Road Games (1981)

That rare Hitchcockian riff that manages to be every bit as carefully crafted, literate, and genuinely thrilling as anything the master himself ever made, Road Games is a treat for any connoisseur of vintage film. It's based around an ingenious idea: what if Rear Window took place on a desolate stretch of Australian highway, with a bored, nosy truck driver replacing Jimmy Stewart's laid-up photographer lead? It's a wonderful vehicle (if you'll excuse me) for a colorful cast of characters that our hero, Patrick Quid, will run into time and time again over the course of his journey. Not unlike an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, every piece of the narrative ends up coming back in some way later on, and sometimes it just seems that fate has it out for our hapless lead. It's all tightly wound, something one should expect of anything written by the great Everett De Roche, whose film Long Weekend I've just recently watched and found myself simalary head over heels for, and like that film, the star here is the masterful storytelling. 

For starters, our hero is immediately likable. Chatty, sophisticated (like an aristocrat, he says of himself and his dog, Bozwell) and full of wild imagination, he despises being called simply 'a truck driver' as that's only half the story. He's also a literate man, despite a lack of formal education, and don't forget a hobbyist musician! Endearing is the best way to describe him, and that doesn't change even during his lowest moments, like when he moronically tips the killer off to his knowledge of the latter's crime by shouting over the phone in a near-silent bar, when he should suspect that the killer might be in attendance. Makes for a damn funny scene though. Soon after, Bozwell is assaulted while left alone in the truck, and things become personal for Quid, and for the audience as well. I mean, who among us can abide someone attacking a poor, innocent, defenseless doggo? 

It's a good thing it's so easy to root for him, as Quid's insistence on cracking the case and tipping off the police ends up getting him into a lot of trouble as the film goes on, leading to a frame-up that relies on circumstance, bad luck, and the killer's diabolical machinations to implicate Quid as the one kidnapping, killing, and then dumping young girls across the outback. The film could have taken itself far more seriously and sucked all the fun out of its dark thriller plot, but decides to instead occasionally crack a smile and is all the better for it. It makes scenes where things do get deathly serious feel harrowing, like some sort of invasion. Yes, it's intense, taut, and often distressing, but also full of life and color. 

Fans of pulpy thrillers will find no shortage of satisfying scenes and sequences spread quite evenly throughout the picture. There's the chilling opening murder, which feels a little giallo-esque, despite no blood or even graphic violence, merely the suggestion of such. There's that great Mad Max-style truck chase that ends with the kind of tasty vehicular destruction that you'd expect from such a scene. Maybe it's just an Australian thing. Similarly, there's the climax of the film; an inspired setpiece that involves squeezing an eighteen-wheeler truck into places it was never meant to go. Oh, and how about that ending? This film keeps you on the edge of your seat from the first frame to the very last and I couldn't be happier. What else can one expect from any good thriller?

Consideration is also evident in the narrative sense of time and place, bolstered by little bits of context sprinkled throughout the script and the way our cast of motorists, hitchhikers, and nomadic weirdos keep bumping into one another again and again. It feels like a lot of extra work that wasn't at all necessary to make back its budget, but elevates what could have been a bland De Palma-style riff on Rear Window into something that feels like art. Those expecting some grand last-minute twist to make you re-evaluate everything you've seen will likely be disappointed, as they would be with the Hitchcock original as well, but I for one am glad that this film didn't contradict its great character work by suddenly declaring that Quid was the killer all along or some such nonsense. Also, those expecting lots of graphic violence and/or gruesome set pieces will likely be disappointed, although there are a few moments towards the end that are pretty shocking, especially for something that carries a PG rating from the MPAA.

Performances are great all over, with Stacy Keach being the clear standout. Well, at least until Jamie Lee Curtis comes into the picture, but I digress. Keach really inhabits the character and brings him to life with charm and levity that I really appreciated in such a dark story. Curtis is no slouch either, and she and her co-star have incredible chemistry whenever they're onscreen together. She's just in so little of the film which ultimately means she leaves little in the way of an impression on the viewer. 

Behind the camera, things are sturdy and dependable, with lots of handsome imagery straight from the Australian outback and practical stunts and effects when the script calls for such. My favorite piece of the presentation, however, is the score, which initially comes off as old-school, because of its musicality and reliance on melody and orchestral instrumentation, but which completely won me over before the end. It's a lavish score that knows when to carry a tune and when to get spooky and atonal. 

Long story short, Road Games is a wonderful film, intelligent and mannered, but no less exciting for it. It far surpasses other similar riffs of the work of Hitchcock, and it, like Long Weekend, leaves me hungry for more from its writer/director creative team.