ROADGAMES (1981), aka ROAD GAMES

Director: Richard Franklin

Writers: Everett De Roche, Richard Franklin

Producer: Richard Franklin

Cast: Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marion Edward, Grant Page, Killer (Boswell the dog), Thaddeus Smith, Steve Millichamp, Alan Hopgood, Robert Thompson, Bill Stacey, John Murphy, Ed Turley, Angie La Bozzetta, Tony Bishop, Abbe Holmes, Colin Vancao, Paul Harris, Rochelle Harris, Carol Ann Aylett, Les James (uncredited), Tom Ryan (uncredited)

Pat Quid (Stacy Keach) is an American independent trucker in Australia. During his long, lonely drives, Quid resorts to several means to pass the time. His latest roadgame involves supposing that the driver of a dark green van he keeps passing along the remote Outback roadway may be connected to the recent serial killings in the news.

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

With Roadgames the devout Alfred Hitchcock fan Richard Franklin directs a wonderful variation on Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954). Hitchcock’s hero with a broken leg (James Stewart) was cooped up in his apartment and alleviated his boredom staring out the window at his neighbors. He eventually comes to suspect one of them of foul play. Franklin’s protagonist Pat Quid is cooped up in his semi-trailer truck for hours on end and alleviates his boredom making assumptions about the lives of the various motorists he passes during his trips. Quid begins to suspect that one of them is a murderer. This hardly makes Roadgames a rip-off. Although it uses the same character quirk of filling idle time with morbid fancies that become obsessive, its settings, characters, and humor make it unique and engaging.

Star Stacy Keach is as important to the success of Roadgames as director Franklin. As trucker Pat Quid, he is an eccentric, intelligent, and witty character. We spend a lot of time with him alone on the road with only his pet dingo Boswell for company. His one-sided conversations with the dog are funny and demonstrate how independent his character is. With just a dog to share his life aboard his truck, which is equipped with a small sleeping compartment, Pat Quid is the ultimate, self-sufficient loner. When he happens to converse with others, he often stresses that he is a truly individualistic character and not just a “truck driver.”

It is also nice to see that while Pat Quid seems like a guy that can take care of himself, he can make some missteps. His heroics are all the more gripping because he is not infallible. The story never devolves into asinine and unbelievable action hero overkill.

Jamie Lee Curtis appears in the fifth of the six scream queen roles that began her feature film stardom. She plays Pamela, the hitchhiker that Quid eventually picks up. In a nod to director Franklin’s filmmaker idol, Quid refers to the hitchhiking Pamela as “Hitch.” Pamela has a nice chemistry with Quid, and their relationship has a bit of built-in suspense. Of course, there is the will-they-or-won’t-they-get-it-on aspect. Additionally, as the story progresses, Quid’s changing feelings for Pamela make him vulnerable. Eventually, Quid’s association with her winds up making him a person of interest to the law.

Roadgames creates much of its audience involvement with its suggestions of the grisly deeds of its killer. Hinting at the deadly details makes us want to find out more and to be sure of the killer’s identity. Most of the time we are being led to certain conclusions by the assumptions of Pat Quid and the things he observes. One of the creepiest scenes is Quid’s nighttime inspection of the sides of pork that are hanging inside the trailer he is hauling. We are along for the ride in Quid’s big rig and can’t help but play his roadgame of look-for-the-killer.

Throughout the film the killer remains an enigma. This bonds the viewer more closely to Quid’s point of view. While Quid has his suspicions, he has them confounded and this raises doubts in him and the audience. In turn there are other characters that are suspicious of Quid and his behavior. We immediately take Quid’s side because he is the main character through which we glean a lot of information, yet the conclusions we share with Quid may be flawed.

Director Richard Franklin’s visual set pieces are very engrossing. He presents tense and creepy situations with little or no dialogue. These images intercut with Stacy Keach’s expressions get our imaginations working to arrive at some morbid conclusions. No doubt Franklin’s hero Alfred Hitchcock would have approved.

One can’t attribute enough credit to the script co-written by Franklin’s frequent collaborator Everett De Roche. Despite Hitchcock’s preference for purely visual storytelling, his films were also graced with provocative and witty dialogue. Franklin’s Roadgames is also loaded with fun dialogue that intrigues and amuses. Whether talking to his pet dingo during his long drives or to hitchhikers, Quid’s conversations are always interesting.

Prolific Australian composer Brain May’s music is just right. It serves to present a theme for Pat Quid that can be carefree or assertive. May’s score gets the adrenaline pumping when Quid takes action and raises goose bumps when something nasty is developing.

On the basis of this great Hitchcock-inspired film, Richard Franklin was picked to direct Psycho II (1983), the sequel to the Hitchcock masterpiece Psycho (1960).

Unfortunately, Roadgames went unappreciated by the movie-going public during its initial release in both its native Australia and the US. However, it has developed into a cult film over the years, thanks to home video. That’s how I first thumbed a ride on this big rig of suspense, and it still gets this fright flick fan to where I’m headed.