Bullet Points: Detour to Terror (1980)
Up until a few weeks ago, if you had asked me what Lorenzo Lamas’ first action movie was, I would have answered with 1989’s Snake Eater. That is because up until a few weeks ago I had no idea that 1980’s Detour to Terror existed.
Detour to Terror was a made for TV movie that was produced by and starred O.J. Simpson, fresh off his illustrious NFL career and arguably at the height of his mainstream popularity…
- A Wrong Turn at Albuquerque: O.J. Simpson played Lee Hayes, a bus driver for Golden West Tours. Lee is getting ready to take a bus full of tourists from Albuquerque to Las Vegas… we meet Lee, tour guide Harry Edwards (Arte Johnson) and some of the passengers in the opening minutes of the movie as they prepare to hit the road. There’s Mr. and Mrs. Brain (no relation), there’s football star Kurt (Rick Hill, Deathstalker), there’s a newlywed couple, a couple of old lady card sharks, a guy named Mr. Finch who is packing a gun for some reason, and a clean cut gentleman named Neil played by Randall Carver, who I recognized from the first season of Taxi. Bus 7204 hits the road and trouble isn’t far behind…
- The Wheels Are In Motion: There are a trio of baddies looking to hijack Bus 7204. It seems they are very interested in one passenger in particular. We meet one of the baddies, Jamie (Lorenzo Lamas, Renegade), posing as a technician to gain access to the computer at the Flagstaff bus terminal. While the employees believe he is doing a systems check, Jamie is actually making it appear that the planed run Bus 7204 was to take from Albuquerque to Las Vegas was canceled. Which means no one will be looking for a missing Bus 7204… very clever! After that scene, we cut to Bus 7204 on a busy stretch of road and then we see a pair of dune buggies. I’d like to point out that it was the movie synopsis on IMDb that convinced me to give Detour to Terror a chance… and that synopsis read “A homicidal dune-buggy trio terrorizes a busload of Las Vegas bound tourists with the intent to kidnap one of them.” …if you can read something like that and not want to watch, you have much higher standards than me. The dune buggies force Bus 7204 off the road, but fortunately the seasoned pro, Lee Hayes, is able to get them out of that predicament and back on the road relatively quickly.
- Pit Stop: The bus makes a pit stop and it is there that Jamie buys himself a ticket and joins the tourists as they make their way to Las Vegas. But during a rousing rendition of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”, Jamie makes his way to the front of the bus and orders Lee to pull off the highway and take a detour to terror… Lee objects at first, then Jamie shows him his gun. But Lee isn’t the only one that sees the gun, Mr. Finch notices it too and he gets up and pulls his gun on Jamie… but before you know, Finch is shot in the back by the wolf in sheep’s clothing that was Neil! As they get further in the desert, Jamie takes the wheel and starts doing donuts… discombobulating and disorienting everyone on board. And that’s about the time we meet the third member of the “homicidal dune-buggy trio” Larry, played by the ubiquitous Thomas Rosales Jr. It turns out the passenger they are after is Mrs. Brain… but what they don’t know is “Mrs. Brain” isn’t actually Mrs. Brain, she’s actually the “other woman” in Mr. Brain’s life. The actual Mrs. Brain is the heiress to a fortune aka the perfect pawn for a ransom scheme.
- From Bad to Worse: Once they snatch up “Mrs. Brain” the terrible trio then rob all the other passengers and do their best to disable the bus. They then hop in their dune buggies with “Mrs. Brain” and take off for their hide out, leaving the passengers and crew of Bus 7204 to fend for themselves in the middle of the desert… It is here that Lee Hayes’ military background kicks in as he “rallies the troops” and lays out a gameplan… through teamwork and the will to survive, Lee and his passengers are able to get the bus up and running again, just in time for the “homicidal dune-buggy trio” to return after realize they didn’t actually kidnap Mrs. Brain and that Mr. Finch had a stamp worth $90,000 on him. This leads to a big action finale featuring a desert chase between the bus and the dune buggies!
In hindsight, seeing O.J. Simpson in a likable and heroic role is more than a bit cringy. Even cringier is the fact that Nicole Brown Simpson has a small part as one of the bus passengers. I noticed her when she was boarding the bus after the big final chase. But looking at Detour to Terror with a 1980 lens, O.J. Simpson being the hero in a made for TV action movie makes total sense.
As far as the movie itself, I’ve seen better made for TV movies, BUT I’ve also seen worse. Seeing a young and villainous Lorenzo Lamas was fun. The action comes in brief spurts, but it delivers when it’s there. If anything Detour to Terror made me think there should have been more movies with dune buggies in them. Kind of like how I think there should be more Bullet Points in reviews…
- If You Ever: …thought a movie should start with footage of a bus going through the “bus wash”, then Detour to Terror is the movie for you.
- Directed By: Michael O’Herlihy was the director of Detour to Terror. O’Herlihy is the brother of Dan O’Herlihy (aka The Old Man from RoboCop) and the uncle of Gavan O’Herlihy (aka Fraker from Death Wish 3)… O’Herlihy had a long career directing for the small screen including episodes of Hunter, The A-Team, The Fall Guy, and The Equalizer.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see The Deathstalker playing cards with some old ladies, then Detour to Terror is the movie for you.
- Tough Competition: According to the Internet, Detour to Terror originally aired on February 22, 1980 on NBC. Over on ABC that night was the famed “Miracle on Ice” with the United States Olympic hockey team upsetting the Soviets!
- If You Ever: …wanted to see The Deathstalker totally humiliated by Lorenzo Lamas, then Detour to Terror is the movie for you.
