Death Car on the Freeway (1979 TV Movie)
8/10
Take The Backroads Instead
9 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Less than five road movies managed to get it right by not showing the killer behind the wheel in their films, and this is one of them.

Ken Wahl's "The Gladiator" is fine, but why reveal the punk at the end?

So, cutting off the killer in this is justification for reason?

That's all it took to result in road rage, huh? According to proper etiquette, this movie calls it highway rudeness.

No, don't show the killer's hands; he reminds me too much of Red Barr or Michael Myers in "Halloween 5-ply." The first chick to cut off our delicate and sensitive killer is an Ellie Grimbridge lookalike.

Detecting that she's connected to the Silver Shamrock factory, the killer pulls a little killer robot action of his own and dons some leather gloves to cover his tracks.

What's the point of this? It's the same as the killer robot from "Season of the Witch," who put gloves on then blew himself up afterward. Were they worried they'd leave fingerprints? It's his own steering wheel, so I'm at a loss as to why the leather gloves are used.

The killer's go-to murder soundtrack comes in the form of an Atari cartridge, and it plays what sounds like a scrambled version of KC and the Sunshine Band meets Hawaii Five-O.

Is this the same actress from that movie I watched two nights ago? Jane resembles Lauren Hutton, and she's playing a TV editor again.

Busted! I just got his license plate, if that helps. It's 247 PCE, navy blue Dodge, like an A-Team vehicle. And I know who the killer is already; it's Jane's co-newsreader, the one who resembles Ted Bundy.

Sarah Connor lines herself up to be Bundy's next victim, as she just honked him for no reason, which sets him off in another act of highway rudeness.

Don't you just love these old 70s and 80s TV theme-style music scores? Remington Steele, Dallas, and Falcon Crest.

Whoever was behind those scores even pitched in for some music in "The Karate Kid." I love that music.

However, I don't like Bundy's go-to music as a choice for murder motivation.

The death car killer is wild in claiming his first victim, who survives somehow in the hospital for a brief period; he's out of control and leaping mounds like a hurdle horse.

Sarah Connor survives the initial assumption but looks like an angel of death in the hospital. The angel of death comes and claims her after she spills the beans on her attacker.

How did she survive that explosion?

Connor describes his Atari cartridge music as country and western meets a fiddler's maniacal string from hell. And I here I was thinking it was disco pop.

I must say that the Atari cartridge music is silly in the movie. It's not menacing. It's some light treble crap that sounds like a percussion band inebriated.

The Night Stalker's AC-DC songs he used when driving were evil and had malicious undertones.

Connor succumbs to her injuries but has provided a valuable tidbit about the wacky music link, which may trigger the TV viewers memories.

They've got to pin something more solid on Bundy, though.

This is the fifth time I've seen this movie, so I already know how he plummets to his death in flames at the end, and his identity is never revealed.

The navy-blue A-Team Dodge, driven by Bundy, is like Jaws on the road. He's a bull shark with a tiger shark's persistence.

The media label him "The Highway Fiddler," which makes it sound like he's Peter Pan wearing nylon tights.

Striking fear into the public after nine murders, single women start taking self-defense car classes, and I can't wait to see the All Valley Tournament contest at the end.

Self-defense car classes? Really? Okay, if you say so, movie.

Taking Jane's news reports personal, Peter Pan switches it up and swaps plates and car colors, then singles Jane out and dedicates his time to stalking her.

In between all the highway rudeness activity, the movie tells of Jane's battle with her job as a news anchor and the chauvinistic male environment that comes with it. It really hurts when that other TV station steals her exclusive scoop and blabs it out first. And her ex is the biggest annoyance in this movie. He was so sure of himself with that snug demeanor.

Jane's ex, the love interest, looks like Maxwell Smart at times and could pass as her father anyway.

The tenth victim here looks like Marion Chambers from "Halloween." Is it her?

Chambers gets hitched to the death car and is towed along with six cop cars trailing behind. She hits the brakes hard, which has no effect. Pull the hand brake, lady. Jane does it at the end, and it's effective. Chambers is blown sky high and reaches the limits of the stratosphere.

Aren't there any other routes other than the freeway?

In the end, Jane is tipped off about Peter Pan's identity, including his fetish for wearing brown nylon tights, and the scene where she's surrounded by all those bikers intimidating her is intense. I wouldn't have gone there.

She's pointed in the right direction by a guy who aspires to be Doctor Loomis, wearing a fried egg on his face, and she exposes Peter Pan's lair.

I love the mellow music at the end; it's almost like something out of "Dirty Harry" as well.

It's good to watch these old movies that entertain and aren't agenda-driven with politically correct inclusion.

We'll never get these feel-good movies back again. It's a shame.

So, to all you WGAs currently protesting your demands about unfairness and being underpaid for substandard work, I've got an idea. Take heed to my suggestion, as I'm only going to say it once. (I preached it all the time when I used to make videos on YouTube once, but nobody listened back then.) Why don't you all step down and reinstate the people who were behind these old 70's and 80's classics and let them bring sensible entertainment back?

Because most entertainment in the past ten years has been revolting and not worth half a penny.

And you guys are partially responsible for that failure.
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