ROADGAMES
Australia, 1981, 101 minutes, Colour.
Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marion Edward, Grant Page, Alan Hopgood.
Directed by Richard Franklin.
Roadgames is a thriller set mainly on the Nullarbor Plain. It was written by Everett De Roche, a prolific writer in the 70s and 80s of thrillers like Snapshot, Harlequin. It was directed by Richard Franklin who directed Patrick. Franklin had studied and met Alfred Hitchcock and was influenced by his films. After Roadgames he was to go to Hollywood and direct Psycho 2. After about ten years in Hollywood with a range of films, Cloak and Dagger, Link, FX, he returned to Australia where he made Hotel Sorrento, Brilliant Lies.
The film is a straightforward story focusing on Stacy Keach as a long-haul driver, who becomes involved unwittingly in the work of a serial killer (played by Grant Page, who is seen early in the film, the film not being a mystery). Keach is under suspicion. On the way he picks up a hitchhiker, Marion Edward, in a comic performance and then Jamie Lee Curtis, only twenty-two at the time and just finished Halloween and Prom Night and was establishing herself, as the media called her, the Scream Queen. She went on to a much more substantial career.
The film is interesting in its portrayal of the Nullarbor Plain, though it is reached from Melbourne in record time! The film requires Stacy Keach to have a lot of monologues, or conversations with his pet dingo. Keach makes this character amusing and credible.
Nothing particularly startling, but a nice sense of suspense and competently made.
1.The entertainment value of Roadgames? The indebtedness to the road film? To the suspense film? The serial killer genre? Combining all these aspects?
2.The opening Melbourne settings, the motel and the streets? The contrast with the open highway? The use of the Nullarbor Plain? Atmosphere? Musical score?
3.The title, the games played by Pat Quid during his driving, talking to his dog, speculating about the occupations of the people in passing vehicles? The encounter with Madeleine, playing the guessing games? Picking up Pamela, playing games and speculating about the murderer?
4.Pat Quid, Stacy Keach’s performance, truck driver, his explanation of his international past and various jobs, driving the trucks, talking to his dog, not able to get into the motel, getting the extra job to transport the meat to Perth? His noticing the green van? On the road, Madeleine getting into the truck, her incessant talking, the discussion about the killings, her fears, at the cliff edge? The green truck and the driver? His going to the roadhouse, the phone calls, the non-response of the police? His picking up Pamela, their discussions? Seeing the truck, her going to look at it, her disappearance? His bailing up the man in the toilet – the wrong man? The people turning on him? Continuing to drive? The weighbridge? Getting to Perth, being held up by the police, their interrogations, suggesting he broke the law? Suspicions? The final resolution, the taking of the killer? Pamela?
5.The hitchhikers, Madeleine, her husband, chatter, the games, her fears? Pamela, young, diplomatic corps, running away from Canberra and home, talking, wanting excitement, looking in the vehicle? Her being endangered? Rescued?
6.Smith or Jones, the anonymous killer, at the motel, on the highway, burying the bodies, the garbage bags, the final confrontation?
7.The police, suspicions? Interrogation of Pat? Harassing him? The resolution?
8.The minor characters, along the road, at the roadhouse, the biker, the patrons in the roadhouse, Lester at the weighbridge?
9.The atmosphere of suspense rather than action? Character rather than violence? A satisfying thriller?
