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Cross Country
USA 1983
produced by Pieter Kroonenburg, David J. Patterson, Jim Beach (executive) for Filmline, Yellowbill Finance
directed by Paul Lynch
starring Richard Beymer, Nina Axelrod, Michael Ironside, Brent Carver, David Connor, George Sperdakos, Michael Kane, August Schellenberg, Paul Bradley, Roberta Weiss, Jacklin Williams, Anna Vitre, Pamela Collyer, Michael Copeman, Desmond Campbell, Robert Spivak, Barry Blake, Neil Affleck, Neil Shee, Len Watt, Christiane Pasquier, Sheena Larkin, Leslie Pahl, Jennifer Petrela, Rowena Blair, Diane Lortie, Madeleine Philie
screenplay by William Gray, Logan N.Danforth (= John Hunter), based on the novel by Herbert Kastle, music by Chris Rea
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Judith Keele (Anna Vitre) is found dead in her appartment, murdered,
and it doesn't take detective Roersch (Michael Ironside) long to figure
out her sugardaddy boyfriend Evan (Richard Beymer) has paid her avisit
shortly before her death, and has taken off on a cross-country
cartrip to California right afterwards - all of which makes him a tailormade suspect ... On
his trip to Cali, Evan has picked up a couple of hitchhikers, Lois (Nina Axelrod)
and John (Brent Carver), but he doesn't trust them too much, and the
distrust is mutual - even if Lois lets him shag her nevertheless.
Initially, Evan even threatens his companions with a gun, but once John
has gotten hold of the gun and tossed it out of the car window, their
strained relationship gradually relaxes, and the trio and a girl from
Oklahoma (Roberta Weiss) even try to make up in an orgy ... which somehow
goes wrong though, when Evan can't take Lois kissing the other girl, John
tries to rape Lois, and someone kills John. Evan and Lois continue
their trip as a couple, but detective Roersch catches up with them at the
Grand Canyon ... though not to arrest Evan but to blackmail him. But even
though all clues seem to point to Evan, he claims he's innocent and refuses
to pay up. It's only then that Roersch finds out that the woman travelling
with Evan, Lois, was actually Judith's sexslave (without Evan's knowledge
of course), and that she has actually killed Judith. Despite knowing this,
Evan helps Lois escape, but when she confesses she has killed John as
well, he can't but kill her by driving their escape vehicle over the
cliffs of the Grand Canyon ... Ok psychothriller that spends most
of its time showing Evan and Lois and John playing cat-and-mouse, and Evan
and John fighting over being the alpha-male - something that's made
all the more exciting as the audience is made to believe that Evan's a
killer. To everyone's surprise, the film is urned on its head in the last ten
minutes or so, when seemingly out of nowhere, whodunnit-elements are
thrown into the mix, which gives the movie a rather nice spin. That all
said, Cross Country is far from perfect, it's a bit too slowly
paced to remain suspenseful throughout, several scenes (like the orgy)
seem to come out of nowhere, and not all the actors are up to their tasks. Still,
nicely done genre entertainment.
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