No need for a violinist. Violinist is such a depressing and fearless nickname given to the main negative character of this dull and fearless film, which Hal Needham directed while in a short TV link, where he landed after Cactus Jack failed. Tellingly, Needham decided to make a film not about the usual stuntmen / stuntmen (for a long time, however, he will not stand - his next work on TV will be called, surprise, "Stuntmen without Borders"), but to put quite a "road" thriller about a maniac on a car, which will be rude and unnecessary to push women out of the way. So, "The Death Machine on the Highway."
Why the Death Machine became an ordinary minivan is a mystery worse than that of the Sphinx. Not a mysterious predatory muskl car, not a rabid retro from the 50s, not a multi-ton truck (and in fact a film was made with a clear languor under the "Duel" - they say that she was also on television at first, and then what popularity she got) - a minivan. Such a car may look detailed or solid (as in the TV series “Team A”), but frightening? I don't know.
Still quite aside special effects do not leave, so Needham still provided the picture with a couple of chases, acceptable by the standards of television, but hopelessly lagging behind in comparison with those twists that Hal captured on film. All the rest of the time is allotted to the titanic tired TV nuisance-discussion, and a couple of more or less well-known faces of the weather does not: Abe Vigoda from the Godfather lies in a hospital bed for a minute and a half and disappears from the film in general, Frank Gorshin from the old TV series about Batman overtakes Vigoda on the screen, but whether it is useful is still a question, and you risk not to see the note villain Sid Hague at all, because the clogged TV film very poorly shows Haygno in the dark. In the end, the impression is that more or less well-known personalities tried to either scoop or quickly get rid of the picture. It's understandable.
The rest of the actors I do not know, their characters are also not that memorable (by “not that” I mean at all), but in the end everything will result in the fact that (1) took a few lessons in extreme driving Glavheroine will achieve justice 2) Needham will try to get off the TV as quickly as possible (so that eventually it will come back there again, heh) 3 The Death Machine on the Highway, unlike Spielberg’s iconic tape, will not break out of the TV, on which it is unlikely to ever be shown again. As they say, there is a road.
4 out of 10