The obsession of modern society with the ownership of a personal automobile is a very appropriate subject for satire. One could consider the role of private vehicles as one of the important elements in population control (although limited in its value by the associated medical costs!). Alternatively one could assess the role of the automobile in the atmospheric pollution that threatens dramatic changes of climate which will have a devastating effect on the lives of all of us; or one could look at the long term impact of more and more fertile agricultural land becoming sterilized by the construction of wide concrete freeways. There is plenty of scope for the inventive film maker to deal with such major themes. Instead most of the films dealing with this issue which have been released so far, raise only such trivial concerns as the infatuation of teenagers with acquiring ownership of their own vehicle, or occasionally with the problems associated with 'driving under the influence'. The film Honky Tonk Freeway is a noble exception to this collection of triviata. In it, the director John Schlesinger takes a long and very devastating look at yet another aspect of the automobile culture, the need for small towns to be closely connected to a major highway network if they are not to just fade away.

The film features Ticklaw, a Florida town that has become largely dependent upon the income brought in by short stay tourists heading towards the nearby coast. A new freeway under construction does not provide a promised access junction and the long term implications for the town are serious. The story line is the series of increasingly dramatic steps taken by the town to ensure that it remains an attractive stopping off point for through travellers. The film is a comedy with an edge and with very sharp characterisation. Unfortunately much of it is overdrawn to the point where it almost becomes pure slapstick, and for me this detracts a lot from the message of the film. However, although overlong, it remains quite enjoyable to watch; and the sequences showing an elephant being trained to waterski to entertain the visitors are almost etched in my memory. This could have been a really great film, but unfortunately much of it was so overdrawn that I can only recognise it as a near miss.

I think I've been in the movies.

The freeway scenes were filmed in Orlando, on the East-West Expressway (today known as SR 408.) I worked evenings for a bus company on Division St. (about 20 blocks south of downtown) and one summer night in 1980 I got off work about 1 a.m. and took the East-West Expressway home to Goldenrod (on the east side of town.) Back then, the toll was only 25 cents (man!) and it shaved half an hour off your driving time, so I went up Orange Ave., hung a right on Anderson St. and burned rubber up the entrance ramp. There was some guy standing there with a flashlight and he almost jumped out in front of me to get me to stop, but I swung around him and floored it! I thought "who the H*** is that?" as I swung up onto the Expressway at 65 MPH.

Suddenly I realized something funny was going on... the traffic was bunched together in one giant wolf-pack, and the whole pack was only going about 45. Thinking nothing of it, I just started weaving from lane to lane through the pack, still going at least 65, until I popped out the front and left 'em all in the dust.

It was only later that I found out that the cops had closed the expressway for about 2 hours that night so that they could film a scene in Honky Tonk Freeway! (Everybody was driving 45, but the film was sped up later to make it look like 65 or 70.) I busted right into the middle of their scene, and maybe I messed it up! Maybe they had to re-shoot that scene! To the director, I can only say: sorry!

So, if you see a brand-new pastel-blue 1980 Chevrolet Citation notchback coupe in that scene really hauling butt, it was me!

In the early '80s, I recorded Honky Tonk Freeway from the cable. Since then I have waited, hoping it would be on DVD. Yesterday I found it. It is one of the best humorous character studies I ever saw. The Old Fashioned episode is priceless. At this time (4/28/02) only two have reviewed it. One hated it, the other loved it. If you have a DVD player, either rent it, or buy it as I did.