Roadgames (1981) Movie Script
1
(brakes squeaking)
- Ah, last motel in
town again, hey Boswell?
Well it's not
exactly the Ritz, but
it sure beats spending
another night in the truck,
right mate?
Hey listen, get some
nice clean sheets
and a hot shower, and
after that we'll hop
into a restaurant, and
get some nice chow.
A little pate foie
gras, veal scallopini,
dry marsala, and if we're lucky
we might even get a Disco
Dolly for dessert, right mate?
Oh and I won't
forget the doggy bag.
Salacious vermin.
- [Radio] Base four to
gypsy three niner seven.
Base four to gypsy three
niner seven, do you copy?
- Oh God, shall we?
- [Radio] Base four to
gypsy three niner seven.
Do you COPY?
- Mayday, mayday,
this is flight 77,
I seem to be in a
great deal of trouble.
I'm going down, I
need help, over.
- [Radio] Is that you,
gypsy three niner seven?
- Negative, darling,
this is Quid.
Patrick Anthony Quid, as
in British Sterling, over.
- [Radio] Three niner
seven, we have a priority
urgent from Perth.
Melbourne Meatworks, 5AM, over.
- Negative, base four, I
haven't slept since Wednesday.
I'm hallucinating, over.
- [Radio] I thought you
truck drivers took pills
for that sort of thing.
- Darling, just
because I drive a truck
does not make me a
truck driver, over.
- [Radio] Come on three nine
seven, is that affirmative?
There's a strike in the
west, they need meat.
- Sweetheart, there seems to be
a great deal of
interference here,
but I love you, I've
always loved you, over.
- [Radio] Why do we always
have trouble with you,
three nine seven?
All right, we'll go double
time just this once.
- Affirmative, base four.
5AM meat works, double time.
Over and out.
Hey Boswell, isn't
that that young fox
we saw hitchhiking on the
other side of the weighbridge?
I told you we should
have picked her up.
Now that clown's gonna get her.
(sirens wailing)
Hey, don't look at me, pal.
Use Smith or Jones,
what's the difference?
I mean, who cares nowadays?
Let's go.
Come on.
Oh God.
First he steals my girl,
then he takes my bed.
Okay, Bozzy.
It's you and me, pal.
Now listen.
No snoring and no evil smells.
I hope she steals his wallet.
I'll bet she doesn't even
wait to take her socks off.
(gentle acoustic guitar)
(clock ticking)
(guitar strings creaking)
(whining guitar music)
(clock ticking)
(soft guitar music)
(garbage cans crashing)
(man shouting)
(dog whining)
(razor buzzing)
(man shouting)
(sirens wailing)
(dog barking)
Boz!
(man shouting)
Hey boys-
I haul it in, you
haul it out, right?
(Western music)
With full devote courage of
sundry folk by adventure fall
in fellowship and
pilgrims were they all.
Good morning, pilgrims!
Morning!
Me thinketh it according to
resound to tell you all...
Hello, been away
on holiday, aye?
Lovely.
(child laughing)
To Warrnambool.
Fred Frugal and
his wife, Frita.
Frita Frugal.
(woman talking)
Bet she's a real dragon.
You should have turned
right at the last left,
and I told you, but
you never listen.
Poor guy-
I bet he's an accountant.
Maybe a school teacher.
Nah, an accountant.
You better watch it kids,
not careful, you'll stay in
that position for life.
Now there's a man with balls.
(dog whimpers)
Benny balls.
(slow Western music)
(whistling)
Ha, Bozzy, there's something
in the autumn air that
sets the gypsy blood a stir.
(sneezing)
Sneezy rider.
Hors d'oeuvre?
(whistling)
Hey, Bozzy, there's another one.
Maybe oughta pick this one up
and take her to Perth with me.
Dazzling her with my stylish
rhetoric and witty innuendo.
Aye, what do you think?
No?
Maybe you're right, it's
against regulations.
(soft music)
Alright, mate, that's nine
Jap traps, six Yank tanks,
and three VWs, which beats
your Rolls Royce by ten points.
You wanna keep playin'?
Alright, I'll tell ya what,
I'll give you an extra
two points for
the trailer, okay?
Alright, alright, make it three.
I don't wanna argue with ya.
You know, that's the trouble
with you Australians.
You take your games
too seriously.
Ahoy, Captain Careful.
Bound to the sea in a ship
born of your own patient hands.
Aye, matey?
(horn honking)
What's the matter, Boswell?
Something wrong?
(foreboding music)
Well, well, if it isn't
our friend from the motel.
Hey, heave to, friend,
pull over your port side.
(engine rumbling)
(glass shattering)
(horn honking)
(dog moaning)
What's the matter, buddy?
Something about that van
you're not telling me?
(foreboding music)
Wonder why he doesn't pass?
Maybe he's after our meat, huh?
I wonder if he's still got
that young fox with him.
Let's see if we can
get a better look.
(engine rumbling)
Why does anybody get up at
5 o'clock in the morning
to watch the garbage collectors?
(radio crackling)
- [Radio] Occasion,
really, but my apologies to
listeners.
(radio mumbling)
(harmonica hums)
(classical music)
- [Radio] The time is 1
o'clock, the weather is
clear and stable, my name is
Warwick Boss...
(harmonic humming) ...this is the news- A council
worker in the Brisbane suburb of Eagle Farm
- [Radio] Was shocked
today when he discovered
a human hand amongst debris
in a storm water drain.
The identity of its
owner is unknown,
but the hand will be packed
in ice and sent to Sydney
for comparison with a
human leg discovered
in a Townsville
tannery last week.
Police are denying speculation
of a Jack the Ripper type
murder at large, and
claim the two grisly items
are probably unconnected
and isolated.
The United Beef Workers
Federation has blamed the
critical shortages
of meat in retail outlets..
- Well, well.
(radio murmuring)
(harmonica humming)
- [Radio] ..who is the principle
antagonist in the strike,
which has left
Perth without meat.
The spokesman for the
federation has asked that anyone
knowing the whereabouts
of Mr. Day who is believed
to be returning with his
family from the Nirvana Caravan
Park, Warrnambool...
- Sucker.
(harmonica humming)
(tires screeching)
(heavy tumbling)
- Hello there!
- Wait, miss, I'm sorry,
I'm not allowed to pick up
hitchhikers.
- Oh, I'm not a hitchhiker,
I'm not hitchhiking.
My idiot husband drove
off and left me here.
We can catch 'em if ya hurry.
Why, isn't this cozy.
So high UP-
Hope I don't get truck sick.
Oh, my name's Madeline Day.
- Pleased to meet you.
- But Floyd, that's my husband,
the idiot, he calls me Sunny
as in Sunny Day.
- Sounds like a wild and
crazy guy, your husband.
- Oh, that's nothing, we've
got a daughter, Doris Day.
Like the movie star.
We can go now if you don't mind.
- Well, I can take ya
as far as Yellowdine.
There's a roadhouse there,
and you can phone the police.
(coughing)
- Your dog doesn't
bite, does it?
- Oh, he's not a dog.
- It looks like a dog.
- He's a dingo.
- Dingo?
- Yeah.
Well, why would anybody wanna
keep a dingo for?
- Well, I like him.
He doesn't eat too
much, he's quiet.
- A dingo's a kind of dog,
so what's the difference?
- A dog is a parasite hybrid.
I mean, he chases cars,
he barks at shadows,
and he eats his own faeces.
But a dingo, dingo's
clean, he's intelligent,
he's quiet.
Fact, he's physically
incapable of barking.
That's why they call
him the silent dog.
He's an aristocrat.
Like me.
- Are all truck drivers
as stuck up as you?
- Madam, just because I drive
a truck does not make me
a truck driver.
- Oh, you and your tundra
wolf sitting up here in your
ivory tower.
I bet you're not even
married, are you?
NO.
(engine rumbling)
- Why aren't you
going to pick her up?
- Lady, that hitch is getting
to Perth faster than we are.
- That's no reason to
call her a bitch, is it?
- Oh, hitch.
- [Madeline] Language.
- Hitch, as in hitchhiker.
- Well, a gentleman
would have picked her up
with this maniac running
'round loose butchering girls.
- What maniac?
- The one on the
radio, on the news.
- Yeah, go on.
- I don't know, it's
just some maniac.
- Yeah? Well, what else
did they say about him?
Did they say what
kind of rig he drove?
- I didn't say he
was driving a rig.
- [Truck driver]
No, no, no, I mean--
- How did you know my
husband was an accountant?
- Just a guess.
- How far away is
this roadhouse?
- It's not far.
- Good.
(western music)
- [Radio] We have an accident
here, we're clearing the road.
Would you please pull over?
- Where are we going?
- Shortcut.
(engine rumbling)
Wait a minute, I've got it,
the hoochie coochie doll.
- It's mineral, not animal.
Oh, I don't know, I've guessed
about everything in the truck
- You never said it
had to be in the truck.
- Well, that's ridiculous.
It could be a thousand
things outside the truck.
- You're the one who
wanted to play games.
Give up?
- Yeah, guess so.
- It's ya boots.
' My boots?
- Leather is an animal product.
- Uh uh, my boots are
imitation leather.
They're vinyl, a
thermal plastic radical.
- La di da.
- Which makes them either
mineral or vegetable,
but they're
certainly not animal.
So, I win, right?
- But you gave up!
- Okay, okay, okay.
Hey, it's my turn.
- Okay-
- Animal.
- That fly there.
- Now, look, if you're not
gonna play the game properly
I don't wanna play at all.
- Well, it's not the fly?
- Yes, it is the fly, but
you're taking all the fun
out of it, you've gotta
ask the questions,
you gotta narrow it
down more logically.
- Okay, this time I've
got a real good one.
- No, I've had enough.
- Oh, come on, it's really easy,
and it's not even
animal product.
It's just plain,
ordinary animal.
- Okay, but no tricks.
- I'll give you a clue.
It's bigger than a bread box.
" Me?
NO.
- Boswell?
NO.
- Well, it's gotta be you.
- Wrong.
- Lady, if there is an
animal bigger than a breadbox
inside this truck, you
better tell me about it.
- I never said it
was inside the truck.
- The pigs?
NO.
' [Quid] Kangaroo?
NO.
- An emu?
- [Madeline] No.
- Well, the Nullarbor nymph?
Lawrence of A friggin' rabia,
I don't know, this is crazy.
- [Madeline] You give up?
- [Quid] Yeah, I guess so.
- [Madeline] It's
that man back there.
- I didn't see any
man back there.
Course you didn't,
you were too busy arguing
but there was a man back
there standing beside a dark
green van and he
was digging a hole.
(brakes screech)
- What the hell is he doing?
- I told you, digging a hole.
What's wrong?
(foreboding music)
What's wrong?
(shushing noise)
(foreboding music)
(engine rumbling)
(tyres screeching)
- What the hell was he burying?
- Is this another game?
- Why does a man stop in
the middle of nowhere,
and dig a hole?
- Maybe he had to, you
know, go to the toilet.
- Lady, you don't understand.
This same guy picked up
a hitchhiker last night,
and then about
4:30 this morning
he watched the garbage
bags being collected
outside the motel,
and now he's burying
more garbage.
Doesn't that seem a
little weird to you, lady?
- You truck drivers
take drugs, don't you?
You've got the DDTs.
- Cast to the wind
thy ghastly sin.
- Pardon?
- That's it.
The ghastly sin is dissipated.
Erased from existence,
and another thing a body wouldn't
last half a day out here
with all the birds
and the insects.
- I don't know what
you're talking about.
- I'm talking about sex.
I am talking about sex.
Stolen from a young girl
in the back of a van
or a seedy motel.
I'm talking about guilt.
Terrible guilt.
Awful guilt.
A guilt so terrible that
it can only be obliterated
by spreading the evidence
all over the countryside.
Jesus.
- I think I'd like
to get out here.
- No, wait, wait a minute,
now don't be silly.
Now, listen, what exactly
did they say about this guy
on the news?
- I don't know what you
mean, I don't know anything.
- Hey, now come on, lady,
you're supposed to be
the authority on weirdos.
Now, come on, help me out.
It was something about
Jack the Ripper or...
- I don't know what
you're talking about!
- I'm just talking about
a hunch, that's all.
- I wanna get out!
- Wait, wait, wait,
first, I've got a game.
- I don't wanna play.
- It's animal.
No!
- It's bigger than a breadbox,
but it's small enough to fit
in a plastic rubbish bag.
- That is a sick game.
A human being is not an animal!
I know what you're thinking
and it wouldn't fit
in a rubbish bag!
- Oh, yes, it would if
you cut off the damn head!
- Stop it!
(sobbing)
Hey, lady!
Lady!
Lady, stop!
(terrifying orchestral music)
Now, lady, I am not gonna
hurt you, I promise.
Listen, you stopped me
on the road, remember?
I'm just a truck driver.
I know I talk a lot and I'm
given the flights of the
imagination, but there's
no need to be afraid of me.
Lady, please, lets just
go back to the truck, okay?
- We don't want trouble,
we never wanted trouble.
- Yeah, but who does?
- Then they threatened
my children.
Horrible phone calls late at
night, they killed our dog.
When the police came,
they said the strike
was Floyd's fault.
We've got our own problems,
mister, we don't need
anybody else's.
I didn't see any man
back there, understand?
- Yeah, I think I do.
No vans or lunch boxes or
anything to do with police
and no more games.
- Right.
No more games.
Hello, hello, I'm trying to
get in touch with the nearest
police station.
Right, right, hold on a second.
Hello, my name is Quid, and I'm
calling from the roadhouse
at Yellowdine.
Sorry, Yellow 'dyne'.
Right, listen, I may have
some information regarding
those murders that
you're investigating.
Yeah, no, no, no,
my name is Quid.
Quid!
Patrick Quid.
(twinkling music)
Q-U-I-D!
Quid!
As in pound note.
Right, I'm a truck driver.
A truckie, rig ht!
Listen, I may have some...
Hello?
Hello?
Sorry, sorry-
No, I was saying...
I'm trying to, but I think
we got a bad connection here.
And listen, I'd rather not
get into it over the phone
if you don't mind.
What does it matter
what my name is?
I can't stick around,
I can't involved.
I've got a load of meat that...
It has to do with this
business on the news about...
What?
No, meat!
Pigs!
(thumping noise)
I'm carrying meat, mate!
M-E-A-T!
As in meat!
Right, well, it has to do with
a guy in a dark green van.
What?
(man muttering)
Well, I'm trying to, but
listen if you just hold on,
and listen to me for a second...
Excuse me.
Have any of you fellas seen
a guy in a dark green van?
(radio murmuring)
(coin jingling)
Thanks.
(loud rock music)
I'm sorry.
No, I was talking about
a guy in a green...
Green.
(loud rock music)
Green, hold on, hold
on, just a second.
Hey, man, would you
kill that music, please?
Hello?
What?
No, it's Quid!
Q as in quartermaster, U as
in utopia, I as in ice cream.
L-C-E-C-R-EH"
Oh, Jesus.
I cannot stick around, I have
gotta get my porkers to Perth!
No, no, it's Q-U-I-D!
D as in death to young
girls, you cretin!
(phone clanging)
Excuse me.
(twinkling music)
- That your dingo?
- Yeah.
- There's a bounty on
'em in this district.
- Well, he's just a pet, and
anyway, we're travellin'
on through.
- Neither here nor there
to the locals, sport.
They shoot 'em on sight.
The law.
You wouldn't wanna break
the law, would ya, mate?
- Boswell!
Boz!
- Madeline Day, but Floyd,
that's my husband, the idiot,
he calls me Sunny
as in Sunny Day.
(Madeline muttering)
(dog whines)
- Boswell, what happened?
(engine rumbling)
Son of a bitch!
(engine rumbling)
(car rumbling)
(horn honking)
(boat ringing)
What the hell?
(boat ringing)
(horn honking)
What the hell's gotten into him?
(bell ringing)
(horn honking)
(crashing noise)
Okay, buddy, if that's
the way you want it.
(grinding noise)
(crashing)
(metal scraping)
(tyres screeching)
(boat ringing)
(loud crashing)
(thunking noise)
tyres screech)
Well, what do you
know about that?
What do you say, Boswell?
Third time lucky?
Aren't you kinda young to
be hitchhiking out here
by yourself?
- Aren't you kinda old
to be picking me up?
- It's not a pick
up, it's just a lift.
I don't usually
pick up hitchhikers.
- What makes me the exception?
- I don't know.
I guess I kinda
felt sorry for ya.
- I didn't know there were
any chivalrous truck drivers.
Oh, what happened to your dingo?
- You didn't, by any
chance, happen to see a guy
in a green van?
- Yeah, why?
I wonder why he
didn't pick me up.
- You sound a little
disappointed that he didn't.
And how old are
you anyway, hitch?
- Old enough, how old are you?
- Old enough to be your father.
- My father's 67.
- Oh.
- You know, maybe he
makes love to 'em first.
- Hitch, does your 67 year old
father know you accept rides
from truck drivers?
- [Hitch] My name isn't hitch.
- Does your mother
know you're gone?
- She's dead.
My father lives with a whore.
- So, you ran away?
- No, I walked away.
- Well, Hitch, don't you
think it might be a good idea
to call him and let him
know that you're alright?
- Ah, maybe that's how
he gets his rocks off.
- Your father?
- No, your Mr. Smith or Jones.
You know, the Boston
Strangler was on a sex trip.
God, maybe he makes
love to 'em afterwards.
- Oh, c'mon.
- Well, why do you
think he does it?
- I don't know, I mean I
really don't know that he does.
I don't want us to get
carried away about this.
- Are you kidding?
It's the most fun I've
had all afternoon.
- [Quid] Okay, I've got a game.
- [Hitch] Good, scrabble.
- [Quid] No, let's call
it the Smith or Jones game.
- [Hitch] Sounds interesting.
- [Quid] Alright, now let's
assume that there is a method
to his madness.
That everything he does is
for a logical purpose, right?
- [Hitch] Okay-
- Okay, now he's
just killed a girl.
- Did he make love to her first?
- I don't know,
what's the difference?
- It makes a lot of difference.
I think in order to
play the game properly,
we have to know what
he thinks of women.
- It's my game!
- Okay, Sherlock.
- It's the method
we're interested in.
Now, he just killed this girl.
Now, how does he
destroy the evidence?
- Cuts it up.
- Yeah, but why?
- So, the pieces won't be found.
- Yeah, but pieces
don't prove anything.
I mean, you can put an arm
or a leg out with the garbage
and it proves nothing, right?
- That's ridiculous.
- Yeah, but it's the law.
I mean, you can lose an arm
or a leg without necessarily
being dead, right?
- Yeah, but--
- But if you lose your torso,
you're definitely dead.
- You lose your torso,
I think you've had it.
- But one torso is pretty
much like another that--
- Oh, foul!
You lose a turn.
I don't think it's so
important what he does.
It's why, I mean, what
does he think of women?
- You're kidding?
- No, I mean, wouldn't you like
to know what he's thinking?
You know, get inside his head.
- I'd like to get inside
his friggin' lunchbox.
I'll tell you what he thinks
of women, he despises them.
He thinks they're pigs.
- But why?
You know what I think?
I think you have much more
fun sitting up here with your
stereo and your air
conditioning and your dingo.
I don't think you wanna know.
You always done this?
- No, I've not always done this.
When I was your age, I was
first mate on a gun boat
in the Persian Golf.
- John bloody Wayne.
- Well, the time I was 30,
I was transporting guns
across the Sudan
border by camel.
- By camel.
Now you're pushing
piggies to Perth.
- Hitch, don't you think
you should let somebody
know you're alright?
- [Hitch] Nah, Why?
- Your father might have
the cops out lookin' for ya.
- Nah, he wouldn't do that.
- Ch yeah?
(siren wailing)
- Would you step down, please?
(radio murmuring)
What you carrying?
- Pigs.
- You in the habit of
picking up hitchhikers?
NO.
- You pick up a
hitchhiker last night?
- What?
- The manager of the
Melbourne Car Motel
claims you checked
in with a young lady
fitting the description
of a missing person.
" Me?
- Your name is on the register.
- What?
Well, look, anybody could've
copied my name off the truck.
- Why would anyone
want to do that?
- Now, wait a minute.
What happened to
that girl anyway?
- What makes you think
something happened to her?
- Well, look, I don't want
to get hung for something
I didn't do.
- Meat is hung, men are hanged.
- What's happening?
What? Did you tell 'em
about the lunchbox yet?
- Oh, sure.
- And where were you a
week ago last Saturday?
- Port Hedland, I was carrying
some mining equipment.
- And the Saturday before that?
- Melbourne, yeah, I was laid
up overnight in Melbourne.
Why?
- The logbook confirms he was
where he said he was, serg.
- Logbooks can be cheated.
Book of lies they're called,
aren't they, Mr. Quid?
- Has this got something to do
with the thing that happened
on the radio?
Because if it does,
I suggest that you
catch up with the guy in
the green van because--
- According to this logbook,
you should have had a
12 hour stop over two days ago.
You don't have much respect
for the law, do ya, mate?
Well, if that young lady you
shacked up with last night
has come to any harm, we'll
know exactly who to talk to.
Won't we?
- It wasn't me.
Now, if you don't believe me
you can talk to the manager
of the motel.
- How long you had that dingo?
- Four or five years, why?
(engine rumbling)
- What's the matter?
Didn't they believe you?
- Believe me?
I'm lucky they
didn't shoot Boswell.
- Did you tell them
about our little friend?
" Who?
What?
- [Hitch] The guy in the van.
The guy...
' [Quid] I beg your pardon?
- Oh, I get it.
You know what this
means, don't you?
We're just gonna have
to get him ourselves.
- Oh, sure.
Elementary, my dear Watson.
Except our friend in the
van could be all the way
to Perth or Timbuktu for
all we know.
- I don't get you, first, you
tell everybody this story,
and now you don't want
to do a damn thing about it.
- No, not today.
- Why not today?
- Look, Hitch.
I'm not trying to lay a trip
on you, but we gotta pull
over for the night.
- Why?
- Regulations.
Nothing beside remains.
'Round the decay of
that colossal wreck.
Boundless and bare.
Alone and level sands
stretch far away.
So, you like my place?
- Needs work.
- Well, I only keep it
to impress the ladies.
- Yeah, I bet you they're
real impressed, too.
First stop on the
Pat Quid guided tour.
- Hitch, you can leave any time.
- What? Are you
gonna call me a cab?
By the way, name is
Pamela, not Hitch.
- Pamela what?
- That's all you need to know.
- I don't get it,
what's the mystery?
Are you on the
lam or something?
- What if I was?
Would you turn me in?
- Me? No.
- [Pamela] Well, I'm not.
- So, what have you got to hide?
The fact that your
somebody's daughter?
- Most girls are usually
somebody's daughter.
- But you're not just
somebody's, right?
- You're quick.
- Well, I mean you're
not what I would call the
typical hitchhiker.
I mean it's kind of obvious
that that look is not early
Salvation Army.
So, come on.
Who's your dad?
Come on!
I promise I won't
hold it against ya.
- He's in the diplomatic
service, let's call it.
- And you didn't
like the service?
- Life was incredibly
diplomatic in Canberra.
- Now, you're lookin'
for a little adventure?
- I'd go to Disneyland
for a little adventure.
What I'm looking for
is a little excitement.
What is this place, anyway?
- Oh, it's old
telegraph station.
It used to be a town of about
700 people who lived here.
- [Pamela] What happened to 'em?
- They were devoured
by the dreaded
Oryctolagus Cuniculus
- Sounds erotic.
- Listen, listen very carefully,
you can hear him out there.
Munching.
Is he animal,
mineral, or vegetable?
Or is it man?
Advancing like an army
of plastic dentures
devouring his fellow man?
- And woman!
- And woman.
- Thank you.
What is it? Kermit?
(laughing)
Cunaclum?
- Cuniculus.
- What is it, anyway?
- A rabbit.
A bunny rabbit, no, I'm serious.
In the 1800s, it was a
plague of rabbits here,
and they ate all the vegetation,
and the sand dunes
began to advance.
It's why everybody left.
I guess it's why I like it here.
- [Pamela] Rabbits?
You're weird.
- Where ya goin'?
- Use your imagination.
- Hitch.
Pamela.
Watch out for the bunnies, huh?
(harmonica humming)
(thunder rumbling)
(soft guitar music)
(lightning crackles)
(foreboding music)
(soft orchestral music)
- Hello?
[Quid] H I - Hi! e k'!
What are you doing?
- Just keepin' the passengers
cold, can you shut the door?
You'll let the cold out.
Goodbye, young porkers!
Goodbye and keep cold!
Grade 50 above,
more than 50 below.
How ya doin'?
- Okay-
- Robert Frost.
- How'd ya sleep?
- Not bad.
I can sleep on a fence post.
How 'bout you?
(Pamela grunts)
Sleep not, dream not.
This bright day, will
not cannot last for aye.
- Emily Bronte.
- Right.
- Read much of her stuff?
- Yeah, I have.
- In school?
- No, I didn't go to school.
Self-educated more or less.
What's that old expression?
Education is hanging
around long enough--
- Why do you always do that?
- Do what?
- Talk in poems.
"Do I?
- Poems are old and dusty.
You're not old and dusty.
How old are you?
- Too old.
- I don't think so.
- What's that?
- Pig in a poke, you
better start shakin'.
Today's pig is tomorrow's bacon.
- TS Elliott?
- Hi, Daddy, it's me!
No, I'm fine.
Doesn't matter where
I am, I'm fine!
Hello, Nancy.
What do you mean, get raped?
He's actually a very nice guy.
Yes, he is a truck driver...
Look, I didn't call you...
I didn't call to get yelled at.
I just wanted to let
you know I'm fine.
(alarm ringing)
No, I'm not coming
back, not now.
Look, I'll call
ya later, alright?
(alarm ringing)
(man shouting)
- What he say?
- He was very diplomatic.
Then my step hooker
got on the line,
wants to know if I've
been laying truck drivers.
See what I'm up against?
- Yeah, well, at least
they know you're alive.
Jesus, let's get out of
here, that noise is driving
me crazy!
- I gotta use the ladies room!
- Okay, make it snappy!
(alarm ringing)
- Quid!
(alarm ringing)
- Here.
Excuse me.
(Quid muttering)
(alarm ringing)
(Pamela gasps)
Wait here.
(alarm ringing)
(man shouting)
Kinda caught you with your
pants down, didn't we?
You slimy son of a bitch!
You know, butchering
young girls is one thing,
but when you hurt my animal
you made a big mistake, pal.
What's the matter? Cat got your
tongue, you miserable stink?
(man muttering)
Word of advice, shithead,
you try anything funny,
and this dog is gonna have
your eggs for breakfast.
(clock ticking)
(Pamela gasps)
You know, there's no way out.
Except down the S bend
or through me, cowboy.
I'm talkin' to you, Mr.
Smith or friggin' Jones,
or whatever your name is!
(dog wheezing)
(sneezing)
Oh, I'm sorry, mate.
I thought it was somebody else.
I apologise, really, I...
Hitch!
(startling orchestral music)
Go to the truck, Boswell!
(screaming)
(engine rumbling)
Shit.
Boswell!
Look out, mate, look out!
- Watch out for the
dingo, he's vicious!
- That's right!
He'll go straight for your
crotch if you're not careful!
Hey, hey!
If you read about this in
the papers tomorrow morning,
you'll know what it's all about!
(exciting orchestral music)
You gonna go straight
for his crotch, buddy?
That's funny, he's slowin' down.
Maybe he's outta gas.
Maybe this is some
new kinda game.
She doesn't look
too kidnapped to me.
Does she to you, buddy?
What the hell is she doin'?
Psychoanalysin' him?
Hey, you don't think she'd
be stupid enough to try
and blackmail him, do ya?
Well, I don't know, Bozzy.
Maybe we been barkin'
up the wrong tree.
(horn honks)
(foreboding orchestral music)
I told ya, man, I told ya the
first time we picked her up,
she is trouble.
I knew we shouldn't
have done it.
I hope she steals...
Well, at least she
didn't get my wallet.
Now, she's all yours, Mr.
Smith or friggin' Jones.
Whatever your game is.
I mean, let's face it, what
have we got on him anyway,
Boz, huh?
What do we know about him?
I'll tell you what
we know about him.
We know absolutely zilch, nada.
I mean, is it against the
law to dig a friggin' hole
in the desert?
Is it a crime to have a
lunchbox and thump dingoes?
Or put out rubbish bags out
5 o'clock in the morning?
What does that prove?
So, what if he is a murderer
and he's going around
systematically butchering
every female in sight,
and makin' 'em into
tacos, who gives a shit?
If the cops don't care about
it, I tell ya, I don't.
I mean why is it my
responsibility to take care of
road waves?
We are truckers, Boswell,
and from now on we're gonna
truck and I don't wanna
hear another word about it!
(radio murmuring)
- [Radio] This is
the news in brief.
The United Meatworks Federation
still sees no end in sight
to the marathon strike, which
has left most of West
Australia without
fresh supplies of meat.
The spokesperson for the
union denied allegations
that union strong arm tactics
have been used against
the United Meatworks
accountant, Mr. Floyd Day.
Although, it is alleged
that Mr. Day and his family
have fled interstate.
Police in Melbourne and Perth
are seeking the assistance
of motorists in connection
with the disappearance
of 20 year old heiress,
Pamela Rushworth,
daughter of US diplomatic
adviser, Warren Rushworth.
According to Mr. Rushworth,
his daughter is traveling west
with a truck driver
described in his mid 40's.
Police have fears that the
truck driver, whose name
has not yet been released,
may be the same man
wanted in connection with the
disappearance of a missing
Melbourne girl.
Authorities are denying
any positive connection
between the two missing girls,
and the series of macabre
attacks on young female
hitchhikers in Queensland
and New South Whales.
Although, they remind the
public that hitchhiking is
extremely dangerous
and of course, illegal.
Allegations by a senior
medical officer in Sydney today
that drivers who operate
vehicles under the influence
of drugs...
(radio murmuring)
(engine rumbling)
- Maniac.
He cuts 'em up like a Sunday
roast, and the cops are out
lookin' for me.
They got nothing on me.
Nothing.
I'm not worried.
I can prove it.
Well, autopsy,
handwriting expert,
dispatcher.
I was on the road that night.
Hitch.
What was her name?
Pamela, I think it was Pamela.
(Quid thinking) Jesus, I hope
they didn't see. ..No
Cops couldn't have seen her.
What am I going to
do with this truck?
(truck rumbling)
(foreboding orchestral music)
Hitch?
(dog whimpers)
(woman moaning)
(dog whimpering)
(dog whining)
Coward.
(woman moaning)
(woman moaning)
- [Woman] Oh, Harry!
- Harry?
(woman moaning)
Harry and Hitch.
Hitch and Harry.
Didn't even bother
to park the van.
(glass shattering)
(clock ticking)
Boswell!
(whistles)
(truck rumbling)
I honestly thought she
was worth something.
Falls on her back, legs up.
Ready to give a good whack
to the first Tom, Dick,
or friggin' Harry
that comes along.
Oh, they're all the same.
They do it like animals.
No offense, pal.
Forget it, buddy, she isn't
worth a second glance.
(foreboding orchestral music)
Boy, I'll tell ya, I may
have to start taking dope.
I gotta do something do get
rid of these hallucinations.
(startling orchestral music)
Maybe he does make
love to 'em first.
One thing for sure,
I need some sleep.
(soft thumping)
(foreboding orchestral music)
(dog whining)
(thumping)
What's the matter,
buddy? You hear that?
(thumping)
(dog howls)
Oh, great, that's just what
I need for the freakin' meat
just to thaw out.
(dog whines)
What's the matter, buddy?
You know something I don't?
Just hold on, stay here.
(door creaks)
350 pigs.
Four on this side,
four on this side.
(Quid muttering)
20 on this side.
(Quid muttering)
(car rumbling)
352, 350, what's the difference?
We just miscounted, that's all.
- [Voiceover] 350
divided by eight...
- And I forgot to latch
the doors this morning
when I was talkin' to Hitch.
You know what probably happened?
Sam just threw a couple
of extras in by mistake.
- [Voiceover] Sam
doesn't make mistakes.
- Maybe he was a little
pale, I don't know.
He's always taking care
of his friends at Perth.
Happens all the time.
- [Voiceover]
That's 35 times two.
- And the meat at the front
wasn't frozen because...
- [Voiceover] Why?
- Well, we were goin' so damn
fast that the cold air
being heavier, well,
being more dense
just wasn't
circulating, that's all.
- [Voiceover] Hot air
Yeah, that's all.
(anxious orchestral music)
(exciting orchestral music)
Steep descent.
It's all down hill
from here, Harry.
Come on, baby, we're
gaining on 'em.
Come on.
He's slowin' down again.
(van rumbling)
He's run outta gas, I knew it.
Ah, shit.
Hey, Lester!
- Hey there, Quid!
- It looks like you
got some heat tonight.
- Bloody cops.
- Who they lookin' for anyway?
- Ah, always lookin'
for some poor bastard.
Let's get you weighed.
- Right.
(radio murmuring)
- Hey, you are 75 kilos over!
- Really?
- 'Bout the weight
of a hot TV set, eh?
(laughing)
How's the book of
lies? All in order?
- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Listen, Lester, I've got
a kind of priority, urgent
situation--
- Say no more, I
won't hold you up.
Hey, what are you carrying?
- Meat!
- Seems a bit more like
marijuana to me, eh.
Bloody animal, not mine, I
wouldn't have one myself.
No, no, it's a new TRB thing,
they train them to sniff out
marijuana.
- You got me, I confess.
- Crazy bastard, he wouldn't
know pot from pot roast.
- Yeah.
Listen, Lester, I better
get these piggies to market.
- I've got a fresh pot of
coffee on, and you know.
- Oh, thanks, Lester,
that's real nice of ya,
but I'll take a
rain check, okay?
- Oh, right, right.
On your way!
(truck rumbles)
Hold it, Quid!
You got something
wrapped around your axle!
- What is it?
- It's a bunch of wire and shit!
Probably why you're
- Alright, Lester, just let it be.
It'll be alright! Thanks anyway!
- I got some wire
cutters in the office!
It'll only take a second--
- No thanks, Les,
I'll see ya later!
- But you're gonna
bugger up your trailer
unless ya do something!
- Yeah, thanks for the hand!
(Lester shouting)
(foreboding orchestral music)
Sneaky bastard.
(horn honking)
(tyres screeching)
(siren wailing)
Christ, talk about the
meat in a sandwich.
He wants us to follow him.
Okay.
What kinda game is this?
(man muttering)
(horn honks)
(siren wails)
(grinding noise)
(tyres screech)
(glass shattering)
(grinding noise)
- Get on your knees and see
what's happening up there!
(glass shattering)
(horn honking)
(metal clanging)
(dog growling)
(tyres screeching)
(dramatic orchestral music)
(engine revving)
(tyres screech)
(Quid shouts)
(crashing noise)
I got you now, you bastard.
(Quid yelps)
(tumbling)
(Quid grunts)
(glass shattering)
(metal clanging)
(sirens wailing)
(coughing)
Hey, hey, wait a minute!
Hey, wait a minute! Hey!
Hey, wait a minute,
you got the wrong guy!
I'm tellin' ya!
- Stand back, please, keep
this area clear, stand back.
- He rammed me off
the road, he did.
- That man, he tried
to push me off a cliff.
- And he trapped me in a toilet.
(loud uproar)
- Wait a minute,
will you, listen!
I promise you, it's
that guy over there!
Don't let him get away!
(loud uproar)
It's that guy over there!
Jesus.
Hey, look, if you don't believe
me, check the van, will ya?
Just check the van!
(dog barking)
- Is that your dog?
- It's not a dog, he's a...
He barks!
(dog barking)
It's that guy over there,
I'm tellin' ya it's him!
It's him!
Hitch!
- I thought you said
he was in the bathroom!
(crowd murmuring)
- Where do you
think you're gem"?
- I thought you were dead!
- Well, thanks a lot!
You know how long I've been
in this stupid sleeping bag?
- Well, I've had kind of a
rough day myself, thanks!
- Now, just a minute, which
one of these two characters
affected you?
- That one, you jerk!
Me and about 20 others!
- But where are they?
- Why don't you pick
up a shovel and dig up
Nullarbor Plain?
- You okay?
(siren wailing)
It's just when you
pay $100 for a dingo,
you expect to get a dingo.
Jesus, $100,000 worth of damage.
- I just can't believe you
actually thought I slept
with the guy.
- And where were you then?
- I told you, I don't know!
I had a sleeping
bag over my head.
(Quid mumbles)
- Thank Christ they were
able to salvage the meat.
- Now what?
- I don't know.
Think about headin' up
north, see if I can get a job
up there.
- Okay-
- You know, something I forgot.
Forgot to tell the police.
That body that they never found,
I thought it was you hangin'
in the back of the truck.
But, uh... (chuckling)
(suspenseful orchestral music)
(screaming)
(western music)
(brakes squeaking)
- Ah, last motel in
town again, hey Boswell?
Well it's not
exactly the Ritz, but
it sure beats spending
another night in the truck,
right mate?
Hey listen, get some
nice clean sheets
and a hot shower, and
after that we'll hop
into a restaurant, and
get some nice chow.
A little pate foie
gras, veal scallopini,
dry marsala, and if we're lucky
we might even get a Disco
Dolly for dessert, right mate?
Oh and I won't
forget the doggy bag.
Salacious vermin.
- [Radio] Base four to
gypsy three niner seven.
Base four to gypsy three
niner seven, do you copy?
- Oh God, shall we?
- [Radio] Base four to
gypsy three niner seven.
Do you COPY?
- Mayday, mayday,
this is flight 77,
I seem to be in a
great deal of trouble.
I'm going down, I
need help, over.
- [Radio] Is that you,
gypsy three niner seven?
- Negative, darling,
this is Quid.
Patrick Anthony Quid, as
in British Sterling, over.
- [Radio] Three niner
seven, we have a priority
urgent from Perth.
Melbourne Meatworks, 5AM, over.
- Negative, base four, I
haven't slept since Wednesday.
I'm hallucinating, over.
- [Radio] I thought you
truck drivers took pills
for that sort of thing.
- Darling, just
because I drive a truck
does not make me a
truck driver, over.
- [Radio] Come on three nine
seven, is that affirmative?
There's a strike in the
west, they need meat.
- Sweetheart, there seems to be
a great deal of
interference here,
but I love you, I've
always loved you, over.
- [Radio] Why do we always
have trouble with you,
three nine seven?
All right, we'll go double
time just this once.
- Affirmative, base four.
5AM meat works, double time.
Over and out.
Hey Boswell, isn't
that that young fox
we saw hitchhiking on the
other side of the weighbridge?
I told you we should
have picked her up.
Now that clown's gonna get her.
(sirens wailing)
Hey, don't look at me, pal.
Use Smith or Jones,
what's the difference?
I mean, who cares nowadays?
Let's go.
Come on.
Oh God.
First he steals my girl,
then he takes my bed.
Okay, Bozzy.
It's you and me, pal.
Now listen.
No snoring and no evil smells.
I hope she steals his wallet.
I'll bet she doesn't even
wait to take her socks off.
(gentle acoustic guitar)
(clock ticking)
(guitar strings creaking)
(whining guitar music)
(clock ticking)
(soft guitar music)
(garbage cans crashing)
(man shouting)
(dog whining)
(razor buzzing)
(man shouting)
(sirens wailing)
(dog barking)
Boz!
(man shouting)
Hey boys-
I haul it in, you
haul it out, right?
(Western music)
With full devote courage of
sundry folk by adventure fall
in fellowship and
pilgrims were they all.
Good morning, pilgrims!
Morning!
Me thinketh it according to
resound to tell you all...
Hello, been away
on holiday, aye?
Lovely.
(child laughing)
To Warrnambool.
Fred Frugal and
his wife, Frita.
Frita Frugal.
(woman talking)
Bet she's a real dragon.
You should have turned
right at the last left,
and I told you, but
you never listen.
Poor guy-
I bet he's an accountant.
Maybe a school teacher.
Nah, an accountant.
You better watch it kids,
not careful, you'll stay in
that position for life.
Now there's a man with balls.
(dog whimpers)
Benny balls.
(slow Western music)
(whistling)
Ha, Bozzy, there's something
in the autumn air that
sets the gypsy blood a stir.
(sneezing)
Sneezy rider.
Hors d'oeuvre?
(whistling)
Hey, Bozzy, there's another one.
Maybe oughta pick this one up
and take her to Perth with me.
Dazzling her with my stylish
rhetoric and witty innuendo.
Aye, what do you think?
No?
Maybe you're right, it's
against regulations.
(soft music)
Alright, mate, that's nine
Jap traps, six Yank tanks,
and three VWs, which beats
your Rolls Royce by ten points.
You wanna keep playin'?
Alright, I'll tell ya what,
I'll give you an extra
two points for
the trailer, okay?
Alright, alright, make it three.
I don't wanna argue with ya.
You know, that's the trouble
with you Australians.
You take your games
too seriously.
Ahoy, Captain Careful.
Bound to the sea in a ship
born of your own patient hands.
Aye, matey?
(horn honking)
What's the matter, Boswell?
Something wrong?
(foreboding music)
Well, well, if it isn't
our friend from the motel.
Hey, heave to, friend,
pull over your port side.
(engine rumbling)
(glass shattering)
(horn honking)
(dog moaning)
What's the matter, buddy?
Something about that van
you're not telling me?
(foreboding music)
Wonder why he doesn't pass?
Maybe he's after our meat, huh?
I wonder if he's still got
that young fox with him.
Let's see if we can
get a better look.
(engine rumbling)
Why does anybody get up at
5 o'clock in the morning
to watch the garbage collectors?
(radio crackling)
- [Radio] Occasion,
really, but my apologies to
listeners.
(radio mumbling)
(harmonica hums)
(classical music)
- [Radio] The time is 1
o'clock, the weather is
clear and stable, my name is
Warwick Boss...
(harmonic humming) ...this is the news- A council
worker in the Brisbane suburb of Eagle Farm
- [Radio] Was shocked
today when he discovered
a human hand amongst debris
in a storm water drain.
The identity of its
owner is unknown,
but the hand will be packed
in ice and sent to Sydney
for comparison with a
human leg discovered
in a Townsville
tannery last week.
Police are denying speculation
of a Jack the Ripper type
murder at large, and
claim the two grisly items
are probably unconnected
and isolated.
The United Beef Workers
Federation has blamed the
critical shortages
of meat in retail outlets..
- Well, well.
(radio murmuring)
(harmonica humming)
- [Radio] ..who is the principle
antagonist in the strike,
which has left
Perth without meat.
The spokesman for the
federation has asked that anyone
knowing the whereabouts
of Mr. Day who is believed
to be returning with his
family from the Nirvana Caravan
Park, Warrnambool...
- Sucker.
(harmonica humming)
(tires screeching)
(heavy tumbling)
- Hello there!
- Wait, miss, I'm sorry,
I'm not allowed to pick up
hitchhikers.
- Oh, I'm not a hitchhiker,
I'm not hitchhiking.
My idiot husband drove
off and left me here.
We can catch 'em if ya hurry.
Why, isn't this cozy.
So high UP-
Hope I don't get truck sick.
Oh, my name's Madeline Day.
- Pleased to meet you.
- But Floyd, that's my husband,
the idiot, he calls me Sunny
as in Sunny Day.
- Sounds like a wild and
crazy guy, your husband.
- Oh, that's nothing, we've
got a daughter, Doris Day.
Like the movie star.
We can go now if you don't mind.
- Well, I can take ya
as far as Yellowdine.
There's a roadhouse there,
and you can phone the police.
(coughing)
- Your dog doesn't
bite, does it?
- Oh, he's not a dog.
- It looks like a dog.
- He's a dingo.
- Dingo?
- Yeah.
Well, why would anybody wanna
keep a dingo for?
- Well, I like him.
He doesn't eat too
much, he's quiet.
- A dingo's a kind of dog,
so what's the difference?
- A dog is a parasite hybrid.
I mean, he chases cars,
he barks at shadows,
and he eats his own faeces.
But a dingo, dingo's
clean, he's intelligent,
he's quiet.
Fact, he's physically
incapable of barking.
That's why they call
him the silent dog.
He's an aristocrat.
Like me.
- Are all truck drivers
as stuck up as you?
- Madam, just because I drive
a truck does not make me
a truck driver.
- Oh, you and your tundra
wolf sitting up here in your
ivory tower.
I bet you're not even
married, are you?
NO.
(engine rumbling)
- Why aren't you
going to pick her up?
- Lady, that hitch is getting
to Perth faster than we are.
- That's no reason to
call her a bitch, is it?
- Oh, hitch.
- [Madeline] Language.
- Hitch, as in hitchhiker.
- Well, a gentleman
would have picked her up
with this maniac running
'round loose butchering girls.
- What maniac?
- The one on the
radio, on the news.
- Yeah, go on.
- I don't know, it's
just some maniac.
- Yeah? Well, what else
did they say about him?
Did they say what
kind of rig he drove?
- I didn't say he
was driving a rig.
- [Truck driver]
No, no, no, I mean--
- How did you know my
husband was an accountant?
- Just a guess.
- How far away is
this roadhouse?
- It's not far.
- Good.
(western music)
- [Radio] We have an accident
here, we're clearing the road.
Would you please pull over?
- Where are we going?
- Shortcut.
(engine rumbling)
Wait a minute, I've got it,
the hoochie coochie doll.
- It's mineral, not animal.
Oh, I don't know, I've guessed
about everything in the truck
- You never said it
had to be in the truck.
- Well, that's ridiculous.
It could be a thousand
things outside the truck.
- You're the one who
wanted to play games.
Give up?
- Yeah, guess so.
- It's ya boots.
' My boots?
- Leather is an animal product.
- Uh uh, my boots are
imitation leather.
They're vinyl, a
thermal plastic radical.
- La di da.
- Which makes them either
mineral or vegetable,
but they're
certainly not animal.
So, I win, right?
- But you gave up!
- Okay, okay, okay.
Hey, it's my turn.
- Okay-
- Animal.
- That fly there.
- Now, look, if you're not
gonna play the game properly
I don't wanna play at all.
- Well, it's not the fly?
- Yes, it is the fly, but
you're taking all the fun
out of it, you've gotta
ask the questions,
you gotta narrow it
down more logically.
- Okay, this time I've
got a real good one.
- No, I've had enough.
- Oh, come on, it's really easy,
and it's not even
animal product.
It's just plain,
ordinary animal.
- Okay, but no tricks.
- I'll give you a clue.
It's bigger than a bread box.
" Me?
NO.
- Boswell?
NO.
- Well, it's gotta be you.
- Wrong.
- Lady, if there is an
animal bigger than a breadbox
inside this truck, you
better tell me about it.
- I never said it
was inside the truck.
- The pigs?
NO.
' [Quid] Kangaroo?
NO.
- An emu?
- [Madeline] No.
- Well, the Nullarbor nymph?
Lawrence of A friggin' rabia,
I don't know, this is crazy.
- [Madeline] You give up?
- [Quid] Yeah, I guess so.
- [Madeline] It's
that man back there.
- I didn't see any
man back there.
Course you didn't,
you were too busy arguing
but there was a man back
there standing beside a dark
green van and he
was digging a hole.
(brakes screech)
- What the hell is he doing?
- I told you, digging a hole.
What's wrong?
(foreboding music)
What's wrong?
(shushing noise)
(foreboding music)
(engine rumbling)
(tyres screeching)
- What the hell was he burying?
- Is this another game?
- Why does a man stop in
the middle of nowhere,
and dig a hole?
- Maybe he had to, you
know, go to the toilet.
- Lady, you don't understand.
This same guy picked up
a hitchhiker last night,
and then about
4:30 this morning
he watched the garbage
bags being collected
outside the motel,
and now he's burying
more garbage.
Doesn't that seem a
little weird to you, lady?
- You truck drivers
take drugs, don't you?
You've got the DDTs.
- Cast to the wind
thy ghastly sin.
- Pardon?
- That's it.
The ghastly sin is dissipated.
Erased from existence,
and another thing a body wouldn't
last half a day out here
with all the birds
and the insects.
- I don't know what
you're talking about.
- I'm talking about sex.
I am talking about sex.
Stolen from a young girl
in the back of a van
or a seedy motel.
I'm talking about guilt.
Terrible guilt.
Awful guilt.
A guilt so terrible that
it can only be obliterated
by spreading the evidence
all over the countryside.
Jesus.
- I think I'd like
to get out here.
- No, wait, wait a minute,
now don't be silly.
Now, listen, what exactly
did they say about this guy
on the news?
- I don't know what you
mean, I don't know anything.
- Hey, now come on, lady,
you're supposed to be
the authority on weirdos.
Now, come on, help me out.
It was something about
Jack the Ripper or...
- I don't know what
you're talking about!
- I'm just talking about
a hunch, that's all.
- I wanna get out!
- Wait, wait, wait,
first, I've got a game.
- I don't wanna play.
- It's animal.
No!
- It's bigger than a breadbox,
but it's small enough to fit
in a plastic rubbish bag.
- That is a sick game.
A human being is not an animal!
I know what you're thinking
and it wouldn't fit
in a rubbish bag!
- Oh, yes, it would if
you cut off the damn head!
- Stop it!
(sobbing)
Hey, lady!
Lady!
Lady, stop!
(terrifying orchestral music)
Now, lady, I am not gonna
hurt you, I promise.
Listen, you stopped me
on the road, remember?
I'm just a truck driver.
I know I talk a lot and I'm
given the flights of the
imagination, but there's
no need to be afraid of me.
Lady, please, lets just
go back to the truck, okay?
- We don't want trouble,
we never wanted trouble.
- Yeah, but who does?
- Then they threatened
my children.
Horrible phone calls late at
night, they killed our dog.
When the police came,
they said the strike
was Floyd's fault.
We've got our own problems,
mister, we don't need
anybody else's.
I didn't see any man
back there, understand?
- Yeah, I think I do.
No vans or lunch boxes or
anything to do with police
and no more games.
- Right.
No more games.
Hello, hello, I'm trying to
get in touch with the nearest
police station.
Right, right, hold on a second.
Hello, my name is Quid, and I'm
calling from the roadhouse
at Yellowdine.
Sorry, Yellow 'dyne'.
Right, listen, I may have
some information regarding
those murders that
you're investigating.
Yeah, no, no, no,
my name is Quid.
Quid!
Patrick Quid.
(twinkling music)
Q-U-I-D!
Quid!
As in pound note.
Right, I'm a truck driver.
A truckie, rig ht!
Listen, I may have some...
Hello?
Hello?
Sorry, sorry-
No, I was saying...
I'm trying to, but I think
we got a bad connection here.
And listen, I'd rather not
get into it over the phone
if you don't mind.
What does it matter
what my name is?
I can't stick around,
I can't involved.
I've got a load of meat that...
It has to do with this
business on the news about...
What?
No, meat!
Pigs!
(thumping noise)
I'm carrying meat, mate!
M-E-A-T!
As in meat!
Right, well, it has to do with
a guy in a dark green van.
What?
(man muttering)
Well, I'm trying to, but
listen if you just hold on,
and listen to me for a second...
Excuse me.
Have any of you fellas seen
a guy in a dark green van?
(radio murmuring)
(coin jingling)
Thanks.
(loud rock music)
I'm sorry.
No, I was talking about
a guy in a green...
Green.
(loud rock music)
Green, hold on, hold
on, just a second.
Hey, man, would you
kill that music, please?
Hello?
What?
No, it's Quid!
Q as in quartermaster, U as
in utopia, I as in ice cream.
L-C-E-C-R-EH"
Oh, Jesus.
I cannot stick around, I have
gotta get my porkers to Perth!
No, no, it's Q-U-I-D!
D as in death to young
girls, you cretin!
(phone clanging)
Excuse me.
(twinkling music)
- That your dingo?
- Yeah.
- There's a bounty on
'em in this district.
- Well, he's just a pet, and
anyway, we're travellin'
on through.
- Neither here nor there
to the locals, sport.
They shoot 'em on sight.
The law.
You wouldn't wanna break
the law, would ya, mate?
- Boswell!
Boz!
- Madeline Day, but Floyd,
that's my husband, the idiot,
he calls me Sunny
as in Sunny Day.
(Madeline muttering)
(dog whines)
- Boswell, what happened?
(engine rumbling)
Son of a bitch!
(engine rumbling)
(car rumbling)
(horn honking)
(boat ringing)
What the hell?
(boat ringing)
(horn honking)
What the hell's gotten into him?
(bell ringing)
(horn honking)
(crashing noise)
Okay, buddy, if that's
the way you want it.
(grinding noise)
(crashing)
(metal scraping)
(tyres screeching)
(boat ringing)
(loud crashing)
(thunking noise)
tyres screech)
Well, what do you
know about that?
What do you say, Boswell?
Third time lucky?
Aren't you kinda young to
be hitchhiking out here
by yourself?
- Aren't you kinda old
to be picking me up?
- It's not a pick
up, it's just a lift.
I don't usually
pick up hitchhikers.
- What makes me the exception?
- I don't know.
I guess I kinda
felt sorry for ya.
- I didn't know there were
any chivalrous truck drivers.
Oh, what happened to your dingo?
- You didn't, by any
chance, happen to see a guy
in a green van?
- Yeah, why?
I wonder why he
didn't pick me up.
- You sound a little
disappointed that he didn't.
And how old are
you anyway, hitch?
- Old enough, how old are you?
- Old enough to be your father.
- My father's 67.
- Oh.
- You know, maybe he
makes love to 'em first.
- Hitch, does your 67 year old
father know you accept rides
from truck drivers?
- [Hitch] My name isn't hitch.
- Does your mother
know you're gone?
- She's dead.
My father lives with a whore.
- So, you ran away?
- No, I walked away.
- Well, Hitch, don't you
think it might be a good idea
to call him and let him
know that you're alright?
- Ah, maybe that's how
he gets his rocks off.
- Your father?
- No, your Mr. Smith or Jones.
You know, the Boston
Strangler was on a sex trip.
God, maybe he makes
love to 'em afterwards.
- Oh, c'mon.
- Well, why do you
think he does it?
- I don't know, I mean I
really don't know that he does.
I don't want us to get
carried away about this.
- Are you kidding?
It's the most fun I've
had all afternoon.
- [Quid] Okay, I've got a game.
- [Hitch] Good, scrabble.
- [Quid] No, let's call
it the Smith or Jones game.
- [Hitch] Sounds interesting.
- [Quid] Alright, now let's
assume that there is a method
to his madness.
That everything he does is
for a logical purpose, right?
- [Hitch] Okay-
- Okay, now he's
just killed a girl.
- Did he make love to her first?
- I don't know,
what's the difference?
- It makes a lot of difference.
I think in order to
play the game properly,
we have to know what
he thinks of women.
- It's my game!
- Okay, Sherlock.
- It's the method
we're interested in.
Now, he just killed this girl.
Now, how does he
destroy the evidence?
- Cuts it up.
- Yeah, but why?
- So, the pieces won't be found.
- Yeah, but pieces
don't prove anything.
I mean, you can put an arm
or a leg out with the garbage
and it proves nothing, right?
- That's ridiculous.
- Yeah, but it's the law.
I mean, you can lose an arm
or a leg without necessarily
being dead, right?
- Yeah, but--
- But if you lose your torso,
you're definitely dead.
- You lose your torso,
I think you've had it.
- But one torso is pretty
much like another that--
- Oh, foul!
You lose a turn.
I don't think it's so
important what he does.
It's why, I mean, what
does he think of women?
- You're kidding?
- No, I mean, wouldn't you like
to know what he's thinking?
You know, get inside his head.
- I'd like to get inside
his friggin' lunchbox.
I'll tell you what he thinks
of women, he despises them.
He thinks they're pigs.
- But why?
You know what I think?
I think you have much more
fun sitting up here with your
stereo and your air
conditioning and your dingo.
I don't think you wanna know.
You always done this?
- No, I've not always done this.
When I was your age, I was
first mate on a gun boat
in the Persian Golf.
- John bloody Wayne.
- Well, the time I was 30,
I was transporting guns
across the Sudan
border by camel.
- By camel.
Now you're pushing
piggies to Perth.
- Hitch, don't you think
you should let somebody
know you're alright?
- [Hitch] Nah, Why?
- Your father might have
the cops out lookin' for ya.
- Nah, he wouldn't do that.
- Ch yeah?
(siren wailing)
- Would you step down, please?
(radio murmuring)
What you carrying?
- Pigs.
- You in the habit of
picking up hitchhikers?
NO.
- You pick up a
hitchhiker last night?
- What?
- The manager of the
Melbourne Car Motel
claims you checked
in with a young lady
fitting the description
of a missing person.
" Me?
- Your name is on the register.
- What?
Well, look, anybody could've
copied my name off the truck.
- Why would anyone
want to do that?
- Now, wait a minute.
What happened to
that girl anyway?
- What makes you think
something happened to her?
- Well, look, I don't want
to get hung for something
I didn't do.
- Meat is hung, men are hanged.
- What's happening?
What? Did you tell 'em
about the lunchbox yet?
- Oh, sure.
- And where were you a
week ago last Saturday?
- Port Hedland, I was carrying
some mining equipment.
- And the Saturday before that?
- Melbourne, yeah, I was laid
up overnight in Melbourne.
Why?
- The logbook confirms he was
where he said he was, serg.
- Logbooks can be cheated.
Book of lies they're called,
aren't they, Mr. Quid?
- Has this got something to do
with the thing that happened
on the radio?
Because if it does,
I suggest that you
catch up with the guy in
the green van because--
- According to this logbook,
you should have had a
12 hour stop over two days ago.
You don't have much respect
for the law, do ya, mate?
Well, if that young lady you
shacked up with last night
has come to any harm, we'll
know exactly who to talk to.
Won't we?
- It wasn't me.
Now, if you don't believe me
you can talk to the manager
of the motel.
- How long you had that dingo?
- Four or five years, why?
(engine rumbling)
- What's the matter?
Didn't they believe you?
- Believe me?
I'm lucky they
didn't shoot Boswell.
- Did you tell them
about our little friend?
" Who?
What?
- [Hitch] The guy in the van.
The guy...
' [Quid] I beg your pardon?
- Oh, I get it.
You know what this
means, don't you?
We're just gonna have
to get him ourselves.
- Oh, sure.
Elementary, my dear Watson.
Except our friend in the
van could be all the way
to Perth or Timbuktu for
all we know.
- I don't get you, first, you
tell everybody this story,
and now you don't want
to do a damn thing about it.
- No, not today.
- Why not today?
- Look, Hitch.
I'm not trying to lay a trip
on you, but we gotta pull
over for the night.
- Why?
- Regulations.
Nothing beside remains.
'Round the decay of
that colossal wreck.
Boundless and bare.
Alone and level sands
stretch far away.
So, you like my place?
- Needs work.
- Well, I only keep it
to impress the ladies.
- Yeah, I bet you they're
real impressed, too.
First stop on the
Pat Quid guided tour.
- Hitch, you can leave any time.
- What? Are you
gonna call me a cab?
By the way, name is
Pamela, not Hitch.
- Pamela what?
- That's all you need to know.
- I don't get it,
what's the mystery?
Are you on the
lam or something?
- What if I was?
Would you turn me in?
- Me? No.
- [Pamela] Well, I'm not.
- So, what have you got to hide?
The fact that your
somebody's daughter?
- Most girls are usually
somebody's daughter.
- But you're not just
somebody's, right?
- You're quick.
- Well, I mean you're
not what I would call the
typical hitchhiker.
I mean it's kind of obvious
that that look is not early
Salvation Army.
So, come on.
Who's your dad?
Come on!
I promise I won't
hold it against ya.
- He's in the diplomatic
service, let's call it.
- And you didn't
like the service?
- Life was incredibly
diplomatic in Canberra.
- Now, you're lookin'
for a little adventure?
- I'd go to Disneyland
for a little adventure.
What I'm looking for
is a little excitement.
What is this place, anyway?
- Oh, it's old
telegraph station.
It used to be a town of about
700 people who lived here.
- [Pamela] What happened to 'em?
- They were devoured
by the dreaded
Oryctolagus Cuniculus
- Sounds erotic.
- Listen, listen very carefully,
you can hear him out there.
Munching.
Is he animal,
mineral, or vegetable?
Or is it man?
Advancing like an army
of plastic dentures
devouring his fellow man?
- And woman!
- And woman.
- Thank you.
What is it? Kermit?
(laughing)
Cunaclum?
- Cuniculus.
- What is it, anyway?
- A rabbit.
A bunny rabbit, no, I'm serious.
In the 1800s, it was a
plague of rabbits here,
and they ate all the vegetation,
and the sand dunes
began to advance.
It's why everybody left.
I guess it's why I like it here.
- [Pamela] Rabbits?
You're weird.
- Where ya goin'?
- Use your imagination.
- Hitch.
Pamela.
Watch out for the bunnies, huh?
(harmonica humming)
(thunder rumbling)
(soft guitar music)
(lightning crackles)
(foreboding music)
(soft orchestral music)
- Hello?
[Quid] H I - Hi! e k'!
What are you doing?
- Just keepin' the passengers
cold, can you shut the door?
You'll let the cold out.
Goodbye, young porkers!
Goodbye and keep cold!
Grade 50 above,
more than 50 below.
How ya doin'?
- Okay-
- Robert Frost.
- How'd ya sleep?
- Not bad.
I can sleep on a fence post.
How 'bout you?
(Pamela grunts)
Sleep not, dream not.
This bright day, will
not cannot last for aye.
- Emily Bronte.
- Right.
- Read much of her stuff?
- Yeah, I have.
- In school?
- No, I didn't go to school.
Self-educated more or less.
What's that old expression?
Education is hanging
around long enough--
- Why do you always do that?
- Do what?
- Talk in poems.
"Do I?
- Poems are old and dusty.
You're not old and dusty.
How old are you?
- Too old.
- I don't think so.
- What's that?
- Pig in a poke, you
better start shakin'.
Today's pig is tomorrow's bacon.
- TS Elliott?
- Hi, Daddy, it's me!
No, I'm fine.
Doesn't matter where
I am, I'm fine!
Hello, Nancy.
What do you mean, get raped?
He's actually a very nice guy.
Yes, he is a truck driver...
Look, I didn't call you...
I didn't call to get yelled at.
I just wanted to let
you know I'm fine.
(alarm ringing)
No, I'm not coming
back, not now.
Look, I'll call
ya later, alright?
(alarm ringing)
(man shouting)
- What he say?
- He was very diplomatic.
Then my step hooker
got on the line,
wants to know if I've
been laying truck drivers.
See what I'm up against?
- Yeah, well, at least
they know you're alive.
Jesus, let's get out of
here, that noise is driving
me crazy!
- I gotta use the ladies room!
- Okay, make it snappy!
(alarm ringing)
- Quid!
(alarm ringing)
- Here.
Excuse me.
(Quid muttering)
(alarm ringing)
(Pamela gasps)
Wait here.
(alarm ringing)
(man shouting)
Kinda caught you with your
pants down, didn't we?
You slimy son of a bitch!
You know, butchering
young girls is one thing,
but when you hurt my animal
you made a big mistake, pal.
What's the matter? Cat got your
tongue, you miserable stink?
(man muttering)
Word of advice, shithead,
you try anything funny,
and this dog is gonna have
your eggs for breakfast.
(clock ticking)
(Pamela gasps)
You know, there's no way out.
Except down the S bend
or through me, cowboy.
I'm talkin' to you, Mr.
Smith or friggin' Jones,
or whatever your name is!
(dog wheezing)
(sneezing)
Oh, I'm sorry, mate.
I thought it was somebody else.
I apologise, really, I...
Hitch!
(startling orchestral music)
Go to the truck, Boswell!
(screaming)
(engine rumbling)
Shit.
Boswell!
Look out, mate, look out!
- Watch out for the
dingo, he's vicious!
- That's right!
He'll go straight for your
crotch if you're not careful!
Hey, hey!
If you read about this in
the papers tomorrow morning,
you'll know what it's all about!
(exciting orchestral music)
You gonna go straight
for his crotch, buddy?
That's funny, he's slowin' down.
Maybe he's outta gas.
Maybe this is some
new kinda game.
She doesn't look
too kidnapped to me.
Does she to you, buddy?
What the hell is she doin'?
Psychoanalysin' him?
Hey, you don't think she'd
be stupid enough to try
and blackmail him, do ya?
Well, I don't know, Bozzy.
Maybe we been barkin'
up the wrong tree.
(horn honks)
(foreboding orchestral music)
I told ya, man, I told ya the
first time we picked her up,
she is trouble.
I knew we shouldn't
have done it.
I hope she steals...
Well, at least she
didn't get my wallet.
Now, she's all yours, Mr.
Smith or friggin' Jones.
Whatever your game is.
I mean, let's face it, what
have we got on him anyway,
Boz, huh?
What do we know about him?
I'll tell you what
we know about him.
We know absolutely zilch, nada.
I mean, is it against the
law to dig a friggin' hole
in the desert?
Is it a crime to have a
lunchbox and thump dingoes?
Or put out rubbish bags out
5 o'clock in the morning?
What does that prove?
So, what if he is a murderer
and he's going around
systematically butchering
every female in sight,
and makin' 'em into
tacos, who gives a shit?
If the cops don't care about
it, I tell ya, I don't.
I mean why is it my
responsibility to take care of
road waves?
We are truckers, Boswell,
and from now on we're gonna
truck and I don't wanna
hear another word about it!
(radio murmuring)
- [Radio] This is
the news in brief.
The United Meatworks Federation
still sees no end in sight
to the marathon strike, which
has left most of West
Australia without
fresh supplies of meat.
The spokesperson for the
union denied allegations
that union strong arm tactics
have been used against
the United Meatworks
accountant, Mr. Floyd Day.
Although, it is alleged
that Mr. Day and his family
have fled interstate.
Police in Melbourne and Perth
are seeking the assistance
of motorists in connection
with the disappearance
of 20 year old heiress,
Pamela Rushworth,
daughter of US diplomatic
adviser, Warren Rushworth.
According to Mr. Rushworth,
his daughter is traveling west
with a truck driver
described in his mid 40's.
Police have fears that the
truck driver, whose name
has not yet been released,
may be the same man
wanted in connection with the
disappearance of a missing
Melbourne girl.
Authorities are denying
any positive connection
between the two missing girls,
and the series of macabre
attacks on young female
hitchhikers in Queensland
and New South Whales.
Although, they remind the
public that hitchhiking is
extremely dangerous
and of course, illegal.
Allegations by a senior
medical officer in Sydney today
that drivers who operate
vehicles under the influence
of drugs...
(radio murmuring)
(engine rumbling)
- Maniac.
He cuts 'em up like a Sunday
roast, and the cops are out
lookin' for me.
They got nothing on me.
Nothing.
I'm not worried.
I can prove it.
Well, autopsy,
handwriting expert,
dispatcher.
I was on the road that night.
Hitch.
What was her name?
Pamela, I think it was Pamela.
(Quid thinking) Jesus, I hope
they didn't see. ..No
Cops couldn't have seen her.
What am I going to
do with this truck?
(truck rumbling)
(foreboding orchestral music)
Hitch?
(dog whimpers)
(woman moaning)
(dog whimpering)
(dog whining)
Coward.
(woman moaning)
(woman moaning)
- [Woman] Oh, Harry!
- Harry?
(woman moaning)
Harry and Hitch.
Hitch and Harry.
Didn't even bother
to park the van.
(glass shattering)
(clock ticking)
Boswell!
(whistles)
(truck rumbling)
I honestly thought she
was worth something.
Falls on her back, legs up.
Ready to give a good whack
to the first Tom, Dick,
or friggin' Harry
that comes along.
Oh, they're all the same.
They do it like animals.
No offense, pal.
Forget it, buddy, she isn't
worth a second glance.
(foreboding orchestral music)
Boy, I'll tell ya, I may
have to start taking dope.
I gotta do something do get
rid of these hallucinations.
(startling orchestral music)
Maybe he does make
love to 'em first.
One thing for sure,
I need some sleep.
(soft thumping)
(foreboding orchestral music)
(dog whining)
(thumping)
What's the matter,
buddy? You hear that?
(thumping)
(dog howls)
Oh, great, that's just what
I need for the freakin' meat
just to thaw out.
(dog whines)
What's the matter, buddy?
You know something I don't?
Just hold on, stay here.
(door creaks)
350 pigs.
Four on this side,
four on this side.
(Quid muttering)
20 on this side.
(Quid muttering)
(car rumbling)
352, 350, what's the difference?
We just miscounted, that's all.
- [Voiceover] 350
divided by eight...
- And I forgot to latch
the doors this morning
when I was talkin' to Hitch.
You know what probably happened?
Sam just threw a couple
of extras in by mistake.
- [Voiceover] Sam
doesn't make mistakes.
- Maybe he was a little
pale, I don't know.
He's always taking care
of his friends at Perth.
Happens all the time.
- [Voiceover]
That's 35 times two.
- And the meat at the front
wasn't frozen because...
- [Voiceover] Why?
- Well, we were goin' so damn
fast that the cold air
being heavier, well,
being more dense
just wasn't
circulating, that's all.
- [Voiceover] Hot air
Yeah, that's all.
(anxious orchestral music)
(exciting orchestral music)
Steep descent.
It's all down hill
from here, Harry.
Come on, baby, we're
gaining on 'em.
Come on.
He's slowin' down again.
(van rumbling)
He's run outta gas, I knew it.
Ah, shit.
Hey, Lester!
- Hey there, Quid!
- It looks like you
got some heat tonight.
- Bloody cops.
- Who they lookin' for anyway?
- Ah, always lookin'
for some poor bastard.
Let's get you weighed.
- Right.
(radio murmuring)
- Hey, you are 75 kilos over!
- Really?
- 'Bout the weight
of a hot TV set, eh?
(laughing)
How's the book of
lies? All in order?
- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Listen, Lester, I've got
a kind of priority, urgent
situation--
- Say no more, I
won't hold you up.
Hey, what are you carrying?
- Meat!
- Seems a bit more like
marijuana to me, eh.
Bloody animal, not mine, I
wouldn't have one myself.
No, no, it's a new TRB thing,
they train them to sniff out
marijuana.
- You got me, I confess.
- Crazy bastard, he wouldn't
know pot from pot roast.
- Yeah.
Listen, Lester, I better
get these piggies to market.
- I've got a fresh pot of
coffee on, and you know.
- Oh, thanks, Lester,
that's real nice of ya,
but I'll take a
rain check, okay?
- Oh, right, right.
On your way!
(truck rumbles)
Hold it, Quid!
You got something
wrapped around your axle!
- What is it?
- It's a bunch of wire and shit!
Probably why you're
- Alright, Lester, just let it be.
It'll be alright! Thanks anyway!
- I got some wire
cutters in the office!
It'll only take a second--
- No thanks, Les,
I'll see ya later!
- But you're gonna
bugger up your trailer
unless ya do something!
- Yeah, thanks for the hand!
(Lester shouting)
(foreboding orchestral music)
Sneaky bastard.
(horn honking)
(tyres screeching)
(siren wailing)
Christ, talk about the
meat in a sandwich.
He wants us to follow him.
Okay.
What kinda game is this?
(man muttering)
(horn honks)
(siren wails)
(grinding noise)
(tyres screech)
(glass shattering)
(grinding noise)
- Get on your knees and see
what's happening up there!
(glass shattering)
(horn honking)
(metal clanging)
(dog growling)
(tyres screeching)
(dramatic orchestral music)
(engine revving)
(tyres screech)
(Quid shouts)
(crashing noise)
I got you now, you bastard.
(Quid yelps)
(tumbling)
(Quid grunts)
(glass shattering)
(metal clanging)
(sirens wailing)
(coughing)
Hey, hey, wait a minute!
Hey, wait a minute! Hey!
Hey, wait a minute,
you got the wrong guy!
I'm tellin' ya!
- Stand back, please, keep
this area clear, stand back.
- He rammed me off
the road, he did.
- That man, he tried
to push me off a cliff.
- And he trapped me in a toilet.
(loud uproar)
- Wait a minute,
will you, listen!
I promise you, it's
that guy over there!
Don't let him get away!
(loud uproar)
It's that guy over there!
Jesus.
Hey, look, if you don't believe
me, check the van, will ya?
Just check the van!
(dog barking)
- Is that your dog?
- It's not a dog, he's a...
He barks!
(dog barking)
It's that guy over there,
I'm tellin' ya it's him!
It's him!
Hitch!
- I thought you said
he was in the bathroom!
(crowd murmuring)
- Where do you
think you're gem"?
- I thought you were dead!
- Well, thanks a lot!
You know how long I've been
in this stupid sleeping bag?
- Well, I've had kind of a
rough day myself, thanks!
- Now, just a minute, which
one of these two characters
affected you?
- That one, you jerk!
Me and about 20 others!
- But where are they?
- Why don't you pick
up a shovel and dig up
Nullarbor Plain?
- You okay?
(siren wailing)
It's just when you
pay $100 for a dingo,
you expect to get a dingo.
Jesus, $100,000 worth of damage.
- I just can't believe you
actually thought I slept
with the guy.
- And where were you then?
- I told you, I don't know!
I had a sleeping
bag over my head.
(Quid mumbles)
- Thank Christ they were
able to salvage the meat.
- Now what?
- I don't know.
Think about headin' up
north, see if I can get a job
up there.
- Okay-
- You know, something I forgot.
Forgot to tell the police.
That body that they never found,
I thought it was you hangin'
in the back of the truck.
But, uh... (chuckling)
(suspenseful orchestral music)
(screaming)
(western music)