User reviews

DEATH CAR ON THE FREEWAY is one of those atmospheric US TV movies that were made throughout the 1970s and seemed to fizzle out around 1985 or so, when all TV films became safe, sanitised and terminally dull. Still, that's not the case with this film, which is a great little exercise in suspense as it tells the story of a crazed van driver who enjoys killing women drivers in car accidents.

The film is low budget, sure, but it's a lot of fun and it contains all the right elements for a good thriller. The murderer is a spooky, Michael Myers-alike who we never really get to know or understand, which makes his actions all the creepier. The sound of a fiddle has never been so sinister as it is here.

The film was directed by Hal Needham, a noted stuntman, so needless to say the car chase scenes are exemplary, with some pyrotechnic effects that beat the hell out of modern-day CGI ones. The intriguing cast list incorporates George Hamilton, Peter Graves, and Frank Gorshin, and there's a neat cameo from Sid Haig too. Shelley Hack is a likable heroine, fighting sexism in the workplace while tracking down the maniac. No, there's nothing to dislike about this film whatsoever...

Who better than Hal Needham, notorious stunt driver and director of many good ol' boy car chase movies like "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Cannonball Run", could direct this modest but worthwhile TV-thriller with numerous crashes and exploding vehicles? The resemblance with Steven Spielberg's phenomenal "Duel" is unmistakable, but that doesn't necessarily makes this film a blatant rip-off. Both films center on a psychopath who, seemingly without much of a motive, uses his/her vehicle as a deadly murder weapon. In "Duel" it's a filthy old truck in the middle of nowhere, whereas in "Death Car on the Freeway" it's a Dodge van on the traffic-infested highways of California during rush hour (which is probably why he occasionally has to switch license plates and re-paint). William Wood's scenario also hints that the murderous van driver does have a motive, in fact. He exclusively targets attractive women alone in a car, so that must make him a misogynic and underdeveloped pig that can't stand that women grow stronger and more independent nowadays. So, symbolically, the person on his tail is a rather timid and initially insecure female journalist who just liberated herself from her self-centered husband and doesn't get taken seriously by her management, or the TV Company's management. The "freeway-incidents" are tense and spectacular, in spite of the obvious budget restrictions, which is a good thing because the rest of the film is overly talkative and somewhat dull. The crashing cars burst into flames illogically fast, if you ask me, but that only makes it more exciting. Although it's "just" a TV-movie, "Death Car on the Freeway" stars a fairly impressive number of familiar names, like Peter Graves, George Hamilton and Robert F. Lyons. Horror and cult fanatics should particularly keep an eye open for a brief appearance by Sid Haig.

I was always impressed by this film's use of action and suspense. We see the killer's actions, but we don't know why he's going after these Women.

We feel the helplessness of the victim's and the powerlessness of the police to do anything. This is not just another car chase/crash movie. There's Hitchcock like suspense and action that helps the story line, not muddle it into an idiot film like most car chase flicks.

I sure miss this movie and I wish there were plans to put it on video soon. A good film like this needs to be viewed often because it also has a sobering socio-political message to it.

It is also a pity that such outstanding film making has passed away. Too many TV and theatrical film makers are making boring hyper violent films that make no sense and give us car chases and crashes that have no real visual impact other than mindless destruction and sheer stupidity.

This film essentially begins with a young woman by the name of "Becky Lyons" (Morgan Brittany) driving on one of the busy freeways in Los Angeles when she encounters another driver who won't let her get into the next lane. Frustrated that she has just missed her exit, she then tries to speed up in order to take the next offramp but, once again, that same driver prevents her from doing so. To make matters even worse, the harder she tries to distance herself from him, the more reckless he becomes--which eventually results in her having an accident that nearly kills her. Naturally, being the large city that it is, it isn't long before television reporters on the scene to question her about what happened with one particular journalist known simply as "Jan" (Shelley Hack) becoming convinced that there is more to this story than meets the eye. At first, her concerns are dismissed by a local detective named "Lieutenant Haller" (Peter Graves) who considers any possibility of it being a deliberate homicide attempt as absurd. Things change, however, when several more women experience the exact same thing--and as they inevitably turn fatal, it soon becomes clear that a serial killer is using the busy streets of Los Angeles as his hunting ground. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film started off reasonably well but suffered somewhat when the scenes shifted from mystery to action. I say this because some of these action scenes were a bit over-the-top and not that realistic. Even so, this wasn't a bad made-for-television movie and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

The television film Duel directed by a young Steven Spielberg had a driver menaced by an unseen truck driver. The film got a cinema release in some places. Obviously inspired by Duel is the 1979 Television movie Death Car on the Freeway where an unseen driver known as the Freeway Fiddler (because he puts on bluegrass music) is terrorising women drivers and pushing them off the freeway. It is surprising that no other driver notices the maniac loose on the road when he is bashing into other cars and being a danger to everyone!

The police (represented by Peter Graves) are reluctant to take these incidents seriously and at one point blame the women for being bad drivers for getting into these scrapes. At least it is a social commentary regarding sexism and the police force!

Shelley Hack is the reporter who makes the story public and plots to catch him even taking special hazardous driving lessons in case the Fiddler pursues her.

The director is Hal Needham, a former stuntman and a director associated with Burt Reynolds and films such as the Cannonball movies. There are some good car stunts from such an esteemed stunt director but it also suffers from rather dull made for 1970s television movie narrative.

George Hamilton is wasted as Hack's ex beau and star news reporter. The film loses focus when it dwells on relationship issues and when it introduces some kind of Hells Angels type of group who may know the identity of the Freeway Fiddler.

An interesting premise made bland and even silly when it should had been grittier.

Taught little tele-movie featuring a maniacal van driver bearing down on lone female motorists, causing mayhem, death and destruction. It's a serial killer movie with a twist; the van is the modus operandi and the signature is a frenetic bluegrass tune blaring from inside, earning the killer 'The Fiddler' nickname. Novice TV anchorwoman (Hack), desperate to emerge from beneath the shadow of her former husband (Hamilton), investigates the road rage attacks for the network news service, becoming not only an expert, but part of the story itself, which attracts attention from seedy individuals, who may be linked to the killer.

Director and veteran stunt co-ordinator Hal Needham has crafted a tense mystery thriller on a TV budget, incorporating a raft of well-executed stunts, and some big names in the cast. The 'tanned one' plays his usual character (i.e. George Hamilton) and while Hack is a bit like her surname, there's good support from veterans Rush, Gorshin, Graves, Vigoda and co in the wings. Even pretty Morgan Brittany is realistic as an over-zealous, aspiring actress, keen to emphasise her near-fatal encounter with 'The Fiddler'.

There seems to have been an attempt to convey the message of journalistic objectivity, and professional integrity in media, but neither Hack nor Hamilton are credible enough to carry that pretext. Their cheesy white dentures and auto-cue reading skills enough to convince you they're news mannequins, but nothing more. Despite this, Needham plays his aces at the right times, employing his experienced cast for scene fillers, and handing the rest of the movie over to the outstanding stuntwork to deliver the action sequences, which are superior to those employed in many feature films. The sense of hysteria that he builds in the narrative is well weighted for a fitting climax, and the audience isn't left disappointed. Worth a look.

After rewatching the exceptional TV-movie, Duel, recently, I started searching for other, similar flicks in the "horror on the highway" genre, and stumbled onto this quite odd, obscure (and quite bleached- out) flick about a van driver and targeting single women on the LA motorways. The print that I saw was quite bleached out, making some scenes almost unwatchable. The film also had a decidedly brown/ grey pallet, which coupled with the print's washed out, faint look, made it look like a sepia-toned black-and-white movie.

Part of the reason Duel was so effective was its setting on a lonely desert road over the course of a single day. With this film's action transplanted to busy LA motorways, it loses the feeling of isolation, and taking place over several days robs it of the urgency and immediacy Duel also had. The unseen driver targeting numerous people instead of just one, as Duel did, makes it difficult to get attached to any of the characters, or care if they survive.

The idea of the van driver changing the look of his van to confuse the people (after a description is broadcast on television) was a novel twist the first time, but lost its effectiveness when it was done repeatedly.

There were some decent enough car crashes and (curious) explosions, but they are widely separated, and what lies between is a lot of women's lib and feminist ramblings shoved down the audiences' collective throat, and the whole ordeal is further negated by the fact that we know the killer's identity will remain a secret, burned to a crisp in some fiery climactic explosion, and, sure enough.....

You really have to suspend your disbelief. Its like a world where California Highway Patrol doesn't exist and no one can read a license plate. But if you like an over the top potboiler with 70s TV all star cast it's worth the watch

A woman is badly shaken when she is run off the freeway and nearly killed by a crazy van-driver.

Her story is not taken too seriously by TV or the police - until another woman is killed in similar circumstances, also by a dark van.

The police seem to have no leads, so a TV reporter starts investigating the similarities between the cases.

As the deaths mount, she takes hazard-driving lessons. When she finally locates the driver's whereabouts, he's missing, but chases her onto the freeway.

This movie has some loud music. It's no a horrible movie, but it's directed like a TV movie which takes something away from the film. The print I saw was so bleached out the color was nearly gone and sometimes it seemed like I was watching a b&W movie.

The verdict: 6.

Look at that title, that plot and that cast, and what do you get? Definitely a 70's TV-movie. And it's really not a bad one at that. For car fans there's a lot of cool old cars to look at and some decent crashes. It definitely borrows from "Duel" (one of the immensely overrated Spielberg's only decent films) but manages to come up with a fresh take on it. The best thing about this movie is that the action is for real, back in the days when movie-making was real blood and sweat, instead of the computer crap we see today. When these cars crash, you can see where if something went wrong, there would have been more trouble on the set. But that's real movie making, not drawing cartoons on a computer.

This movie definitely has the odd tricks and turns a lot of tv-movies did from the day, and still sometimes do. But given the era and the plot, that only adds to the fun. Definitely a good choice if you can find this one.

Nice thriller in the beginning, which as a subplot seems to find it necessary to move in a feminist direction as the story progresses.

This not only applies to the subplot with her ex who constantly hangs around her and seems to have to constantly remind her that he made her career, but also the maniac who, according to her, at one point seems to be a model for men in general and their male problem behavior because they feel threatened by independent women.

Here you can actually see how the feminist influence on films slowly started to become commonplace.

Furthermore, the whole plot is of course quite unbelievable, many witnesses who could have remembered the license plate after the first time, but otherwise the film is entertaining to see and you should not take it seriously.

If you remember the 1971 thriller "Duel", this movie is right up the alley. However, it like a cross between "Duel" and "Psycho", only mobile. A bold news reporter(Shelly Hack, Tiffany Wells on "Charlie's Angels) makes a report about highway killer who uses his van to run off women drivers. Named The Highway Fiddler, known for playing bluegrass music in his van, he targeted those who are driving alone on the highways. There were some survivors on the lunatic. And one received a ticket from the highway patrol. She did get upset about it. Better than dead I would say. It's got an all-star cast: Peter Graves of "Mission: Impossible" fame, Dinah Shore, Abe Vigoda of "Barney Miller" and his short-lived spinoff "Fish", George Hamilton who did "Love at First Bite" at the same time. And countless others as well. I enjoyed it very well. It almost look like an episode of "CHiPs". I think it's a very good TV movie. 3 out of 5 stars

With Hal Needham behind the camera and Shelley Hack - one of the last of "Charlie's Angels" - in the main role, you've probably guessed that "Death Car on the Freeway" won't be of Spielberg standards. It isn't, but I remember getting some low-brow entertainment out of this TV movie way back when.

Women drivers are being run off the road and killed by a strange man who a TV reporter (S. Hack) dubs the "Freeway Fiddler" because he always plays fiddle music before going into action; she can't finger the misogynist van driver (and indeed we never see the driver, but the resemblance between this and "Duel" pretty much ends there) but she plots to catch him before he can continue his reign of terror. The result: It's (wo)man vs. machine in a race to the death.

Writer William Wood and director Needham don't deliver a great feminist tract, nor is this an actors' showcase; but they do keep the automotive action coming, and it's not a message TV movie by any means. It's basically a pulp novel on the screen, and it's not bad - something that certainly can't be said for some of the director's bigscreen movies ("Megaforce," anyone)?

The premise of DEATH CAR ON THE FREEWAY is relatively simple: A maniac in a van -not a car- known as "The Fiddler" goes berserk on the titular roadway, victimizing female motorists. Reporter Jan Clausen (Shelley Hack) starts to make connections between the incidents, while the feckless police (represented by Peter Graves) dismiss her concerns and ignore obvious clues.

All is fun and games until someone gets killed.

This is an absurd, though quite entertaining made-for-TV horror-thriller that gets right down to business! Ms. Hack makes her telefilm debut as the sleuthing journalist. Her blaming of the auto industry, advertisers, Hollywood, and fragile masculinity for the carnage is laughable, but fits the narrative well.

George Hamilton plays Jan's smarmy, overbearing soon-to-be ex-husband. Watch for Frank Gorshin and Barbara Rush as her direct supervisors at the newsroom. Dinah Shore is one of the luckier victims. Even Abe Vigoda gets in on the act as a hospital patient. Cult movie mega-icon, Sid Haig plays the rather scary Maurie.

Plus, Harriet Nelson makes a quick cameo appearance.

EXTRA CREDIT FOR: Anyone who can discern exactly what sort of music "The Fidler" plays in his van! It sounds like someone playing a violin with a harmonica for a bow, while being sucked into a wind tunnel!...