Years before Deathproof was this little TV movie gem about a psycho van driver who tries to run women off the road. It's well written and Hal Needham shows he was capable of directing more than jokey Burt Reynolds films (not to diss those).
Lovely cast - Shelley Hack is the plucky heroine, a reporter, George Hamilton is her ex, Peter Graves a cop, Frank Gorshin a colleague of Hack's, people like Dinah Shore, Barbara Rush, Harriet Nelson.
It's a bit feminist - Hack is the hero, routinely dismissed and belittled, her ex Hamilton is controlling and he's not heroic. Hack learns how to drive from Hal Needham (playing a defensive driving instructor) and goes mano o mano against the van at the end. I think the writer had his consciousness raised.
A surprise. Exciting, solid script, strong cast. Well done driving scenes.
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