Death Car on the Freeway
Aereal images of lanes and lanes of highways with cars roaring by.Becky Lyons (Morgan Brittany) is an actress who is memorizing her lines while Robert "Bobby" Lessentein (Hank Brandt), a cute guy, is filling out the tank of her car. As she has forgotten to cash in a check, she puts very little petrol on his car, but it should be enough to get where she is going to be the first victim. Jan drives fast but well. However, a black van cuts her from her exit on purpose. The camera pans on the hairy hands of a guy who cleans his steering wheel, puts on some gloves and a casette on the cassette recorder and drives like a maniac after Jan, who is already getting ready to leave the freeway on the next exit. Suddenly, the black van appears again and pushes Jan's car away. Jan's car finishes dangling from one of the sides.Becky speaks to a reporter, Ace Durham (Alfie Wise), who presents the recording to the producers of his program. However, everybody seems to think that it is a publicity stunt, as she is in show business. Jan phones Pauline, who works at NTF, Channel Three, and gives her name first as Jan Claussen, but then she changes it to Jan Jeffries. Jan is apparently getting divorced from Ray Jeffries (George Hamilton), a big shot at TV who is having shoes made to measure.Jan sees a recording of Ray with a lady who says that cars have given women freedom. She is a kind of posh lady,and when Jan goes to speak with her, she is absolutely convinced that the man wanted to kill her for no reason.The lady had surgery twice because of the attempt on her life.Jan and Ace speak to Lieutenant Haller (Peter Graves) on their studio before going on air. They think that theere is coincidence enough to investigate, but Haller says that they are imagining things, as a case like that would be good for Jan's career.At a hospital bedroom,a nurse called Jane Guston (Tara Buckman) is telling bed-ridden Mr. Frisch (Abe Vigoda). that she is gong to meet her husband at the airport in forty five minutes to celebrate their anniversary. The nurse drives her red car onto the Ventura Freeway. As she is getting late, she passes the black van quite rudely. That sets the man off, who puts on the cassette again and pushes Jane's car several times. Another car who gets caught in the fracas pushes the black van out of the freeway, but it comes back even more savagely for revenge. Finally, it pushes Jane's car across the lanes so that another car crashes onto Jane's and her car is set on fire. The black van goes down a slope and joins the heavy traffic of another freeway.Jan visits Jane on hospital. Jane's husband (Buddy H. Farmer) tries to make her more positive, but Jane knows that with 60% of her body burnt she has no chance of getting alive. She mentions hearing some kind of music - country music with a weird fiddle thing going on.Jan immediately phones Lynn Bernheimer (Dinah Shore) to ask her if she knows what it could be, but she is meeting important people from San Diego and doesn't take her seriously.There is a call for Doctor Glenn de Grant (Jerry Jensen). On the background, this doctor announced to the pilot that his wife has passed away. He is terribly distraught. Jan leaves her telephone on a recorded message at Becky's answering machine, 5559807.Ray drives Jan home. He advises her to be more aggressive. Becky had not heard the music. Jan wants to prove that she can succeed on her own. He proposes that they have a drink,but she complains that he never listens to her. Ray is his usual jackass in spite of saying that he is seeing a therapist. Jan cuts the conversation and says that wants to go home. At 6431, she rushes to pick up the phone. It is Lynn, the posh woman from the tennis club, saying that she heard some kind of music. Jan shouts it out to Ray,who was already leaving. He pretends to be happy about Jan's progress.Barry Hill (Robert F. Lyons), is going to make a special with Jan live to tell women not to drive on their own on the freeway. Ace announces that on Ray's channel they have given that news first. Jan is distraught, as it was her story. Ray apologises with many words about that, saying it was not his fault. Jan just hangs up.The black van driver attacks again. At least four more women are dead.This goes on the news. The driver gets rid of the California number 247PCE and chooses another one. Also, he paints hisvan in another car.Another murder. Now, everybody calls the driver "the fiddler". Jan puts pressure on Haller.Jan interviews Dr Rita Glass (Gloria Stroock), who gives a psychological profile.The fiddler is a repressed personality unsure of his masculinity who has been domineered by his mother. He is a man looking to be killed because he has chosen a dangerous way of killing these attractive women. Mr. Blanchard (Hal Needham) has contacted Jan to show her what his school is about. Jan goes to Mr. Blanchard's Defensive Driving school. Blanchard accepts Jan as a student. At KXLA, she speaks about the fiddler again.One rainy day, the black van driver is following Jan, only that now the van is white. Jan has taken her first lesson, next time it will be defensive evasion.Mrs Anthony has a call from Mrs Risen. Her son Teddy has a temperature so she has to go and pick him up. She runs to her blue car and gets into the freeway on her own. A white van won't let her pass, so she honks and honks. Now there are two white vans, and the murderer driver sets the music on. Suddenly, the white van stops and the blue van crashes onto it. Now, the blue car has got caught by the white van with a trailer hookattachedat theback. A police car sees this weird thing and runs after them. Mrs Anthony tries to stop to a halt without avail. The white van leaves the freeway in a crash turn, all the time pushing Mrs Anthony's car around. He releases Mrs Anthony 's car in the precise moment that the police car crashes onto her.Haller blames women's terrible driving for calling the fiddler's attention.Jan returns home on her own. She suspects something. She hears something while she is chilling out on her own.Somebody knocks on the door. Somebody says it is "flowers by telegram". It's moronic Ray, who laughs the scare off. He congratulates Jan on her success, as her investigation of the fiddler's case is drawing loads of attention to her. However, he gives good advice: Jan should be careful, as she is the prototype of woman the fiddler is looking for. He goes onto saying that she should have a different job, but Jan feels that he is just jealous, as she is becoming more famous than him. Jan feels that women are being attacked because they are resourcetful, intelligent and successful. Ray leaves, feeling rejected after Jan reminds him that sticking their necks out goes with the job.Rosemary (Barbara Rush) is going on vacation for two weeks at a spa in Arizona, and Jan is going to replace her. Lynn realises that it's her chance,so she tells her to pick it up. Jan hesitates, and asks for Rosemary's advice: should she stay with her man or take her chance? Rosemary says that she will not be happy if she quits.Jan is being followed and attacked on a secondary road. Both the van and her car end up in a ditch. Luckily,it was Blanchard, training her.Jan's program is going to be cancelled, says Ralph Chandler (Frank Gorshin) as the car make does not want to advertise anymore. Haller also called to request that the channel sends another reporter. Ray recommends her to resign before the channel lets her go. With a black mark on her CV, she wont be able to find another job. Jan prefers to stick until the end. Ray offers to call Carl and take her up. Jan feels that Ray is scared that she makes it on her own. Ray denies it, but he believes that she can't succeed without him. Ray doesn't want her to leave upset after what he has said.Another car wreck.However, Jan says that there is no fiddler. Apparently, more men have died because of car accidents than in the two World Wars, as there is a million deaths per year on the roads. She says that it was mass hysteria and mass media invention about the fiddler. Ace and Rosemary look at her with satisfaction. She says that car makes should stop making commercials encouraging males to drive faster and aggressively.Ralph, Ace and Rosemary are sorry that Jan has been fired. Ray says that right now Jan is unemployable. He will pull some favours and give a job to Jan. Ran is obnoxious and a bully, and wants to take her home.A man phones Jan. It is probably the fiddler saying that she should come over to look around because of friend of his knows who the fillder is,but is not sure. Ray wants to take her home, but she refuses to go with him. Ray says that he has taken a huge risk for her, but Jan says that she can do whatever she wants, and goes to meet this man.She exits the freeway and goes to a shop with a big painted advertisement saying "Roy's Muffler Radiator". It is not a good area, and she feels weird and watched. She is scared of an aggressive dog, a gang of motorbikers, but keeps on walking.She enters a dirty place. There is some graffiti saying "Phantoms". A rat falls in a mousetrap. Several guys look at her menacingly.Bobby (Jack Collins) and Maurie (Sig Haid) are the ones who have called her. They have stolen cars, but they "don't want to kill nobody". They usually prepare cars for motor races. The gang are supposed to be a social club and call themselves the Roaches. They socialize, but other guys don't socialize, go to a party, have friends or like girls. But somebody like the fiddler would never join a club like that. That guy would sit outside the club and just sit there outside ,without speaking to anybody. Nobody liked the guy. He had a scar on the side of his face and would play country music all day long.Jan leaves. Everybody stares at her, but she is looking for Eddie (Roger Aaron Brown).She speaks to Eddie about the guy with the black van who used to play country music about a year ago. The guy has a scar on his face, almost a hidden eye, and is re-painting a car in blue. Jan suspects it is him.Eddie gives him the address of John Evans, 8921 Herald Street, La Crescenta, California without a word and leaves. But Jan decides to follow him. The bikers laugh at her, as she looks very scared.Jan goes to that address.She speaks to Helen Sheel (Harriet Nelson), a blind lady. She says that John moved two days ago, but maybe he will go onto living on his van again. Mrs Sheel gives the key of the crappy apartment / shack where John used to live. Jan enters and sees photos of accidents, a collage of photographs of accidents everywhere. Mrs Sheel says that John may come back later. Jan calls the police.Haller congratulates Jan and says thank you. They are convinced now that she was right.Jan leaves on her own, and the fiddler is following her. Jan goes onto the freeway and the fiddler repeats her ritual: the music, the cleaning of the steering wheel, the gloves. Now it is a van in dark blue with flames graffited on. Jan realises that the van is very close and accelerates.At first, the thinks it was a false alarm, as the van exits. She relaxes but the fiddler surprises her driving like crazy. she tries Blanchard's manouvers. She takes an exit of a road still on construction. The van is pushing her. Jan moves away, but the van crashes onto the announcement of "End of freeway" and explodes in a million pieces.Jan stops to see the van burn.Credits.Nancy Stephens ... ChristineJim NegeleHank BrandtMarguerite DeLain
murder