Death Car on the Freeway

1979 "He Kills With a Van. Beautiful Women Are His Victims. Until One Meets Him Head On!"
5.4| 1h31m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 24 September 1979 Released
Producted By: The Shpetner Company
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

A determined TV reporter is out to find a maniac who is methodically attacking lone women drivers on the Los Angeles Freeway by pushing them off the road with his powerful van.

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The Shpetner Company

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Reviews

Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Beanbioca As Good As It Gets
Brendon Jones 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.
Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Prismark10 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.
climbingivy Death Car On The Freeway is one of the worst and cheesiest 1970s movie ever made.I give it about the same rating as movies like Rollerboogie and Car Wash.The movie comes from a time period of a lot of made for TV movies that started with ABC's movie of the week back in the early 70s.There are a lot of made for TV movies that are excellent like Seven In Darkness,Dr.Cook's Garden and Shadow On The Land.Death Car On The Freeway has one of my favorite actors Peter Graves.This movie was far beneath him but I guess it paid the bills.Shelly Hack looks good but is not a very good actress.I recommend this movie for lovers of cheesy 70s movies with a disco soundtrack!I have this movie.
eagleye_25 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.
Titan_52001 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.