Death Car on the Freeway (1979)

The Worst Film Ever

Fresh and Exciting

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

When it comes to the biggest TV movies of all time, you have to include Steven Spielberg's Duel on the list. A battle between Dennis Weaver and an 18 wheeler for a taunt 74 minutes that stayed in viewer's minds for way longer.That leads us to this film, which originally aired on CBS on September 25, 1979.Janette Clausen (Shelley Hack, TV's Charlies Angels, plus Troll and The Stepfather) is a crusading reporter who has moved up from writing feature stories to being on the air herself. She sinks her teeth into a story about a van driver who she feels has been targeting and killing only female motorists, taking on not only the male establishment but even Detroit auto manufacturers and advertising itself! If you're a 1970's TV star buff like myself, you'll have a field day with this film. You've got Peter Graves (Mission: Impossible) as Lieutenant Haller, the main cop on the case. There's George Hamilton as Jan's ex-husband who keeps trying to control her. And hey look - that's Dinah Shore as a tennis pro who may have faced off with the villain of this piece, the Freeway Fiddler, before!As Billy Mays used to say before he died from doing too much blow, "But wait, there's more!"The Riddler, Frank Gorshin, is here! Is that Ozzy's wife, Harriet Nelson? Why yes, it is! Do I spy Barbara Rush from It Came from Outer Space and Peyton Place? I do! Abe Vigoda! You're here too! I feel like I'm on Romper Room using my Magic Mirror to see all my friends!Tara Buckman! You got your throat slashed in Silent Night, Deadly Night and here you are in this TV movie! Even better, you drove the Lamborghini with Adrienne Barbeau in Cannonball Run and even appeared in Never Too Young to Die!Morgan Brittany! Sure, you were in Dallas, but you also started your career in Gypsy but found the time to be in movies I care way more about, like being the Virgin Mary in Sunn Pictures' In Search of Historic Jesus and the TV movie The Initiation of Sarah!Nancy Stephens! We love you! She's probably best known as Nurse Marion Chambers from the Halloween series of films. But did you know she's married to Halloween 2 director Rick Rosenthal? Now you do!Is that Hal Needham as the driving instructor? It is! Hal formed Stunts Unlimited, which did all the stuntwork for Burt Reynolds' biggest films, but he also directed Megaforce! And guess what? He also directed this movie and did a ton of the stunts, too.Death Car on the Freeway sets up a slasher who kills targeted women with his evil black van, particularly strong women who excel beyond men. And while he does it, he plays fiddle music! We never see him or learn more about him than that, but if this reminds you a bit of Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino's part of Grindhouse, you're not alone.The best part - for me - was when Jan goes to meet a gang of street racers and Sid Haig shows up! I ran around the house screaming, "SID HAIG!" so many times that Becca had to tell me to settle down and covered me with a blanket until I calmed myself.When Jan ends a report by saying, "This is Janette Claussen for KXLA from the scene of the Freeway Fiddler's latest attack, and not at all anxious to leave the scene, horrible as it is. Because when I do, I'm going to be like thousands of other women, in a car on Los Angeles' 491 miles of freeway... all alone." you'll be riveted, wondering when the killer will strike next. Seriously, maybe it's because I've spent the majority of a Sunday just allowing YouTube to randomly reward me with TV movies while I rest up and enjoy some magical napping, but I love this movie.

Don't get me wrong, I like the film 'Duel' but after a while it's hard to keep watching the road pass by. 'Death Car on the Freeway' gives the viewer a break from being on the road the entire film. Don't underestimate the breaks because behind your back the film is building in suspense and action.The characters in this are better than 'Duel' as well. Not just the one annoying guy behind the wheel and the killer but a whole array of well developed characters.The action is better. Sorry Speilburg your camera tricks are nothing compared to the real deal here.The sparse character insight to who the killer is makes you want to know who he is even more. With 'Duel' all you get is the car. Boring! The end is the best because of many reasons. The actions sequences are unrivaled as mentioned before and the fact that the mysterious black van explodes fits and works well. It's strangely satisfying plus it always catches you off guard considering how close the reporter came to catching him. The best part is that you never really get to see the killer. Only his hands when he puts on his black gloves to drive deadly. Very gialloesque.This is probably my second favorite movie of all time. I hope whomever has the rights to it puts it out on DVD.Last Thought: You might think I was really hard on 'Duel' but I merely gave it a square shake. It's still a good movie but next to this film...it's run off the road.

Or so the killer in Death Car On The Freeway Was Called.I have a soft spot for good car chase movies and this one was as good as it gets. Directed by Hal Needham (ex stuntman who brought us Smokey And The Bandit and all of Burt Reynolds subsequent smash em up movies) this movie is dated in many ways.First of all, the movie has some definite you go girl I am female hear me roar undertones. The movie came out in 1979 and the feminist movement was in full swing. There isn't anything wrong with it, but because it is so obvious it dates the movie.Secondly, if you have ever seen an episode of CHiP's you should have an idea of what the stunts in this movie look like. Spectacular, if you ask me. The stunts are real (not CGI) performed by real stunt men, risking their lives not over paid actors sitting in front of a blue screen.Okay, so the acting is a little cheesy. The movie is over acted to say the least. Made for TV movies rarely satisfy on the same level as a big screen picture, but then again you don't have to pay for them. This one fires on all cylinders. But, perhaps that is because I have a taste for the tackiness that only the 70's could offer.The plot? A psycho in a van decides that women have over stepped their boundaries and begins stalking and killing them on the highways of California. Shelly Hack is a television news reporter willing to risk everything including her career and life following the story.We never see the killers face, just his hands and feet. When the movie ends we never learn who the killer is. Just who he could be. I think the movie does a good job of implying that it could be anyone. The movie also has a message that still holds true today. Automobile manufacturers advertise their products in a completely reckless fashion. In their commercials they show their cars being driven in a way that will either land you in court or in the hospital.This is one of my favorite movies of all time, probably because it reminds me of my childhood (I was 5 when it first aired). I would classify it as a guilty pleasure.

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)?