Death Car on the Freeway 1979

Becky Lyons [Morgan Brittany] is an up-and-coming actress who lands a casting call for an episode of Barnaby Jones. On the way there, a shadowy driver in a dark blue van cuts her off in a near-miss that leaves her shaken. The incident sparks Janette “Jan” Clausen [Shelley Hack], a sharp-witted reporter, to worry that this is more than a random scare and may connect to a prior case involving Lynn Bernheimer [Dinah Shore], a businesswoman who was run off the road months earlier. Jan Smiths through a tape loaned by her husband Ray Jeffries and shares what she suspects with Lt. Haller [Peter Graves], though the police lieutenant balks, declaring there’s only a feeling behind the fear and no solid lead to pursue.

As the mystery deepens, a nurse named Jane Guston [Nancy Stephens] becomes the next victim when a killer—soaked in a haunting country-music vibe from the van—causes a fiery crash that scars her body. Guston’s boyfriend is left to grapple with the aftermath, and Jan learns from the hospital staff that the van’s eerie fiddle sound somehow links the attacks. Lynn Bernheimer [Dinah Shore] later confirms to Jan that she did indeed hear such fiddle music from the van, which earns the killer the chilling nickname “Freeway Fiddler” in the media, spreading fear along the freeways.

To confront the threat, an interagency “Fiddler Task Force” is formed, drawing in the LAPD, LASD, and CHP, with Lt. Haller [Peter Graves] at the helm. Undeterred, Jan publicly pledges to keep pursuing the story and even decides to drive alone on the freeway to test the killer’s limits. Unbeknownst to everyone, the Fiddler has changed his look: a gray repaint and new license plates keep him one step ahead of the authorities. Though this shift costs Jan the chance to break the case first, she remains relentless, interviewing Dr. Rita Glass [Gloria Stroock], a psychologist who helps them piece together the Fiddler’s mindset and possible motives.

Around this time, Jan enlists the help of Mr. Blanchard [Hal Needham], a defensive driving instructor, to add a new dimension to her coverage with a series of driving-school segments. Meanwhile, the killer’s spree continues with another victim, Mrs. Anthony, and the chaos escalates when several police cars are wrecked. The body count climbs to ten, and Haller begins to cast a blameful eye toward the victims themselves, criticizing the circumstances they found themselves in rather than the predator responsible.

Jan’s professional life becomes even more complicated when a coworker, Ralph Chandler [Frank Gorshin], hints at rumors that her continued focus on the Fiddler could jeopardize her job given automakers’ hesitation to advertise on her station. Ray Jeffries [George Hamilton] resurfaces, offering her her old anchor slot back, but she stays steadfast, arguing that consumer safety and accountability in advertising are more important than any ratings war. A tip from an anonymous source points Jan toward a man known only as “John,” and she follows it to a nearby muffler shop where a car club called the Street Phantoms intersects with the chase.

Jan visits the room of John Evans, the man linked to the Fiddler’s alias, only to find Helen Sheel [Harriet Nelson], a blind landlady who keeps the room as a kind of quiet refuge for a man who rarely uses it. She allows Jan to search the space, and the clues converge—photos, news clippings, and car-centric connections—pointing to a dangerous convergence of obsession and mobility.

The net tightens when the Fiddler identifies Jan as a formidable obstacle and begins taunting her by targeting her car. He encounters her on the road, but Jan uses her training and a practiced handbrake turn to steer clear of danger, luring him toward a stretch of highway still under construction. The chase ends in a fiery crash when the Fiddler’s van careens off the unfinished roadway, marking a brutal but decisive end to the killer’s spree.

Across the narrative, Jan’s relentless reporting—backed by the Fiddler Task Force, the insights of Dr. Glass, and the stubborn resilience of Lynn Bernheimer [Dinah Shore] and Becky Lyons [Morgan Brittany]—paints a portrait of a community wrestling with fear, accountability, and the power of the press to shape a safer road ahead. The film weaves together the tension of a high-stakes investigation with character-driven moments—romance, professional ambitions, and the personal costs of chasing a dangerous story on America’s highways.