It's a blast to watch again. We were so blessed to grow up then. I feel terrible for the current generation. The world has gone to hell in a hand basket!
Same here. I had my back turned, waiting for the movie intro music and such, and found myself saying the closing lines from commercials right along with them. 🤣
The way the van flies up in the air reminds me of the ending to the movie "The Car" which was released two years before this. Would love to see the Fiddler's Dodge Van, The Car, and the tanker truck from "Duel" all in the same movie.
@@rachelgarcia4301 ….There is no explaining the lack of continuity or sense in 1970’s made for TV movies. They are crap, made by people who were probably high the whole time and assumed audiences were stupid and wouldn’t even notice the problems.
When you're first two victims are Morgan Britainy and Dina Shore, with Shelly Hack, George Hamilton, Barbara Rush, and Peter Graves kicking it off, you got me hooked. Truly scary, great cast.
The opening of the CBS movie. What a flood of memories that came rushing back. Sitting in the floor of our living room, with mother and dad sitting on the couch. All of us watching the tv. And I was dad’s remote control. Lol. How I miss these simpler times. Happier times.
Ah... The 1970s... Where every vehicle always exploded, no matter how lightly it got hit! Wow! I didn't know freeways had ramp-metering signals all the way back in 1979!
This is the time machine I need, now if I could just actually transport back to this period and participate again instead of just watching and reminiscing. That would be the cat's pajamas!
The carnage created from old movies and TV shows was truly epic. Cars, buildings, bridges, mountains, etc., I miss the days when had to build physical models just to destroy them! 😁
Courtesy of Hal Needham et al, who later went on to do the Cannonball Run movies. Think he even made a cameo as the defensive driving instructor in this.
@@PersonaIncognitoand one of this movie's cast Alfie Wise, was in both a Smokey and the Bandit and a Cannonball Run movie. Edit: Tara Buckman was also in the first Cannonball movie
Mark Elliott said on a podcast that his first audition to voice a CBS promo was for this movie. He thought it sounded ridiculous and did a ridiculously over-the-top read. The network said it was exactly what they wanted, and that started his long relationship with CBS.
Danny Dark probably would've been better at announcing that CBS promo for Death Car on the Freeway- keep in mind, it would be years before either Chuck Riley or Don LaFontaine would've became available to announce such thriller movie promos!!!
This movie is so relevant to 2023 that my skin crawls. I had the same incident happen to me a few years back. While staying under the speed limit, I carefully overtook a driver who was driving like a snail. He turned into a monster. He chased me and got out of his car at traffic lights and tried to beat me up. He did this repeatedly. Meanwhile his very young daughter in his car was screaming in fear. I managed to lose him by driving like Evil Knievel. Now i lock all my car doors and thank God I learnt defensive driving in country Australia. .
So sorry, truly scary. I'm a great driver and this movie is still terrifying. The better driver could kill us, if skill fails. Thank God you had skills. Great cast, great movie.
Just hearing the Opening Theme Song, and watching the Commercials, is enough to warm our heart and soul with pure Nostalgia. I offer my appreciation for this Channel, as Today's World is so insanely horrific In Media AND In Reality. Thank you for keeping many Good Memories Alive & Well! Thank GOD for our Past Memories. Thank GOD for HIS Constant Presence And HIS Promised Future💜
Loved the movie and the commercials were great! Especially the one that reminds parents to parent their children. LOL It's 8 o'clock, have your kids done their homework?
When you saw the CBS movie intro come on TV you know that they were going to show a good movie. Every Tuesday Night. Antenna TV. Where have the times gone?
Lol really I like she is saying she's taking precautions right when you answer and open up the freaking door after someone that you can't or at the time don't know who it is and you're also coming in late night freaking out about a car or a vehicle sitting out front with a guy smoking cigarettes if you're taking precautions you sure as hell wouldn't be doing that
The Riddler is Frank Gorshin and the villian is called the Fiddler. The Fiddler is a fictional supervillian who plays music to communicate in comics? Did those 2 ever tangle? I can't remember much from the 60s episodes except that they were super corny and I watched them at lunchtime. Not really a fan of Batman.🇨🇦
Thanks for upload! Saw this first aired in '79...I must've been 13! Loved CHiPs as well, kind of a stunt nerd from all these flicks! Scary how door flew off '68 Fairlane in hard skid, you can see it, then it's aftermath shown in random victims montage.....the cars were fitted for safety naturally, but considering today's crush zones and tire improvements, along with belt and airbags.....stunt people had sheer courage manhandling those older vehicles! I still would rather see true performers over CGI any day.....
I LOVE THESE VINTAGE TV MOVIES, , I WOULD RATHER WATCH THESE TV MOVIES THEN A BIG BUGET HOLLYWOOD MOVIE WITH ALL THAT NEW COMPUTER CRAP THEY PUT IN THEM THESE DAYS PLUS ALL THE GRAT ADDS THANKS YOU LINDA SYDNEY
We owned this on VHS in the UK. The memory of the van and screeching fiddle is always with me. Edit: as a kid I never knew this was an allegory of rape, or the other social commentary included in this film.
I remember a 1979 commercial: "Ram power." "Dodge gives you ram power." "Dodge trucks are ram tough." What about the Dodge Tradesman 200 van driven by the Freeway Fiddler? Did it give you ram power? Was it ram tough?
I was confused with Frank Gorshin there and the mention ofthe "Fiddler" I was like did they just say the Riddler? I guess you could say the "Riddler" helped catch the Fiddler.
Terrifying! The drivers were lucky to avoid all the Pintos, Mustang IIs, and Gremlin firebombs on the road. And in California, there were always weirdos with ramps on their cars that gave Ponch fits...
Thank you so much for uploading so many great memories for so many people. I think I actually enjoyed the commercials just as much as the flick. I was finishing their slogans and grinning from ear to ear! 😁😁😁
LOVE the cast listing at the beginning...it's like everyone who didn't get on Love Boat that week. Totally odd that there was no music at the start of the movie---cheapo!
The first victim is Morgan Brittany from tv's Dallas! The one who shot Bobby and then killed him with her car (but it was a dream). I remember watching this when it first aired in 79.
Anyone know who the dark haired actress was that played the mom on her way to pick up her sick child at school? She looks so familiar but cannot place her name. Thx.
Oh, man... just watching the opening that CBS made for their Tuesday night movie presentations is just exciting enough for me to see again! Can't wait to see what commercials were slotted between the sections of the film.
I remember watching this! I also remember that stinking carpet cleaner! My wife decided to use it because we had a dog and we both smoked. It made the whole house smell like putrid flowers! More vacuuming without it still wouldn't get rid of the smell. I finally had to call someone to steam clean the carpet to get the smell out. But, the first time she used the vacuum again we could smell it. Even after several cleanings we just couldn't get rid of that smell. I ended up having to buy another vacuum! I don't know if that stuff is still around, but NEVER use the stuff you sprinkle on your carpet to clean it! It doesn't get rid of any smells, it just covers them up with an even worse smell!
I Love the integrity of reporting (and the honesty and independence of the main character) in this movie - Thanks for sharing this necessary & relevant movie, which also feels "fuzzy" to me since I must have seen it and the quirky commercials, but I can't Fully remember :) !!!
Cool to see Sid Haig in this! Fun cheesy tv grindhouse with the old commercials. Good stuff. The CBS Tuesday Night Movies logo and song brings back memories....
Her character in Dallas died behind the wheel, too, lol. She was the one who drove fast in a big boat car and ran Bobby over and “killed him” for that season which was all a dream.
I remember Frank Gorshin's impersonation of Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas on the Ed Sullivan show were absolutely incredible. He was severely underutilized by Hollywood, his range was never truly flexed where it should have been.
A great late 70's made for TV movie. Great plot, that hooks the viewer from the beginning. And has great cast, especially the lovely Shelley Hack. Worth watching!!
Yes, this is what I mean great for television especially at night because I remember watching this movie back on WGBS Philly 57 during the time when the Netwerk used to have the 8 o’clock movie because I remembered watching this very extremely powerful dodge van from the 70s catching up with the small vehicles and destroying them, killing some of the people in their cars especially with young women and I remember seeing the guy changing the paint job every time he commit his crimes on the freeway.
The upcoming contact with the ground is going to be catastrophic. 01:55:09 Just absolutely catastrophic. Look at the velocity. Look at the huge height and consider the acceleration due to gravity. Also, it certainly does not help matters that the vehicle is already completely engulfed in massive flames. When impact occurs, the already severely stressed frame of the vehicle is going to be subjected to staggering metal shearing forces that will rip the vehicle apart, leaving it shattered beyond belief and unrecognizable.
Is there anybody reading these comments back on RU-vid because that is one hot ass 1970s era dodge van there because I’ve watched this movie back in the 80s when WGBS Philly 57 used to have those nighttime movies every night at 8 o’clock because I remember watching this movie which featured someone driving a multicolored van with tinted glass running people off the roads killing them especially with young women and I think somewhere at the end of the movie one female driver fought back and destroyed the vehicle killing the driver inside, even though the van went through a number of color changes but it was defeated because you know why, why because that is one hot ass 1970s era dodge van out there, very powerful.
Well because you know why because it was just because of the hot van because it was just because exactly because like everything about because and then because oh yeah you know it was because !!! Hot bad van because
Re: The commercials of KFC. I wonder what the prices were of it back then, when it 'tasted good' and you got decent sized pieces, not the banty-sized chicken you get now-a-days. (Nothing against the little chickies. They fought for their place (they were colorful, too).
The cheesy banjo music that plays as he pops in that 8 track made me laugh hysterically every time! It's the cheesy type of crap that you only see in '70s TV movies!
Whaaat- “It’s 8 o’clock have your children done their homework?” No, they’re down in basement listening to ELO, playing Mattel’s electronic football and getting high! Wow, talk about Orwellian big brother.
@@JuvenalFariasG On the TV show Facts Of Life one of the girls said to another: It's 10:00 pm. Do you know where your mother is tonight ? This was sometime during season 1.
Kinda cool to see the 45 year old commercials lol. I didn't even skip through them.... Thanks for leaving them in there. So much better than today's commercials. And so much less intrusive.
Well, this was right after the Carter era inflation which was pretty terrible too, so I'm sure that the people back then weren't too happy with those prices haha.@@rogerrendzak8055
I was 8 it was great I got to stay up late.if there was just a station that showed 70s movies shows and commercials I get rid of all my show apps.🎉🎉🎉 party on GenX
Remember watching this with my brother as kids when this aired. On family road trips we'd see a Dodge van or reckless driver and yell "Death car on the freeway!" Shelley Hack is the worst actress ever. And duh, victims are surprised honking for no reason makes the other driver mad? Hal Needham = Cliff Booth. The airborne van's awesome flaming demise = "The Car". Fond TV memories. :-)
