We are introduced to them through windshield glass and car windows right from the start: Benny Balls with his station wagon filled with athletic equipment, Fred and Frita Frugal apparently on a family trip with their child, Sneezy Rider on his motorcycle, and Captain Careful driving slowly as he tries to protect the boat he his hauling on a trailer.Īll these characters are mere observances at first a game that Quid plays with his only companion, his pet dingo Boswell. Just as Jeff nicknames his neighbors based on his observations, so does Patrick “Pat” Quid ( Stacy Keach) with his fellow travelers. “Jeff” Jeffries (James Stewart) observes through his titular rear window. These characters would become much like the neighbors that L.B. But Road Games has plenty of its own flavor, making it much more than a mere retread of either movie.īecause there was only one route through the Nullabor Plain in the Australian Outback, a person would encounter many of the same drivers along the way from Adelaide in the east to Perth in the west. In many ways, the final film is Rear Window meets Spielberg’s Duel (1971) with an interesting role reversal as we’re put in the seat of the truck rather than the smaller vehicle. After reading it, De Roche commented to Franklin, “wouldn’t it be interesting if Rear Window took place in a moving vehicle?” The two set out to fashion a script based on this intriguing idea. The idea for Road Games came about while Franklin was working on his second feature, Patrick (1978), and gave screenwriter Everett De Roche a copy of the script for Hitchcock’s classic film Rear Window (1954). Franklin’s style is more difficult to pinpoint than, say, Scorsese or DePalma’s, but it is no less effective in its narrative capabilities. Every good filmmaker has influences that they synthesize into their own style. This is not to say that Franklin’s work is derivative. Though Hitchcock is Franklin’s greatest influence, there is plenty of John Ford and Howard Hawks, along with contemporaries like John Carpenter and Steven Spielberg to be found in his style. He also learned the importance of adding healthy doses of humor along the way to make the suspense even more effective. Instead, he learned how to structure a story and effectively build a sense of dread from the Master of Suspense. Unlike many of his contemporaries, however, Franklin did not particularly emulate Hitchcock’s visual style. Richard Franklin has been called “The Australian Hitchcock” and 1981’s Road Games is the movie that earned him that title. So I’m just going to keep my knees bent and be ready in case they call.” It was grey about what the storyline was. The news article that I read about this TV movie sounds like… I’m not sure if it’s a reboot or if it is that ’20 years later’ sequel. I would love to reprise Billy Butcherson.” “ I was actually approached and asked about that. “ There was talk about doing a ’20 years later’ sequel that I would have been involved with,” The Shape of Water star tells Digital Spy. But Doug Jones, who of course played Winifred’s undead ex-boyfriend Billy Butcherson in the ’93 film, is hopeful for a comeback. Of course, things could always change, and we really have no idea what form the made-for-TV movie is even going to take. Not surprisingly, Bette Midler was not happy to hear that news. As we reported last September, Scarlett Lacey ( The Royals) is writing what we assume is a remake/reimagining, without the main cast. Despite pretty much every actor from Hocus Pocuspractically begging to return in a sequel to the 1993 film, it looks like we’re instead getting, well, *something* that’s going straight to the Disney Channel.
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