Only one title came into the shop today, an Australian restock of Richard Franklin’s “Road Games.” Franklin, an Australian who came to the United States to attend film school at USC during the late 60s, was an ardent fan of Alfred Hitchcock growing up (“Psycho” was the first movie he saw by himself at age 12, and Franklin watched The Master of Suspense’s television series when it aired in Australia during his adolescence).
While preparing for what would become his breakthrough picture, “Patrick,” Franklin gave screenwriter Everett De Roche a copy of the screenplay for Hitchcock’s “Rear Window,” which led them to the idea of making a “Rear Window”-esque picture out on the open road. However, by the time Franklin was ready to make the picture he learned De Roche had already used the idea to write a tv episode for a series called “The Truckies.” Fortunately, they were able to revise the story so it differed enough from the episode that the show’s producers gave them the go-ahead.
The film’s production was fraught with problems from the start. The financially-motivated casting of American Jamie Lee Curtis for a role believed to already be earmarked for an Australian actress led to a local backlash, and Franklin’s insistence on not cutting anything from a script that was deemed too long led to the picture being behind schedule from the start. Additionally, as “Road Games” was the first Australian movie made with a completion bond, the threat of production being shut down after the final scheduled day of shooting forced Franklin to severely cut down the movie’s ending (since the picture was shot in sequence) — something that the young director only learned later wouldn’t have happened, as he was only two days behind schedule when the picture wrapped. Lastly, Curtis’s “scream queen” reputation led to the “Road Games” being improperly marketed as a slasher film. All things considered, the final product is a suspenseful thriller that’s right at home with the Hitchcockian works of directors like Brian De Palma and Claude Chabrol.