Death Car on the Freeway (1979)

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.

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...

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.

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.