X
- 1981
- PG
- AVCO Embassy Pictures
- 1 h 41 m
- 1981
- PG
- AVCO Embassy Pictures
- 1 h 41 m
Summary A truck driver (Stacy Keach) plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer on a desolate Australian highway.
Directed By: Richard Franklin
Written By: Everett De Roche, Richard Franklin
- 1981
- PG
- AVCO Embassy Pictures
- 1 h 41 m
- 1981
- PG
- AVCO Embassy Pictures
- 1 h 41 m
Road Games
71
6.4
Where to Watch
Summary A truck driver (Stacy Keach) plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer on a desolate Australian highway.
Directed By: Richard Franklin
Written By: Everett De Roche, Richard Franklin
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 6 Critic Reviews
71
67% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
33% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 6 Critic Reviews
71
67% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
33% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
One terrific moment in which Pat sees what he believes are the killer's shoes underneath a toilet stall door and berates him while Pamela climbs into the green van outside is reminiscent of another scene that arrived years later and was also labelled "Hitchcockian" – the footsteps down the hallway confrontation in the Coen brothers' No Country For Old Men.
Stacy Keach engages in highway warfare in Road Games, an Australian thriller that drums up suspense from its assured plotting and direction, and generates humor from its star’s charismatic lead performance...Taut all the way through to its well-staged finale, it’s a superior genre import—and one that also features, in Quid’s silent travel partner Boswell, the finest big-screen performance ever by a dingo.
It's precisely its pretensions which make this a surprisingly agreeable cross of angst-ridden '70s road movie with Hitchcockian thriller.
Road Games is an above-average suspenser concerning an offbeat truck driver who winds up stalking a murderer. Stacy Keach's characterization of the amusing, poetry-spouting man is particularly endearing but the film builds all too effectively to a rather disappointing climax.
Jamie Lee Curtis plays the jiggly hitchhiker he picks up, which is one reason he calls her Hitch. Another reason, according to a pretentious statement by the director, Richard Franklin, is to pay tribute to Alfred Hitchcock, who should be twirling.
Suspenseful throughout most of its running time and exceedingly well shot, ROAD GAMES collapses at the end. The confrontation between Keach and the killer is a let-down. Although director Franklin has definitely studied his Hitchcock (he would go on to direct PSYCHO II), his film lacks the psychological depth of the master's work. Keach, however, is very engaging as the eccentric hero.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 5 User Ratings
6.4
40% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
60% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 5 User Ratings
6.4
40% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
60% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Essaness Pictures,
The Australian Film Commission,
Film Victoria,
West Australian Film Council,
Greater Union Organisation (GUO),
Quest Productions
Release Date Nov 19, 1981
Duration 1 h 41 m
Rating PG
Tagline The truck driver plays games... The hitchhiker plays games. And the killer is playing the deadliest game of all!
Awards
Australian Film Institute
• 4 Nominations
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 2 Nominations
