Todesfalle auf dem Highway

Originaltitel: Death Car on the Freeway

Fernsehfilm
1979
Not Rated
1 Std. 31 Min.

IMDb-BEWERTUNG

5,4/10

535

IHRE BEWERTUNG

clip wiedergeben3:00

Death Car On The Freeway ansehen

1 Video

4 Fotos

Mysterium Thriller

Ein unbekannter, psychotischer Fahrer benutzt seinen Van, um ahnungslose Fahrerinnen auf der Autobahn zu töten.Ein unbekannter, psychotischer Fahrer benutzt seinen Van, um ahnungslose Fahrerinnen auf der Autobahn zu töten.Ein unbekannter, psychotischer Fahrer benutzt seinen Van, um ahnungslose Fahrerinnen auf der Autobahn zu töten.

Siehe Produktionsinformationen bei IMDbPro

IMDb-BEWERTUNG

5,4/10

535

IHRE BEWERTUNG

Siehe Produktionsinformationen bei IMDbPro

Videos1

Clip 3:00

Death Car On The Freeway

Fotos3

Benutzerrezensionen19

5,4535

Empfohlene Bewertungen

6Leofwine_draca

Great little TV movie about a crazed car killer

DEATH CAR ON THE FREEWAY is one of those atmospheric US TV movies that were made throughout the 1970s and seemed to fizzle out around 1985 or so, when all TV films became safe, sanitised and terminally dull. Still, that's not the case with this film, which is a great little exercise in suspense as it tells the story of a crazed van driver who enjoys killing women drivers in car accidents.

The film is low budget, sure, but it's a lot of fun and it contains all the right elements for a good thriller. The murderer is a spooky, Michael Myers-alike who we never really get to know or understand, which makes his actions all the creepier. The sound of a fiddle has never been so sinister as it is here.

The film was directed by Hal Needham, a noted stuntman, so needless to say the car chase scenes are exemplary, with some pyrotechnic effects that beat the hell out of modern-day CGI ones. The intriguing cast list incorporates George Hamilton, Peter Graves, and Frank Gorshin, and there's a neat cameo from Sid Haig too. Shelley Hack is a likable heroine, fighting sexism in the workplace while tracking down the maniac. No, there's nothing to dislike about this film whatsoever...

5Uriah43

A Psychotic Solution to Rude Drivers

This film essentially begins with a young woman by the name of "Becky Lyons" (Morgan Brittany) driving on one of the busy freeways in Los Angeles when she encounters another driver who won't let her get into the next lane. Frustrated that she has just missed her exit, she then tries to speed up in order to take the next offramp but, once again, that same driver prevents her from doing so. To make matters even worse, the harder she tries to distance herself from him, the more reckless he becomes--which eventually results in her having an accident that nearly kills her. Naturally, being the large city that it is, it isn't long before television reporters on the scene to question her about what happened with one particular journalist known simply as "Jan" (Shelley Hack) becoming convinced that there is more to this story than meets the eye. At first, her concerns are dismissed by a local detective named "Lieutenant Haller" (Peter Graves) who considers any possibility of it being a deliberate homicide attempt as absurd. Things change, however, when several more women experience the exact same thing--and as they inevitably turn fatal, it soon becomes clear that a serial killer is using the busy streets of Los Angeles as his hunting ground. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film started off reasonably well but suffered somewhat when the scenes shifted from mystery to action. I say this because some of these action scenes were a bit over-the-top and not that realistic. Even so, this wasn't a bad made-for-television movie and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Victor Field

The TV equivalent of a drive-in version of "Duel," and okay for what it is.

With Hal Needham behind the camera and Shelley Hack - one of the last of "Charlie's Angels" - in the main role, you've probably guessed that "Death Car on the Freeway" won't be of Spielberg standards. It isn't, but I remember getting some low-brow entertainment out of this TV movie way back when.

Women drivers are being run off the road and killed by a strange man who a TV reporter (S. Hack) dubs the "Freeway Fiddler" because he always plays fiddle music before going into action; she can't finger the misogynist van driver (and indeed we never see the driver, but the resemblance between this and "Duel" pretty much ends there) but she plots to catch him before he can continue his reign of terror. The result: It's (wo)man vs. machine in a race to the death.

Writer William Wood and director Needham don't deliver a great feminist tract, nor is this an actors' showcase; but they do keep the automotive action coming, and it's not a message TV movie by any means. It's basically a pulp novel on the screen, and it's not bad - something that certainly can't be said for some of the director's bigscreen movies ("Megaforce," anyone)?

stevenfallonnyc

Pretty good

Look at that title, that plot and that cast, and what do you get? Definitely a 70's TV-movie. And it's really not a bad one at that. For car fans there's a lot of cool old cars to look at and some decent crashes. It definitely borrows from "Duel" (one of the immensely overrated Spielberg's only decent films) but manages to come up with a fresh take on it. The best thing about this movie is that the action is for real, back in the days when movie-making was real blood and sweat, instead of the computer crap we see today. When these cars crash, you can see where if something went wrong, there would have been more trouble on the set. But that's real movie making, not drawing cartoons on a computer.

This movie definitely has the odd tricks and turns a lot of tv-movies did from the day, and still sometimes do. But given the era and the plot, that only adds to the fun. Definitely a good choice if you can find this one.

6kidlopo-1

Fun but absurd

You really have to suspend your disbelief. Its like a world where California Highway Patrol doesn't exist and no one can read a license plate. But if you like an over the top potboiler with 70s TV all star cast it's worth the watch

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Wissenswertes
Shelley Hack's TV debut.

Patzer
The hubcaps on Jan's Datsun disappear and reappear at random times throughout the movie, sometimes this happens within the same scene.

Zitate
Jan: Who is the Freeway Fiddler? Well of course, no one knows yet, but tonight we at least have an educated guess on that answer from Dr. Rita Glass, chief of psychiatric services at Los Angeles General Hospital, and a frequent consultant in police matters. Thank you for being with us tonight, Doctor, what can you tell us about the Fiddler?
Dr. Rita Glass: Well Jan, of course I don't know anymore about what the Fiddler looks like than anyone else, but what I can offer tonight is a sort of psychological profile based on what we already know about the killer. Let's take the attacks themselves. We already know that the victims are all women traveling the freeway alone. We also know that they were all reasonably attractive, and there is strong evidence to suggest that in each case the driver of the car performed some sort of maneuver which was perceived by the killer as an act of aggression, causing the killer to say in effect 'Hey, you women are just getting too big for your britches'.
Jan: Judging from what you just said then, what can we theorize about the Fiddler's psychological profile?
Dr. Rita Glass: He is a severely repressed personality, easily threatened, unsure of his masculinity. That he may have been dominated as a child by his mother or some other female authority figures. That he is emotionally stunted, and in a very deep sense, feels like a child. I would also have to guess that he has a strong death wish, a need to be hurt, or killed, perhaps as a punishment for being such a bad boy. After all, he cannot attack these women in such a way without placing himself in extreme danger.
Jan: Thank you, Doctor. Drawing on the doctor's profile then, we can make the following suggestions to women: Don't travel the freeway unless absolutely necessary, and don't travel alone. And if you do find yourself on the freeway, drive defensively, particularly if there is a van in the area. Remember, the Freeway Fiddler has already killed 9 women, and will almost surely, kill again.