On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico desert, the two catch a break when a passing truck driver offers Amy a ride to a nearby café to call for help. Meanwhile, Jeff is able to fix the car and make his way to the café, but Amy isn't there. He tracks down the trucker ― who tells the police he's never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff then begins a desperate, frenzied search for Amy.
Acting
Kurt Russell's unraveling desperation is physical, raw, unforgettable.
Direction
Mostow squeezes unbearable tension from empty highways.
Director
Jonathan Mostow
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
J.T. Walsh died months after filming; this became his final screen villain, and he reportedly relished playing pure evil after decades of authority figures.
Released in the paranoid mid-90s, it fed America's fear of rural 'flyover' zones and predatory strangers — the inverse of the romantic road movie.
US
