Ghost Town (1988)

 

Road Games

    This movie does not belong in this month. It’s like putting ‘Rear Window’ in a marathon with ‘Pscyho’ when it’s not even Alfred Hitchcock month. It may have been marketed as such and the poster is certainly misleading but this is not a slasher film in any way, it’s a straight suspense thriller.

Like two things in this poster are accurate.

    Speaking of ‘Rear Window’ that was apparently the inspiration for this screenplay and when you watch it knowing that it really shows. Director Richard Franklin apparently gave screenwriter Everett De Roche a copy of ‘Rear Window’ while they were working on the film ‘Patrick’ in 1978. This inspired De Roche to take the basic premise of that movie, transport it to Australia, and change the character from a house-bound journalist to a long-haul truck driver who keeps himself amused by observing the other motorists on Australia’s long, straight highways. Richard Franklin was a well-respected director principally noted as the direct of ‘Pscyho II,’ a movie that is far better than it has any right to be, and De Roche wrote prolifically for Australian film and television. I’m not nearly as familiar with Australian cinema as I need to be, there’s way more to it than ‘Mad Max.’

    Stacy Keach plays a truck driver named Quid who spends his time on the road talking both to himself and his pet dingo to pass the time. Several times during the movie he makes a point of clarifying to people he meets that while he drives a truck he is not a “truck driver.” From his reading materials to his habit of quoting poetry he comes across as a man who has lived many lives and while not unhappy with his current lot is clearly looking for more. The movie belongs almost entirely to him with his character being onscreen about 95% of the time with other characters dipping in and out as he makes the long journey to Perth. The only major supporting role is that of Pamela, or Hitch as she’s nicknamed, played by Jamie Lee Curtis. Similar to the clashes with the Hollywood system that came from ‘The Lord of the Rings’ movies there was some controversy about an American actress taking work way from Australians at the insistence of US financial backers, apparently a pretty familiar story down there.

Just a boy, a girl, and his dingo.

    The plot is quite simply a mobile ‘Rear Window’ with the main character slowly being convinced over the course of the film that the driver of a green van he keeps coming across is a serial killer leaving behind a trail of female victims. If the movie wasn’t made as well as it was this “simple” plot might be a complaint but the move more than fills the rest of the time with character depth, clever dialogue, and solid plotting. In director Franklin we have someone who likes long, contemplative takes of both the vastness of the scenery and simple character interactions, letting the scenes breathe in a way you wouldn’t expect when so much of it takes place in the cab of a truck. Edits are used to heighten tension and for emotional beats, just like in a real movie.

    Stacy Keach as Quid is inherently likable, which initially struck me as odd as I forever associate him with his incredibly intense turns in ‘The Night Configuration’ and other, more sinister roles, but then I remembered he’s an actor with actual range. Curtis is also very likable and was apparently cast due the ‘scream queen’ reputation she’d acquired and how it would complicate her hitchhiking character. The filmmakers have gone on record as wishing her part had been expanded once she had been cast, apparently not quite realizing at the time what a resource they had in her, and it’s hard to disagree.

    One of the most refreshing aspects of the movie is its subtlety. You don’t have to pay attention to every fragment of the news heard over the radio or keep track of every vehicle Quid passes and then catches back up with but you’re rewarded if you do. Characters established in one scene will be reacting in the background later. His character, and through him the audience, starts noticing odd little details about the driver of that green van he keeps seeing that slowly add up to genuinely suspicious behavior but Quid never quite moves into outright obsession about it. He’s constantly coming right up to the edge of believing his own theories but then he’ll come up with a reasonable explanation and back down without dismissing his suspicions entirely. Arguably the reason he finally gives in and throws caution to the wind in a final chase through the back streets of Perth is the slow build up of a lack of sleep and drive time, something the movie is constantly setting up.

Did I not mention the meat truck?

    The reason I’m not going into many plot details while freely admitting it’s basically just ‘Rear Window’ in a truck is because the pleasures of this movie are in the execution and character details, not the basic plot. My theory about ending a movie with character beats continues to hold, there’s technically a jump scare at the very end but the rest is pure character arc goodness. If you’re a fan of Hitchcock I’m not saying that this is up there with his best work but it’ll certainly go toe-to-toe with something like ‘Torn Curtain.’

    I knew I was in trouble with this movie when even cursory research turned up the fact that this is one of Quentin Tarantino’s favorite Australian movies of all time. You can have many different opinions about Tarantino as a person but you have to admit the man knows his way around a screenplay and he very vocally adores this one. Despite my hazy memories of weekend afternoon showings on the USA network this isn’t a horror movie and it certainly isn’t a slasher film. As kind of a treat for myself I decided to cap off this month of reviews with three Jamie Lee Curtis movies in a row and I wasn’t about to do ‘The Fog’ since that’s obviously a film of quality and doesn’t deserve to be lumped into the same category as ‘Night of the Demons’ but then neither does this movie so I guess I lost either way. Or won, I guess, depends on your perspective. I’m kind of back in ‘Dreamscape’ territory where it turns out that the movie a lot of people think is pretty good is actually pretty good. I would very much recommend giving this a try, especially if you’ve written it off as just another slasher movie when it’s much more than just that.