अपनी भाषा में प्लॉट जोड़ेंAn unknown, psychotic driver uses his van to kill unsuspecting female drivers on the freeway.An unknown, psychotic driver uses his van to kill unsuspecting female drivers on the freeway.An unknown, psychotic driver uses his van to kill unsuspecting female drivers on the freeway.
फ़ीचर्ड समीक्षाएं
Her story is not taken too seriously by TV or the police - until another woman is killed in similar circumstances, also by a dark van.
The police seem to have no leads, so a TV reporter starts investigating the similarities between the cases.
As the deaths mount, she takes hazard-driving lessons. When she finally locates the driver's whereabouts, he's missing, but chases her onto the freeway.
This movie has some loud music. It's no a horrible movie, but it's directed like a TV movie which takes something away from the film. The print I saw was so bleached out the color was nearly gone and sometimes it seemed like I was watching a b&W movie.
The verdict: 6.
All is fun and games until someone gets killed.
This is an absurd, though quite entertaining made-for-TV horror-thriller that gets right down to business! Ms. Hack makes her telefilm debut as the sleuthing journalist. Her blaming of the auto industry, advertisers, Hollywood, and fragile masculinity for the carnage is laughable, but fits the narrative well.
George Hamilton plays Jan's smarmy, overbearing soon-to-be ex-husband. Watch for Frank Gorshin and Barbara Rush as her direct supervisors at the newsroom. Dinah Shore is one of the luckier victims. Even Abe Vigoda gets in on the act as a hospital patient. Cult movie mega-icon, Sid Haig plays the rather scary Maurie.
Plus, Harriet Nelson makes a quick cameo appearance.
EXTRA CREDIT FOR: Anyone who can discern exactly what sort of music "The Fidler" plays in his van! It sounds like someone playing a violin with a harmonica for a bow, while being sucked into a wind tunnel!...
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)?
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.
क्या आपको पता है
- ट्रिवियाShelley Hack's TV debut.
- गूफ़The hubcaps on Jan's Datsun disappear and reappear at random times throughout the movie, sometimes this happens within the same scene.
- भाव
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.
- कनेक्शनReferenced in Penny Dreadful (2005)