Freeway (1996) on Netflix
Vanessa Lutz, fourteen, runs from the social worker after her mother's arrest and sets out for the grandmother she has never met. Her car breaks down. Bob Wolverton offers her a ride.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.8/1034,645 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes76%
Trailer
Plot summary
Vanessa Lutz is fourteen and cannot read, and she lives south of Los Angeles with her mother, Ramona, and her stepfather, Larry. Police pick up Ramona in a prostitution sting, and Larry is taken in on charges of drug and child abuse, so the social worker Mrs. Sheets comes to collect the girl. Vanessa runs instead, takes her mother's car, and drives toward Stockton to live with a grandmother she has never met. On the way she visits her boyfriend, Chopper Wood, a gang member, who hands her a gun to sell at her destination. Her car breaks down on the highway. Bob Wolverton, who counsels boys with emotional problems at a school, offers her a ride as far as Los Angeles.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Freeway (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Because the film's limited budget meant prop cars were not freely available, Reese Witherspoon flagged down real passing drivers for the scene where her character solicits them: "they have no idea we're making a movie... People were just like totally taking me seriously. It was really scary."
SPOILER
In Australia the original 104-minute print submitted by Columbia TriStar Home Video was refused classification; the board had already approved a 102-minute cut that removed Bob Wolverton asking Vanessa Lutz for anal sex and a shot of a deceased 91-year-old grandmother with a vase covering her private parts.- Writer and director Matthew Bright said the film underwent multiple edits during post-production and that he was not able to preserve his original version, as Oliver Stone was away in Nepal at the time.
