Road Games

Road Games (1981)

Runtime: 101 minutes

Directed by: Richard Franklin

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Stacy Keach, Marion Edward, Grant Page

From: Quest

Here’s an Oz-ploitation film I heard about from the movie Not Quite Hollywood. In terms of Australian films, all I’ve reviewed is Mad Max and its sequel, and Crocodile Dundee, and I don’t recall seeing much more than that in my entire life. In the future I hope to rectify that, even if I only see a few more films from that country. Via TCM Underground showing this movie late Friday night, I was able to watch it this way without using “unethical” means. As some people on a messageboard had praise for the movie, I especially figured I should check this out. It turned out to be the right decision.

In Not Quite Hollywood, this movie is brought up and clips are shown. The main thing I got was that various people in the production and out of it weren’t happy that the otherwise all-Australian movie starred two famous Americans in an attempt to get attention. Think of that how you will.

The movie is about an American truck driver, Quid (Keach) who has traveled the world and ended up in the Land Down Under. He thinks highly of himself, quoting poetry often. The only companion he has on those long trips is his dingo, who he often speaks to in order to cure the boredom of traveling across a country as large as Australia. Early in the movie, he comes across the suspicious act of someone at 5 AM observing the garbage being taken out (and that the dingo is pawing at). Not to give anything away, but the movie makes it clear that the someone is a killer who has killed before. Quid runs into him as they both go from the eastern part of the country towards Perth. Through acts that the someone does and Quid’s quirky nature, suspicion comes across his way that HE is the killer. Along the way he meets up with another American, Pam, who is a hitchhiker he picks up.

The movie-quite a bit like Rear Window, actually-deals with people having trouble believing Quid is telling the truth about the killer he has seen driving an ugly green van. He runs into characters he sees earlier in the movie and later on he seems them again and sometimes interacts with them. There’s a lot of suspense as characters sneak around. There’s also quite a bit of flair from native-born director Franklin. He was a big fan of Hitchcock and it showed, from the obvious (there’s a magazine cover you see with Alfred on the cover) to the way it was shot. Franklin ended up making Psycho II, which was much better than you’d expect from a sequel to a classic film made 23 years later. Also, he made Cloak & Dagger, which is another Hitchcock homage but involves Dabney Coleman as an action hero (!) and an Atari cartridge being an important plot point. I remember watching that on TV when I was real young. Just a few years ago I watched it for the first time in more than 15 years and it held up pretty well. Sad to say, Franklin didn’t do too much after that and he died a few years ago of prostate cancer; what a shame.

As for this movie, sure it’s a little odd at times and the ending was more flat than I expected, but otherwise it was an entertaining thriller. A lot of the movie is hearing Keach talk to himself, but it manages never to be boring or grating. Stacy does a nice job as the lead. That helps make the movie enjoyable to watch.

I do have to mention two tidbits. First, in the outback of Australia, apparently the way to distinguish the men’s restroom from the women’s restroom… use a picture of Fred Flintstone! No kidding. Secondly, I solved a mystery that I’ve been wanting to know for many years. A long while ago I heard a voice sounding like Keach stating, “Sex! I’m talking about sex!” I don’t remember where I first heard it, but I know I have heard it in more than one clip. It turns out, it did come from Stacy and it was a soundbite from this movie. What a thing to stumble upon.

I’ll be back Thursday night. It won’t be another movie from Australia (although in the future I’ll try to track one or two down, even if it’s by less than ethical means) but rather it will likely be a movie on the big screen. It may be a wacky one, so at least there should be some laughs.