Highwaymen (2004)

Director:

Robert Harmon

Writers (WGA):

Craig Mitchell (written by) &
Hans Bauer (written by)

Release Date:

19 February 2004 (Puerto Rico)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Terror hits the road

Plot:

Rennie Cray (Caviezel) embarks on a bloodthirsty rampage to avenge the death of his wife who was struck down by a serial killer - a man who hunts and kills women using his '72 El Dorado.

Plot Keywords:

Death | Serial Killer | Headlights | Hit And Run | Murder

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

James Caviezel	...	James 'Rennie' Cray (as Jim Caviezel)
Rhona Mitra	...	Molly Poole
Frankie Faison	...	Will Macklin
Colm Feore	...	Fargo
Gordon Currie	...	Ray Boone
Andrea Roth	...	Alexandra Farrow
Noam Jenkins	...	Kelt
Toby Proctor	...	Rookie
James Kee	...	Trauma Counselor
Guylaine St-Onge	...	Olivia Cray (as Guylaine St. Onge)
Joe Pingue	...	Long Hair Mechanic
Martin Roach	...	Detective
Ron Bell	...	Semi Driver
Paul Rutledge	...	Pickup Driver
Kelly Jones	...	Pickup Passenger

Also Known As:

Pourchassé (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, some gore and brief language.

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Germany:16 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:18 | USA:R | Finland:K-15

Filming Locations:

Bakersfield, California, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Goofs:

Continuity: When the bad guys' car is seen in the tunnel it has blackened windows. In the end at the hotel it does not.

Quotes:

Will Macklin: You're just driving...
James 'Rennie' Cray: ...He prefers major highways, see he likes to speed. With fall coming, he'll stick pretty much to the western/southwestern states. He has a sixth sense for hick towns with speed traps and manages to avoid them. He loves tunnels, drive through restaurants. He hates drawbridges, will go miles out of his way to avoid one. Used to stop for repairs too, but he's gotten pretty good at taking care of that himself. You can patch a punctured lung just as easily as a flat tire.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Feast (2005)

not another "Hitcher," but still pretty entertaining...

"Highwaymen" marks the return of director Robert Harmon and composer Mark Isham to the subgenre of road-film terror they all but established in 1986's landmark horror film, "The Hitcher." Whereas that film coasted on the ambiguity of Eric Red's minimalist script and the bizarre chemistry between a psychopath (Rutger Hauer) and his victim (C. Thomas Howell), "Highwaymen" is a much 'cleaner' version of that film--cleaner in terms of cinematography, violence, and overall appearance. It's an extremely glossy production with well-choreographed action and razor-sharp editing that places you in the midst of chaos rather than just assaulting your senses. Jim Caviezel's jaded victim exudes the right notes of obsession and exhaustion, and Rhona Mitra's pseudo-Sandra Bullock looks go a long way as she joins up to hunt down Fargo (Colm Feore, looking like a refugee from David Cronenberg's "Crash"), a killer who uses his souped-up 1972 El Dorado as a weapon. As he did in "The Hitcher," Harmon shows confident skill in photography, editing, and the decision to keep villain Fargo off camera for the first hour, thereby upping the suspense considerably. Isham's musical score sets a proper mood and is just as effective as his previous work. Where "Highwaymen" comes up short is in its straightforward, bare-bones story (padded out somewhat by the addition of Frankie Faison's traffic investigator); clocking in at a paltry 81 minutes (including end credits), one gets the impression that characters could have been developed further and more action sequences could have been infused into the film. As it stands, "Highwaymen" is in too much of a hurry, but remains a diverting, fine-tuned thriller all the same.