The only reason why I didn't score the FBI vs serial killer thriller, Switchback higher is due to the fact Dennis Quaid is one of the most boring protagonists in the history of boring protagonists. The actors were really interesting. As Goodall and Dixon ride on, building a friendly rapport, Goodall tells the hitchhiker about his son. A few months later a man and cleaning woman are killed at a motel in Amarillo, Texas. Switchback The pursuit of a serial killer drives "Switchback," a standard thriller with a couple of novel touches. The man in custody had Goodall's stolen and abandoned vehicle, and LaCrosse had made it clear that he was not the killer. Police roadblocks ignore mountain roads which are nearly impassable after a blizzard. The case becomes extremely personal to Special Agent Frank LaCrosse when Goodall abducts his young son Andy and murders his babysitter. Full Name These little hints help La Crosse to eventually find his son. Scripter Jeb Stuart (Die Hard) made his directorial debut with this thriller about an FBI agent in pursuit of a serial killer. The two men walk to a small town, planning to catch a train west. Killing people But the killer … Serial homicideKidnapping Sheriff Buck Olmstead is facing a tough battle for reelection, while two grisly murders have just been committed in town. Scripter Jeb Stuart (Die Hard) made his directorial debut with this thriller about an FBI agent in pursuit of a serial killer. FBI agent Frank LaCrosse arrives in Amarillo and tells Olmstead an elusive serial killer is responsible for the murders. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Switchback (1997) directed by Jeb Stuart • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd Letterboxd — Your life in film Dennis Quaid is an FBI agent on the trail of the serial murderer who kidnapped his son. LaCrosse grieves, believing that his son is lost forever. But, with LaCrosse on his trail, Goodall reveals himself as the killer. Switchback is a standard serial killer based thriller that flopped at the box office. Goodall is an elusive serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least eighteen victims and rising. He also worries that cooperating with the suspended FBI agent might cost his own job. Switchback holds a 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 25 reviews and a 6.4 on IMDB. Amarillo's sheriff, Buck Olmstead, is up for reelection. As Goodall and Lane board the train that Frank had located, one of Goodall's contacts unintentionally makes Lane suspicious of Goodall once again. Bob Goodall is the main antagonist in the 1997 film Switchback. But who is the killer? The killer slices open another man's leg, causing him to bleed to death quickly. The sequence of events are so hard to follow that this reviewer wanted to “switchback” to the previews to find out what was going on. The other involves Sheriff Buck Olmstead (R. Lee Ermey) of Amarillo, Texas, and Frank LaCrosse, the FBI agent (Dennis Quaid) who … The pair fight and end up falling out of the carriage onto a large metal beam protruding from the side of the train. He is following the clues of a brutal … "Switchback" has been ranked 5865 times, wins 34.52% of the time on Flickchart, and is currently ranked #7574 of the best movies of all-time. The whole thing came together for me. As Glover and Leto travel we are treated to some gorgeous, snowy Colorado scenery, captured nicely by DOP Oliver Wood. None The search leads FBI man Frank LaCrosse (a dour and two-dimensional Dennis Quaid) to Amarillo, Texas, where he picks up the trail of two key suspects who are heading north towards the snowy mountains of Colorado. He's dull, like giant box of rocks dull. Politically ambitious Amarillo police chief Jack McGinnis (William Fichtner) uses a local murder to gain votes in his campaign, a setback for Sheriff Buck Olmstead (R. Lee Ermey), up for re-election. Origin A serial killer is on the loose. Like serial killers? Although Goodall is friendly and courteous towards Lane, he mercilessly kills several of his own acquaintances after realizing they could be a potential threat to him. Where is the child hidden? Her murder being the hallmarks of a elusive enigmatic serial killer whose slaughter spree...stretches nearly two years. Goodall begins to lose his grip and Frank attempts to save him, knowing he's the only person who knows where his son is. An FBI agent tracks his son's kidnapper to Amarillo, Texas, where two lawmen are seeking to use the case in their election bid. A woman is killed while babysitting a young boy; the killer takes him when he leaves the house. Kill random victimsTenor FBI agent Frank LaCrosse into tracking him down after kidnapping his son Bob Goodall is revealed to be the serial murderer when he stabs mechanic Clyde 'Shorty' Callahan, Lane Dixon learns he's a killer when he slashes train engineer Tex Monroe. LaCrosse confronts Dixon, who protests his innocence. Powers/Skills It stars Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover, Jared Leto, R. Lee Ermey, Ted Levine and William Fitchner. The story was too, and the location shots were very good. Goodall discovers that the police was searching for a white Cadillac and, while driving through the mountains with Lane, pretends to accidentally crash his car over a cliff in order to remove any connections to him. Music is by Basil Poledouris and cinematography by Oliver Wood. The tactics of the FBI agent concern Olmstead at first, particularly after finding out LaCrosse's personal conflict. He had been wanted by the FBI for many years, but they were incapable of capturing him. The killer isn't out to make new friends. Frank LaCrosse catches up to the train both of them are on and since he mistakes Lane for his suspect he ends up letting Bob a chance to slice Lane's throat. Dixon, thrown free in the snow, climbs through the passenger window and cuts Goodall free. We see a flashback of a man being shot … Switchback is written and directed by Jeb Stuart. Laughing maniacally as he slides uncontrollably down the snowy slopes, Goodall is finally impaled on a broken tree branch, killing him and ending his murderous spree for good. Meanwhile, hitchhiker Lane Dixon is picked up by Bob Goodall, an affable drifter driving a white Cadillac. Politically ambitious Amarillo police chief Jack McGinnis (William Fichtner) uses a local murder to gain votes in his campaign, a setback for Sheriff Buck … As he continues downhill, a broken branch of a fallen tree impales and kills him. Dixon is suggested as a prime suspect in the murders. FBI agent Dennis Quaid tries to catch a serial killer who kidnapped his son. Meanwhile, Frank gathers as much information as he can on his son's kidnapper and pieces together the clues of Goodall's puzzle, which leads him to a train that Goodall and Lane intend to board. Dixon cannot speak since Goodall slit his throat, but he realizes Goodall gave him a clue to the boy's whereabouts and writes in the dust on the floor of the train. The plot of the movie is almost as encryptic as the clues that are sent. The authorities discover the driver of the white Cadillac at the last murder scene fits Dixon's description. An under-rated top-notch serial killer thriller. agent Frank LaCrosse returns home to find his home has been broken into, his son is missing and Missy the babysitter is lying in a pool of her own insides. Goodall kills Tex, proving to Dixon that Goodall is the killer. Switchback is a 1997 action thriller about a desperate FBI agent on the hunt for a savage serial killer who has kidnapped his son. A few months later a man and cleaning woman are killed at a motel in Amarillo, Texas. agent named Frank LaCrosse (Dennis Quaid) goes home to encounter has been broken into and his son is missing. Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. Both he and his opponent, police chief Jack McGinnis, desire to solve a big murder case before election day. Initially, Goodall is presented as a merciful individual with an eccentric choice of interior car decoration (his white Cadillac consisting of many pornographic images). More Horror, Serial Killers and Movies DVDs available @ DVD Empire. Dixon knocks Goodall down just as LaCrosse enters the railroad car. Nobody mentions Goodall. F.B.I. Lane manages to take Goodall by surprise and overpower him just as Frank reaches their carriage, who automatically believes that Lane is the killer he's been searching for. [3][4] The film grossed $6.5 million in the US and had a budget of $38 million. Mountain scenery? Staring William Fichtner, R. Lee Ermey, Jared Leto and Ted Levine. Ebert found the setting and the minor characters, like Ermey's sheriff, the most charming parts of the film, concluding, "What we have here is a potentially good movie swamped by the weight of Hollywood formulas it is forced to carry". Goodall leaves a cryptic note for Frank to find, giving him subtle clues as to how to get his son back. They fight until Goodall grabs Dixon, holding a knife at his throat and taunting LaCrosse, who attacks. But who is the killer? [5] However, both Holden and Roger Ebert praised the film's atmosphere, especially its location shots. Then this is the film for you, I declare. Tex becomes suspicious when Goodall hands him matches from the Amarillo motel where the two murders happened. [2], Stephen Holden of The New York Times describes the film as "a disorganized mess". Goodall holding a hostile man at gunpoint, Goodall conversing with Lane during a drive through the mountains, Goodall looking at old photos in his friend's garage, Goodall preparing to silently murder a defenseless shop owner, Goodall meeting with several old acquaintances at a bar, Goodall preparing to set out on his journey with Lane, Goodall trying to convince Lane that he is not the serial killer on the news, Goodall being forced to reveal his true nature to Lane, Goodall meets his demise after being impaled on a broken tree branch. Occupation But the killer is setting the trap.. FBI agent Dennis Quaid tries to catch a serial killer who kidnapped his son. Serial Killer, Tenor FBI agent Frank LaCrosse into tracking him down after kidnapping his son. The car is wedged against a bushy tree on the cliff edge, with Goodall trapped in the driver's seat. Politically ambitious Amarillo police chief Jack McGinnis (William Fichtner) uses a local murder to gain votes in his campaign, a setback … Dixon overhears men saying that the murderer is driving a white Cadillac. Danny Glover has picked up hitchhiker Jared Leto and both are trying to outrun trouble and a winter storm. The note includes other clues which are later revealed. After his son is kidnapped by a notorious serial killer, FBI agent Frank LaCrosse (Dennis Quaid) travels to Amarillo, Texas, where he believes the murderer is in hiding. Switchback on DVD (097363312079) from d. Directed by Jeb Stuart. He willingly gives a ride to a hitchhiker named Lane Dixon and after saving him from several hostile men at a bar, they begin to travel together. LaCrosse has a cryptic note from the killer saying that to find his son, he will have to kill him first. Switchback is so faultily scripted in places that it really has no right being as entertaining as it is, but such is indeed the case. He was portrayed by Danny Glover. Switchback (1997) What is the title, a play on another book title, of the modern novel concerning a writer called Thursday, her teenage son Friday and a serial murderer in the book world, and Thursday's attempts to prevent the killer from killing her? Bob Goodall is the main antagonist in the 1997 film Switchback. Type of Villain However, Lane later hears a news report based on the killer's Cadillac and immediately suspects Goodall, though Goodall manages to convince him otherwise and they continue their journey. Switchback is an interesting and atmospheric thriller which centres around an FBI agent's attempts to find a serial killer who kidnapped his son. A 1997 thriller film, Switchback revolves around the hunt for an elusive serial killer. And he’s kidnapped the son of the FBI agent pursuing him. Storyline. Switchback (originally titled "Going West in America") is a 1997 American thriller film written and directed by Jeb Stuart. As a F.B.I. BLTs? Goodall drops off the train laughing, unhurt, sliding backwards on his backside down a snowy slope. https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Bob_Goodall?oldid=3534037. IntelligenceElusiveness Yes there is a Serial-killer but we're not talking Quentin Tarantino here. FBI agent Frank LaCrosse (Quaid) is tracking a serial killer who he believes kidnapped his young son. The killer stabs and kills an auto mechanic (not seen). Alias Throughout the movie, La Crosse receives clues from the killer/kidnapper. Hobby He asks Dixon to look after the boy if anything happens to him. Switchback subtitles. What is the difference between a serial killer and a spree killer? Crimes Both he and his opponent, police chief Jack McGinnis, desire to solve a big murder case before election day. Switchback is an interesting and atmospheric thriller which centres around an FBI agent's attempts to find a serial killer who kidnapped his son. Reconciled, Goodall and Dixon catch the train and ride in a car with Tex, another friend of Goodall's. Knowing this time his cover has been well and truly blown, Goodall stabs his contact to death and reveals his true nature to Lane. He reminds LaCrosse that he must kill him to locate his son. Bob Goodall Dixon agrees, and Goodall gives him the boy's address. The fight moves out onto the snow-scraper, a large metal beam on the side of the train. At a mechanics' shop where his car has been repaired, he kills again, drawing a knife on the mechanic, actually an old friend and former co-worker, because he spots a state trooper checking out the white Cadillac. He suspects Goodall, but his suspicions are allayed when newly elected sheriff McGinnis puts out an erroneous radio announcement that the killer has been arrested. Evil-doer Unseen by Dixon, he kills his friend to silence the potential witness who could link him to the car. A woman is killed while babysitting a young boy; the killer takes him when he leaves the house. [6], https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119210/?ref_=tt_urv, FILM REVIEW; A Serial Killer Who Just Seems So Darned Nice, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Switchback_(film)&oldid=995444735, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 21 December 2020, at 02:04. The hunter is tracking the killer. As Lane is about to explain the situation to him, Goodall rises and attacks Frank. AKA: Going West, Going West in America, Zig Zag, Secuestro. Politically ambitious Amarillo police chief Jack McGinnis (William Fichtner) uses a local murder to gain votes in his campaign, a setback for Sheriff Buck Olmstead (R. Lee Ermey), up for re-election. An FBI agent quickly arrives named … He faults Quaid for being too dour and Glover for being too likable. The search leads FBI man Frank LaCrosse (a dour and two-dimensional Dennis Quaid) to Amarillo, Texas, where he picks up the trail of two key suspects who are heading north towards the snowy mountains of Colorado. Directed by Jeb Stuart, "Switchback" (also known as "Linea di sangue") is an Action/Mystery/Thriller film, released on October 31 of 1997 in the USA .Claudia Stedelin is starring, alongside Ian Blake Nelson, Brent Hinkley, R. Lee Ermey, Ted Levine and Louis Schaefer.. The killer, Bob Goodall (Glover), has tricked the FBI into pinning his 18 murders on another man, but Frank, who’s been after him for 18 months, knows better. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. The hunter is tracking the killer. The trouble is, he's too likable. With powerful performances by Quaid and Glover, Switchback zigzags through sensational thrills and surprises around each turn. Today’s Netflix pick is an underrated thriller that got lost in the shuffle of some bigger films of the late 90s and didn’t get the audience it deserves. Goals SwitchBack (DVD) : A serial killer is on the loose and he's kidnapped the son of the FBI agent pursuing him. Olmstead discovers that LaCrosse has been taken off the case because the kidnapped boy is his son Andy. Lane, thinking that Bob's the killer, aims a gun at him and then fires it once (but doesn't hit him). LaCrosse lands on top of the moving train. When the paths start to converge and the snow begins to close off all avenues of escape, there's no way of knowing how this road trip is going to end. Goodall ambushes LaCrosse from behind. Amarillo's sheriff, Buck Olmstead, is up for reelection. Goodall's overconfident driving along the treacherous icy backroads causes the car to careen off the side. Scripter Jeb Stuart (Die Hard) made his directorial debut with this thriller about an FBI agent in pursuit of a serial killer. It's not a bad film but it never delivers on its potential. Danny Glover, an actor who doesn't lack for charm, is as badly miscast as Bob Goodall, a serial killer whom almost everybody seems to like. One involves a long car journey through the west by Bob, a former railroad worker (Danny Glover) and Lane (Jared Leto), a hitchhiker with a secret in his past. [25] Dalle indagini passate, la polizia sapeva che il BTK Killer aveva una Jeep Cherokee nera. That frees LaCrosse to jump Goodall. However, Goodall confidently tells Frank that the only way he will find his son is if he kills him, before inevitably slipping off the train. Goodall then saves Dixon after the younger man nearly falls to his death retrieving his backpack from the car. Meanwhile, hitchhiker Lane Dixon is picked up by Bob Goodall, an affable drifter driving a white Cadillac. As the two men battle, hanging onto the beam, Goodall's grip slips. If Jeb Stuart's film "Switchback" is a disorganized mess in many departments, its passion for the mystique of trains is palpable. Goodall cuts Dixon's throat, but not fatally. He had been wanted by the FBI for many years, but they were incapable of capturing him. Serial killer Scripter Jeb Stuart (Die Hard) made his directorial debut with this thriller about an FBI agent in pursuit of a serial killer. Scripter Jeb Stuart (Die Hard) made his directorial debut with this thriller about an FBI agent in pursuit of a serial killer. LaCrosse teams up with the reluctant Amarillo sheriff's department to continue his investigation. Politically ambitious Amarillo police chief Jack McGinnis (William Fichtner) uses a local murder to gain votes in his campaign, a setback for Sheriff Buck … The location travelogue of the story is most impressive, especially the last third once we get to the snowy mountains of Colorado, but it's the scenery that grips and holds the attention more than the plot. 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