Roadgames [DVD]

Patrick Quid is an American working in Australia as a truck driver. Along with his dingo, Boswell, he pulls over for the night to get some sleep. Before going to sleep, he recognises a young woman who he saw earlier that day when she was hitchhiking. She was obviously picked up by a man who drives a green van, as he watches the two of them entering a cheap motel together. Later on inside the motel room, the gloved man strangles the woman to death with what looks like a guitar string. Woken up in the morning by the sound of the garbage men at work, he lets Boswell out to do his business. Bos starts sniffing and scratching at a garbage bag that's been dumped outside, Quid then spots a gloved hand and a shadowy face spying out of the window watching the dingo. Quid finds it strange that he's watching the garbage men at 5:30 in the morning, but with no reason to suspect foul play, he get's back on the road.While driving along he hears on the radio that a serial killer is at large in the area, and he begins to suspect that it could be the driver of the green van. The radio said that body parts had been discovered, and his suspicions grow even more when he sees the van driver burying a garbage bag in the desert. Quid later picks up a hitchhiker called Pamela, and he tells her about what he's seen. The two quickly strike up a friendship, and when they spot the van at a service station, they decide to investigate. Believing the van driver to be in the restroom, Pamela breaks into the van while Quid keeps a look out for the man. When the man in the restroom comes out of the cubicle, it isn't who he thought it was and he rushes out to the van, only to discover that's it's gone along with Pamela. Quid must now set out to find the van, and get to Pamela before the killer claims another victim. If he really is a killer. All the while, Quid himself is coming under suspicion from the police.I like Stacy Keach, and I really liked him as Quid in Road Games. I don't recall many films with him as the leading man, and he does a fine job of holding this film together. He also has good chemistry with Jamie Lee Curtis who played Pamela, she had only done four films before Road Games, but what a great first four. Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train. She quickly followed up Road Games with the Halloween sequel, but Road Games was the first non horror film she did, as it's much more of a thriller along the lines of Duel or Breakdown. She doesn't have to do all that much here, but she shows more than enough of what led to her becoming a recognised star. Apart from Keach and Lee Curtis, everybody else in the film has minor roles, so it was a good job the two leads are as likeable as they are.It was shot in Australia by Australian director Richard Franklin, Franklin was good friends with Alfred Hitchcock, and this film feels very Hitchcockian. Apparently the initial idea for Road Games was for it to be Rear Window, but taking place on the road. Road Games was the most expensive Australian film ever made on its release in '81. After Road Games, Franklin moved to America and quickly got the Psycho 2 job, and followed it up a few years later with the film, Link, a pretty cool film about an intelligent killer Orangutan. Sadly he passed away at the age of 58 in 2007 from prostate cancer. Of all the films he made, I feel Road Games is by far his best one. Patrick made in '78 was pretty good as well, and is definitely worth seeking out.I've read a few complaints about the picture quality of the 2008 Optimum disc. Maybe it's because I'm watching it through my blu-ray player, but the picture quality is absolutely fine, not brilliant but nowhere near bad enough to not add this little known gem to your collection. It is a bare bones disc though, it doesn't even have subtitles. If you have a multi-regional DVD or blu-ray player, then the region 1 release with the same cover as ours has a commentary from Richard Franklin, a making of featurette, cast and crew interviews, a collectable booklet and a few other extras. The region 1 Anchor Bay special edition has also been remastered and appears in widescreen, where as ours is full screen. Road Games is a fantasic little film, and a film Tarantino has claimed as being his favourite Australian film ever made. Thanks to Stacy Keach's charismatic, likeable performance, and the Hitchcockian style in which it was filmed. Road Games is great fun, and a somewhat forgotten classic. Not the best movie of its type, but not far off.

A lovely transfer (bars top and bottom), clear picture, sound and good subtitles, plus extras as listed on the Amazon site (not seen by me). This is an odd film. Not sure how to categorise it in 2021. It's a thriller laced with humour, and benefits from an excellent performence from Stacy Keach as a truck driver who believes he is purduing a murderer. Helped and a little bit hindered by the late (50 mins in) arrival of Jamie Lee in a rather disapointing performence, but still very watchable. She is a hitchiker and somewhere in her character was a subplot about her father and "stepbitch" that I didn't quite get at the time but did when talking about the plot with my wife. . A good if melodramatic climax and a satisfactory ending (oh, and "Boswell" the dingo) make this a fun if low key, film.

I look up this movie after seeing its poster behind Stacy Keach's desk while being interviewed for Fat City.Its Australian director is an admirer of Alfred Hitchcock. This film is kind of a homage to the master of suspense. Keach plays a long distance truck driver in Australian's Outback who accidentally stumbled upon a serial killer, or at least he thinks who that was. Jamie Lee Curtis plays a young American whom he picked up on the road. It is a well developed B-movie with a satisfying exciting finale.It's one of a kind of road movie cum serial killing with a touch of humour.Recommended.

The plot is simple: a truck driver hauling a shipment of frozen meat across Australia becomes convinced that he is on the trail of a murderer. Nothing new there but, then, this was made in 1981. What makes this movie so watchable is that it balances suspense, humour and just a little (slightly unconvincing) gore to turn what should be a fairly routine story into a simple, well-executed film. Don't think for a moment that this will deliver the same kind of shocks as other, more recent Aussie-inspired horror movies like "Wolf Creek" and "Saw". Back then there was neither the budget nor the special effects technology to match such recent gore fests.What gives this film its charm is not its homage to the Hitchcock classic "Rear Window" but rather the performance of its leading man, Stacy Keach. He plays Pat Quid, an enigmatic truck driver who discusses literature with his canine companion, cracks wise with hitch hikers and maintains the conviction that he is right in the face of increasingly absurd circumstances. Add to this the fact that the film is well shot and keeps you interested right until the very end and you have a little-known gem that will appeal to people who yearn for films with compelling characters and interesting dialogue rather than the many effects-heavy, plot-free movies of today.

A good Australian Road Movie/ Thriller.

A great little film. The atmosphere created is very intimate and there are real laughs embedded in there. The plot ambles along slowly but is never boring and although there is an horrific murder the viewer gets to see none of the gory details. One of those films that make you glad you bought it and once you've watched it you put it in the ï'll watch that again" section.

A VERY DECENT THRILLER WITH STACY KEACH AS A TRUCK DRIVER DRAWN INTO A GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE WITH A SERIAL KILLER ON THE LONG DESSERTED HIGHWAYS OF AUSTRALIA.SOME BLACK HUMOUR AND A FEW CLEVER SCARES MAKE THIS MOVIE A CUT ABOVE BEING JUST ANOTHER SLASHER FLICK.

I enjoyed the DVD, it is a long time since I last saw this film