Review: Roadgames

Stacy Keach plays a truck driver named Quid, who is transporting dead pigs from Melbourne to Perth, when he sees a van driver doing something rather suspicious. He also hears on the radio about a series of killings of hitchhikers. Wait, is that the hitchhiker (Jamie Lee Curtis, whose character is nicknamed ‘Hitch’) he had given a lift to earlier? Is she about to get into the mystery man’s van? Keach becomes obsessed with following the van, facing potential danger himself if his suspicions prove correct. Or is Keach’s mind simply playing tricks on him, after an arduous haul on the lonely road with just his pet dingo (who may not be a real dingo) to talk to?

 

Sure to piss off Hitchcock purists, this 1981 genre flick from Aussie filmmaker and Hitchcock admirer Richard Franklin (“Patrick”, “F/X 2”, and “Psycho II”) plays out like “Rear Window” on the open road with a helping of Steven Spielberg’s “Duel”. Also sure to piss off Hitchcock purists, I liked this film much more than I did “Rear Window”, which I found rather static and uninvolving. I just didn’t enjoy watching Jimmy Stewart watching a bunch of other people doing, quite frankly, boring things. The changes that Franklin and Aussie genre movie scribe Everett De Roche (“Harlequin”, “Patrick”, “Snapshot”, the immortal “Razorback”) bring to the central idea improve things considerably. No longer stuck in a room with Jimmy Stewart watching some dated and dull goings on, we’re on the move for the most part here. Yes, we’re mostly seeing Keach sitting in his truck, but that truck is mostly on the move, and best of all, there’s really only one person Keach is following. Not much of that other voyeuristic nonsense that frankly isn’t any fun for me as a viewer. He interacts with a few other people sure, but he’s in a moving vehicle at the time, and in fact, he even gets out of the truck a few times, opening things up.

 

Franklin actually shows more talent here than in any other film the late director ever made. Stylishly directed, especially the opening murder scene, and the lighting by cinematographer Vincent Monton (“Heatwave”, “Newsfront”, “Thirst”) is outstanding, with the night scenes never getting too dark. It’s easily Franklin’s best-looking film that I have seen and in my view, one of the better Australian films of the early 80s. Such an underrated film, Franklin and Monton make this thing look like a pretty big blockbuster. Franklin, unlike say Brian De Palma, proves to be a student of Hitchcock rather than a mere inferior plagiarist. He has taken a Hitchcockian idea, and done something with it of his very own. And as I said, I think he’s improved upon The Master, heretic as it may be to suggest such a thing. I’m not suggesting he’s a better director than Hitchcock, that would be absurd. I’m simply saying he’s gotten it right here, whereas Hitch’s “Rear Window” didn’t do much for me. For instance, the film is vastly more tense, and actually quite scary at times, something “Rear Window” most certainly was not. The Australian landscape helps with that, it’s beautiful but also kind of sinister.

 

I did have a bit of a minor issue with the length. This would possibly be a minor masterwork at around 88-92 minutes, but at 100 minutes it’s just a touch too long. It feels like we needed to get to Curtis’ character a bit quicker I think. I also had a minor issue with the casting. Curtis, and especially Keach are very good indeed, but why do we need two displaced Americans in an Australian film in an Australian setting? One import for marquee value I could understand perhaps. However, it’s not just Keach and Curtis with American twangs. One of the supposedly local cops sounds American too, and there’s something a little wrong with that, if you ask me. So I would’ve cast an Aussie in one of the two lead roles. Franklin can’t be trying to pass this off as American, because Australian states are named along the way.

 

Anyway, Keach is excellent here talking a lot more than Jimmy Stewart did in “Rear Window”, which is essential to keep the audience interested. Unlike Jimmy, he’s much more the focus than the person he is watching, something Hitchcock slipped up on in my view. “Rear Window” spent too much time on other people, who were uninteresting to me because we’re kept at somewhat of a distance from most of them. Yes, Keach observes other travellers along the way to stave off boredom, but there’s much more of a singular focus here. He’s no Jimmy Stewart, charisma-wise, but Keach is a likeable presence. There’s also a slight sinister, untrustworthy touch too. Can we really trust a trucker who talks to himself and keeps a ‘dingo’ in his truck for a pet? Peter Falconio, anyone? Franklin and Keach do a really good job of showing the effects of a long haul job on a trucker’s psyche, especially with a serial killer on the loose as well.

 

Jamie Lee Curtis, for her part gives her best performance pre-“Trading Places”. She shows more charisma and personality than in other films of the period, “The Fog” for instance. “Halloween” is a masterpiece but Curtis would go on to give much better performances even within the same franchise. One thing that does disappoint a tad is that she’s off screen at the beginning and particularly for a fair stretch of the final stages of the film. You miss her and it is an issue. I think Franklin did himself a bit of a disservice though, by not casting Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, Bill Hunter, or George Mallaby as the killer, to act as an Aussie alternative to Raymond Burr. That was a bit of a missed opportunity, though stunt performer Grant Page is fine in the somewhat silent part. Nice to see Franklin gave his “Patrick” lead Robert Thompson a small role as a biker, too. The score by Brian May (“Mad Max”, “Gallipoli”, “Turkey Shoot”) is easily his best score. I’m usually not a fan of his cheapo work, but he gets the job done here. In fact, it reminds me a little of the work of the great Jerry Goldsmith (“Planet of the Apes”, “The Omen”, “Star Trek: First Contact”).

 

Look, I’ll admit the opening 45 minutes is more enjoyable than the back half. However, this is overall a really strong, underrated Australian film with a few minor quibbles. De Roche’s screenplay is based on a story by De Roche and the director.

 

Rating: B-