Roadgames

Road Games is an Ok suspense film by Hitchcock disciple Richard Franklin (see also Psycho II, Link, FX II:The Deadly Art of Illusion). It features a good performance by Stacy Keach as a lone truck driver transporting bacon across the Australian outback during a butcher's strike. Every now and then, Keach comes across other travellers on the road, one of whom is the driver of a mysterious green van. Keach, having heard about a serial killer on the loose on his radio, convinces himself that the driver of the green van is also the murderer the police are looking for. However, Keach takes such ludicrous and unorthodox actions to prove his theory that he ends up making himself look like the culprit.

The main theme here of an innocent man being mistaken for a murderer is as old as the hills. The freshness of this film is provided principally by the unconventional locale (Aussie outback) and the outlandish set of supporting characters introduced during the course of the film. The suspense is good during the main scenes, but in between the film loses momentum. Hardly surprising, since Keach spends much of the film alone, chatting away to himself and his pet dingo in the cab of his truck. Listening to a man talkking to himself is hardly the best way to build excitement. However, you can feel a prickle of terror in your heart during one particularly hair raising sequence in which Keach investigates a peculiar sound in the back of his lorry.

I like this film, but it's no classic. Just one of those quiet, forgotten gems that film buffs ought to seek out for a rainy day.

Roadgames is a pretty good thriller about truck driver Quid (Stacey Keach) follows what he suspects to be a serial killer along the Southern Australia interstates. Having only the circumstantial clues and never actually witnessing any of the murders, Quid isn't sure whether this guy really is the serial killer that police reports on the radio indicate, or whether it is Quid's psychological games about guessing what people on the road could be like when he passes a noisy family in a station wagon and guesses the occupation of the driver. Quid is pushed nearly to the brink of insanity as he tries to distinguish between fact and fiction as he and the green van play cat and mouse all over the outback.

It's a really good thriller and better than say, The Hitcher, another movie involving a serial killer along deserted highways that torments a driver. But the difference is that Quid has limited interaction with his suspect, because the whole time you're left guessing whether the guy in the green van is really a killer at all, or whether it was just another one of Quid's games meant to entertain himself, but gone totally out of control. The movie has very Hitchcock-esque traits such as building Quid up from a normal man to one that starts to develop something almost like a split personality as he drives himself crazy trying to figure out the deal his adversary. Or the way that everyone in town seems to turn against Quid even though he is supposed to be the innocent person here. It's also good with some of that good Stacey Keach sarcasm and delivery. I think he fit the part of Quid quite nicely. Despite the fact that the story starts to lose momentum towards the end (but not the conclusion), it is nonetheless, a pretty good thriller.

Truck driver Pat Quid (Stacy Keach), transporting meat across Australia, believes a suspicious van driver he continually sees on his trip may be responsible for a series of hitchhiker murders. Along the way Quid picks up a hitchhiker (Jamie Lee Curtis) and tells her his suspicions. The two try to track the van driver while Quid becomes the police's number one suspect for the murders.

I think Richard Franklin is one of the more under-appreciated directors from the '80s. He made several interesting films before fading into mediocrity in the '90s, a fate that befell many '80s directors. There's a strong Hitchcock influence throughout Franklin's work, including this film, which should come as no surprise for the man who would go on to direct Psycho II. For his part, Stacy Keach carries the movie with ease. He reminds me of some of the protagonists from great Hitchcock thrillers who were normal, easy-going guys that were thrust into dangerous plots. This is easily the best performance I've seen from Keach. Jamie Lee Curtis is likable in her small part as the hitchhiker, a role similar to the one she played in The Fog the year before.

I've always enjoyed this movie. It's a fun, suspenseful thriller with a good cast and some dark humor. One of the better "killer on the road" movies I've seen.

Richard Franklin's potboiler "Road Games" is quite an accomplishment of Australian cinema. That's right Quentin. I know we agree. While transporting pork to Perth trough the whole Australia, American truck driver Pat Quid (Stacy Keach) traces a serial killer who tries to get rid of the body of the girl he's recently murdered. In the meantime, Pat meets Pamela (Jamie Lee Curtis) who decides to help him capture the dangerous psycho. Due to its tone, the movie feels like Hitchcock's "Rear Window" on the road. Screenwriter Everet De Roche presents travellers as some kind of integral community comprising of totally different people connected by accident. It's to director Franklin's credit though that the movie is so frantic and suspenseful throughout. There are moments of sheer genius when the movie gets almost unbearably tense in its crucial scenes including unique finale. All in all, "Road Games" is a cleverly scripted, refreshing thriller that just waits to be rediscovered and admired. 8/10 (B+)

I first saw this movie on TV. I taped it and watched it later. A couple of weeks ago I bought it on DVD and re-watched it. I had forgotten just how much I loved it. To me, watching this movie is just like watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie. It's filled with suspense. The characters are amazingly intelligent too, especially Stacy Keach's character, Pat Quid. At one point he picks up a hitchhiker, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, but is a gentleman the whole time she is in his truck. That was perfect. I mean, if he fooled around with her, that would have seriously detracted from the story. All the way through it the story has good supporting characters that only add to the quality of the film. Plus the cinematography in Australia's Outback is beautiful. I also enjoyed the truck driving sequences. One other thing, even though the movie is by no means a comedy, there are some very funny scenes in it, which you should enjoy. I don't want to give any of it away though. You need to watch it for yourself. I highly recommend this one. It's worth at least a rental. You will probably want to own it after seeing it once though. I know I did.