Death Car on the Freeway (1979 TV Movie)

Shelley Hack: Jan

Quotes 

• Jan : Who is the Freeway Fiddler? Well of course, no one knows yet, but tonight we at least have an educated guess on that answer from Dr. Rita Glass, chief of psychiatric services at Los Angeles General Hospital, and a frequent consultant in police matters. Thank you for being with us tonight, Doctor, what can you tell us about the Fiddler?

  Dr. Rita Glass : Well Jan, of course I don't know anymore about what the Fiddler looks like than anyone else, but what I can offer tonight is a sort of psychological profile based on what we already know about the killer. Let's take the attacks themselves. We already know that the victims are all women traveling the freeway alone. We also know that they were all reasonably attractive, and there is strong evidence to suggest that in each case the driver of the car performed some sort of maneuver which was perceived by the killer as an act of aggression, causing the killer to say in effect 'Hey, you women are just getting too big for your britches'.

  Jan : Judging from what you just said then, what can we theorize about the Fiddler's psychological profile?

  Dr. Rita Glass : He is a severely repressed personality, easily threatened, unsure of his masculinity. That he may have been dominated as a child by his mother or some other female authority figures. That he is emotionally stunted, and in a very deep sense, feels like a child. I would also have to guess that he has a strong death wish, a need to be hurt, or killed, perhaps as a punishment for being such a bad boy. After all, he cannot attack these women in such a way without placing himself in extreme danger.

  Jan : Thank you, Doctor. Drawing on the doctor's profile then, we can make the following suggestions to women: Don't travel the freeway unless absolutely necessary, and don't travel alone. And if you do find yourself on the freeway, drive defensively, particularly if there is a van in the area. Remember, the Freeway Fiddler has already killed 9 women, and will almost surely, kill again.

• Mr. Blanchard : You okay, lady?

  Jan : Yeah, I'm just mad I did it wrong, that's all. Because if you'd really been after me... I'd be dead.

  Mr. Blanchard : Let me tell you what you did right though. You used the tree to separate me from you, that's good. Came down here in the dirt where it's easy to turn, that's good. You were just a little bit nervous cuz I was sitting about that far from your bumper. Tell you what I'm gonna do, I'll meet you back at school and we'll try it all over again.

• Jan : Appearances to the contrary, the freeway carnage you have just seen, was not the work of the Freeway Fiddler. In fact all these accidents took place before we ever heard of an unbalanced, homicidal speed freak called the Freeway Fiddler. Because without any help from the Fiddler at all, we manage to kill 50 thousand Americans on our roads and freeways every year. Over 2 million Americans have died in automobile accidents, that's almost twice the number of men killed in all the wars the United States have ever fought. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Fiddler phenomenon is that it hasn't happened long before this. Consider that every driver has a lethal weapon placed in his hands, and then consider he is actually encouraged, through advertisement and the entertainment media to use this weapon in a dangerous and irresponsible way. And if the driver is male, he may even be persuaded that his very masculinity depends on how fast he can drive, or how many chances he is willing to take with his life or the lives of others. Is it really necessary for the automobile manufacturers to glamorize speed and recklessness in their advertising? And to manufacture cars capable of speeds in an excess of over 100 miles an hour? Unless the industry that makes the cars and the public that buys them, begin to assume some responsibility for the lethal potential of this family servant we call the automobile, the murderer known as the Freeway Fiddler may well be only the first of his kind.

• Jan : A lot of people have accidents, but you and Becky are the only ones I ever heard about who thought the driver was trying to kill them.

  Lynn Bernheimer : Believe me, with that maniac, you KNOW, without a doubt in the world. I have never been so scared in my life, and I've been through major surgery twice.

• Lieutenant Haller : Miss Claussen, I appreciate your interest, but I think we're talking about two separate incidents that have no connection.

  Jan : Lieutenant Haller, I called Becky; they both said positively that van had one-way glass.

  Lieutenant Haller : But Lynn Bernheimer told investigators the van was black.

  Jan : Look at the way the two attacks happened.

  Lieutenant Haller : Eh, attacks, attacks is your word, not ours.

  Jan : In both instances, okay? The women were trying to get off the freeway, pulled in front of the van.

  Lieutenant Haller : *A*, *a* van.

  Jan : Okay, a van, and he proceeded to prevent them from taking the off ramp they were heading for, and then went on to force them both off the road.

• Jan : Isn't it true that Terrina Manns was being attacked by the Fiddler when she was stopped by a highway patrolman, who not only let the Fiddler get away, but insisted on citing her for speeding?

  Lieutenant Haller : Well I don't have any information on that but if the lady was stopped for speeding, she probably was speeding. Unfortunately we don't have enough men to be everywhere at once. Now if that's all the questions, thank you.

  Jan : But why did the patrolman stop Terrina Manns instead of the van? Because he was more interested in a pretty woman alone in a sporty car?

• Mr. Blanchard : [about his defensive driving school]  It's really a lot more difficult than it looks, but with the proper training almost anybody can do it. That's why the other night I was watching you on television and you were talking to the ladies about how to get away from the Fiddler. And I said, 'I might as well call her and tell her to come down and see what my school's all about'.

  Jan : Well I'm glad you did 'cuz I just never saw anything like it before in my life. How long is your course?

  Mr. Blanchard : Oh it depends. I think with somebody like you I could probably put you through the anti-terrorist course, the anti-kidnapping, we'd modify it maybe a little bit to suit your specifics and oh, 4-5 days, 4-5 hours a day.

  Jan : Oh that's not long at all. Well I'll tell you what, now I'd have to ask my producer, but I think the thing to do is for me to take the course myself.

  Mr. Blanchard : I think you're right.

  Jan : Can we have a crew come along and film it?

  Mr. Blanchard : Sure, why not?

  Jan : Terrific! You're on.

  Mr. Blanchard : Okay lady, come on.

• Jan : Do you recognize these? You hear them almost every day. 'You can be king of the road in the new Road Rocket, one side slays. It's the King.' 'The legendary Bengal tiger is known for its fierce attacks, that's why we named our new 8-cylinder Renegade after it, see the new tiger at your Southern California dealers today'. Or this, '5 on the floor, rack and pinging steering, zero to 60 in four seconds. That's the stuff the new Python 620 is made of'. And ladies and gentlemen, I venture to say that's the stuff the Freeway Fiddler is made of.

• Jan : Well today I learned something called the bootlegger's turnaround, sort of. Tomorrow it's defensive evasion, whatever that is. This is Janette Claussen, KXLA News.

• Lieutenant Haller : I'd like to say that the public can play an important role in cases like this, especially in a preventive sense. Women especially can help by not making themselves candidates for the Fiddler. You might be interested to know that between them, the victims have accumulated 10 moving violations in the last 3 years. And one of them, Becky Lyons, has had her license suspended on at least one occasion.

  Jan : Lieutenant, are you saying it was somehow these women's fault that they were attacked by the Freeway Fiddler?

  Lieutenant Haller : What I'm saying here is we have a situation where women must be aware of their actions.

  Jan : It sounds to me as if you failed to catch the Fiddler, so you've decided to shift the blame to the victims.

  Lieutenant Haller : No I don't think that's it at all, Miss Claussen.

  Jan : Well sure it is. Isn't that what you're doing?

  Lieutenant Haller : Are you telling me that the victims were 100% blameless in all these cases? Is that what you're saying?

  Jan : How can you pursue this case effectively if you feel this way? You're talking about 10 violations in 3 years? There've been 12 victims, that's not even one violation a piece. That's nothing.

  Lieutenant Haller : No that's not nothing, that's something, because 9 of those women are dead.

• Ray Jeffries : Let's go.

  Jan : I'm not going with you.

  Ray Jeffries : What do you mean you're not going with me? What the hell's going on? What was all that about anyway? Jan, would you just stop and talk to me? Cal's waiting.

  Jan : I don't want the job.

  Ray Jeffries : You want time to think about it, take time.

  Jan : I don't want the job now, or any other time.

  Ray Jeffries : What the hell was that phone call anyway?

  Jan : That's none of your business.

  Ray Jeffries : I went out on a limb for you, I took a big risk, you can't just walk out on me like this.

  Jan : [matter of factly]  I can do anything I want.

• Jan : So the Fiddler got away again, and now two more women are dead. However authorities are saying they may have a break in the case, as several witnesses have described the by now familiar blue van as being equipped with blue and yellow California license plates, possibly containing the letters P and E. This is Janette Claussen for KXLA from the scene of the Freeway Fiddler's latest attack, and not at all anxious to leave the scene, horrible as it is. Because when I do, I'm going to be like thousands of other women, in a car on Los Angeles' 491 miles of freeway... all alone.

• Jan : Have you noticed how many crimes there are committed against women these days? It's like we're trying to do more for ourselves and there are just some men who are determined to punish us for it.

• Ralph Chandler : I was with the big wigs this morning and there's some talk of taking you off the Fiddler followup.

  Jan : What?

  Ralph Chandler : They haven't come right out and said anything directly to me.

  Jan : What?

  Ralph Chandler : They're hinting at it.

  Jan : Why? We're doing so well!

  Ralph Chandler : What's happened is half of Detroit is withdrawing their car advertisements from KXLA, we're facing a couple of sizeable lawsuits.

  Jan : So let them.

  Ralph Chandler : They resent your implications that they're responsible for the Fiddler.

  Jan : In a way, they are.