Roadgames (1981)

Country of Origin: Australia
Year of Production: 1981
Running Times: 101 mins
Format: colour/Panavision (anamorphic)/ 35mm
Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound: stereo

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Essaness Pictures/Quest
Executive Producers: Tony Curtis, Bernard Schwartz
Producer: Richard Franklin
Co-Producer: Barbi Taylor
Production Managers: Barbara Gibbs, Greg Ricketson

SCRIPT
Script: Everett De Roche

DIRECTION
Director: Richard Franklin
1st Assistant Director: Tom Burstall

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Vincent Monton
Camera Operator: Louis Irving

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Edward McQueen-Mason

MUSIC
Music: Brian May
Music Score Engineer: Ross Cockle

SOUND
Supervising Sound Designer: Lon Bender

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Costume Designer: Aphrodite Kondos

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Jon Dowding

LOCATIONS
Locations: Diggers Rest, Victoria, Australia; Eucla, Western Australia, Australia; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Perth, Western Australia, Australia

CAST
Stacy Keach (Quid)
Jamie Lee Curtis (Hitch)
Marion Edward (Madeleine)
Grant Page (Smith or Jones)
Thaddeus Smith (Policeman 'Abbott')
Alan Hopgood (Lester)
John Murphy (Benny Balls)
Bill Stacy (Captain Careful)
Robert Thompson (Sneezy Rider)
Colin Vancao (Fred Frugal)
Carole Ann Aylett (cleaning lady)
Tony Bishop (honeymoon man)
Paul Harris (frugal son)
Rochelle Harris (frugal daughter)
Abby Holmes (honeymoon woman)
Stacy Keach Sr
Angie La Bozzetta (young hitchhiker)
Stephen Millichamp (Policeman 'Costello')
Ed Turley (roadhouse proprietor)

PLOT SUMMARY

Pat Quid is an American driving a truck through the Australian outback. To pass the time, he plays mind games, make up back stories for the other people he sees on the road. He picks up Pamela, a hitchhiker who then disappears and Quid thinks that she has fallen victim to a serial killer. He comes to believe that the killer may be the driver of a van he keeps seeing and Quid sets about pursuing the driver.

Franklin continues his Hitchcock obsession with this excellent road movie which makes excellent use of the Australian outback setting and gives Keach and Curtis solid material to work with, resulting in very watchable performances. It's a quiet, slow burning movie, one that creeps up on its audience rather than charge at them screaming and shouting and is all the better for its subtlety. Definitely one worth tracking down.

Australia
Theatrical Distributor: GUO
Video Distributor: Australian Video

Canada
Theatrical Distributor: New World-Mutual

USA
Theatrical Distributor: AVCO Embassy Pictures

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Australia
Rating: M

Finland
Rating: K-16

Norway
Rating: 15

Sweden
Rating: 15

USA
Rating: PG

1981
Australian Film Institute, Australia
AFI Award Best Achievement in Cinematography (Vincent Monton) - nominated
Best Achievement in Editing (Edward McQueen-Mason) - nominated
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Marion Edward) - nominated
Best Original Music Score (Brian May) - nominated

1981
September
Day Unknown: Australia, USA – theatrical release

1982
January
25: Sweden – theatrical release

1983
January
21: Finland – theatrical release

1987
July
8: UK - television broadcast (on ITV (Thames Television))

2002
June
24: UK - television broadcast (pn BBC2)

Déviation mortelle - French title
Kuolema kyydissä - Finnish title
Lift med döden - Swedish title
Road Games – US title
Truck Driver - Gejagt von einem Serienkiller - West German title
Truck Driver - Hungarian title

REFERENCES

MAGAZINES

Cinefantastique vol.11 no.2 (Autumn 1981) p.50 (USA)
review

Cinema Papers no.28 (August/September 1980) pp.239-241, 292, 296; 243-246, 299 (Australia)
interview; interview

Cinema Papers no.33 (July/August 1981) pp.288-289 (Australia)
review

Films and Filming no.33 (June 1982) pp.32-33 (UK)
review

Photoplay vol.32 no.8 (August 1981) pp.64-65 (UK)
review

Screen International no.249 (12 July 1980) p.15 (UK)
production note

Variety 18 February 1981 pp.18, 20 (USA)
credits, review

hitchhikers, serial killers, truck drivers, trucks

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009