely trucker who talks to his own pet dingo as he drives along, contemplating all types of conspiracy theories about serial killers and mysteries. What could definitely become tiring--listening to a man talk to his dingo for the majority of a movie, that is--actually becomes quite fun. Keach is funny, nice, and just...likable! Too bad his career was put on hold years later after he got arrested for smuggling cocaine... The director, Richard Franklin, is a huge Hitchcock fan--and it shows. This film is like a sort of remake of "Rear Window" and other such mystery-thrillers. It's loads o Buy Road Games at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Road Games Search with the Priority Search Engine on Road Games This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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