Road Games (1981) Roadgames (original title)

Director:

Richard Franklin

Writers:

Everett De Roche (screenplay)
Everett De Roche (original story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

26 June 1981 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The truck driver plays games... The hitchhiker plays games. And the killer is playing the deadliest game of all!

Plot:

A truck driver plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer who uses a young female hitchhiker as bait to lure victims on a desolate Australian highway.

Plot Keywords:

Hitchhiker | Serial Killer | Australia | Road | Truck

Awards:

6 nominations

Cast

Stacy Keach	...	Patrick 'Pat' Quid
Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Pamela 'Hitch' Rushworth
Marion Edward	...	Madeleine 'Frita' Day
Grant Page	...	Smith or Jones
Thaddeus Smith	...	Policeman 'Abbott'
Steve Millichamp	...	Policeman 'Costello' (as Stephen Millichamp)
Alan Hopgood	...	Lester
John Murphy	...	Benny Balls
Bill Stacey	...	Captain Careful
Robert Thompson	...	Sneezy Rider
Ed Turley	...	Roadhouse Proprietor
Angelica La Bozzetta	...	Young Hitchhiker (as Angie La Bozzetta)
Colin Vancao	...	Fred Frugal
Paul Harris	...	Frugal Son
Rochelle Harris	...	Frugal Daughter
Tony Bishop	...	Honeymoon Man
Abbe Holmes	...	Honeymoon Woman
Carole-Ann Aylett	...	Cleaning Lady (as Carol Ann Aylett)
Killer	...	Boswell

Directed by
Richard Franklin

Writing credits
Everett De Roche		(screenplay)
Everett De Roche		(original story) and
Richard Franklin		(original story)

Produced by
Richard Franklin	....	producer
Bernard Schwartz	....	executive producer
Barbi Taylor	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Brian May

Cinematography by
Vincent Monton		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Edward McQueen-Mason

Production Design by
Jon Dowding

Art Direction by
Jon Dowding

Set Decoration by
Jill Eden

Costume Design by
Aphrodite Kondos

Makeup Department
Lois Hohenfels	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Barbara Gibbs	....	production manager
Greg Ricketson	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tom Burstall	....	assistant director
Robert Kewley	....	assistant director
James Parker	....	assistant director

Art Department
Ken Hazelwood	....	constructor
Nick Hepworth	....	properties
Geoff Richardson	....	constructor
Harry Zettel	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Lon Bender	....	sound editor (as Lon E. Bender)
Paul Clark	....	sound
Robert W. Glass Jr.	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Robert W. Glass Jnr.)
Louise Johnson	....	sound editor
Andrew London	....	supervising sound editor: wallaWorks
Ray Phillips	....	sound (as Raymond Phillips)
Robert Thirlwell	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Robert M. Thirlwell)
John Wilkinson	....	sound re-recording mixer (as John Keene Wilkinson)

Visual Effects by
Jack Endacott	....	process operator
Bill Hansard	....	process photography
Richard Wilmot	....	optical effects printer (uncredited)

Stunts
Grant Page	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Karel Akkerman	....	grip (as Karel Ackerman)
Daryl Binning	....	electrician (as Darryl Binnings)
David Brostoff	....	camera assistant
Phil Cross	....	camera assistant (as Phillip Cross)
Tony Holtham	....	electrician
Louis Irving	....	camera operator
Louis Irving	....	photographer: second unit
Eric Lomas	....	photographer: second unit
Graeme Mardell	....	grip (as Graham Mardell)
Jim Townley	....	still photographer
Greg Wallace	....	grip
Colin Williams	....	electrician
Suzy Wood	....	still photographer
Jamie Leckie	....	grip assistant (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Peter McBain	....	dailies projectionist

Music Department
Brian May	....	conductor
Ross Cockle	....	music score engineer (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Tim McMahon	....	transportation
Rob Rigon	....	transportation
Steve Wells	....	transportation

Other crew
Margaret Cardin	....	laboratory staff: Colorfilm
Bill Gooley	....	laboratory staff: Colorfilm
Heath Harris	....	technical advisor
Helen Liston	....	location manager
Anne McLeod	....	script supervisor
Warwick Ross	....	production assistant
Helen Watts	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• Essaness Pictures
• Quest

Distributors

• AVCO Embassy Pictures (1981) (USA) (theatrical)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (1982) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Magna-Filmi (1983) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Charter Entertainment (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Nordic Video (1989) (Finland) (VHS)
• TV3 (1991) (Finland) (TV)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Benelux (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
• Australian Video
• Globo Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Greater Union Organisation (GUO)
• New World-Mutual (Canada)

Other Companies

• Glen Glenn Sound Company  re-recording (as Glen Glenn Sound)
• Wallaworks  supervising sound editor (as wallaWorks)

Also Known As:

"Roadgames" - Australia (original title)

Runtime:

101 min | Sweden:93 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 (original rating) | Iceland:16 | West Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG | UK:AA

Filming Locations:

Diggers Rest, Victoria, Australia

Company:

Essaness Pictures

Trivia:

The American distributors wanted Richard Franklin to cut the 360 degree pan shot of Quid talking on the phone in the roadhouse. They felt the shot was too long and added nothing to the story. Franklin, however, refused to cut the shot.

Goofs:

Continuity: Pamela begins writing "TOMORROW'S BACON" on the door of the truck in close-up, the camera then cuts to a longer distance shot of her completing the word "bacon" but the way the letters are styled do not match the close-up.

Quotes:

Patrick 'Pat' Quid:I know you're looking for a little adventure.
Pamela 'Hitch' Rushworth:I could go to Disneyland for a little adventure. What I'm looking for is a little excitement.

Movie Connections:

References Psycho (1960)

Hitchock-esque White Line Fever.

Roadgames is a pretty good thriller about truck driver Quid (Stacey Keach) follows what he suspects to be a serial killer along the Southern Australia interstates. Having only the circumstantial clues and never actually witnessing any of the murders, Quid isn't sure whether this guy really is the serial killer that police reports on the radio indicate, or whether it is Quid's psychological games about guessing what people on the road could be like when he passes a noisy family in a station wagon and guesses the occupation of the driver. Quid is pushed nearly to the brink of insanity as he tries to distinguish between fact and fiction as he and the green van play cat and mouse all over the outback.

It's a really good thriller and better than say, The Hitcher, another movie involving a serial killer along deserted highways that torments a driver. But the difference is that Quid has limited interaction with his suspect, because the whole time you're left guessing whether the guy in the green van is really a killer at all, or whether it was just another one of Quid's games meant to entertain himself, but gone totally out of control. The movie has very Hitchcock-esque traits such as building Quid up from a normal man to one that starts to develop something almost like a split personality as he drives himself crazy trying to figure out the deal his adversary. Or the way that everyone in town seems to turn against Quid even though he is supposed to be the innocent person here. It's also good with some of that good Stacey Keach sarcasm and delivery. I think he fit the part of Quid quite nicely. Despite the fact that the story starts to lose momentum towards the end (but not the conclusion), it is nonetheless, a pretty good thriller.