Tales from the Crypt (TV Series) King of the Road (1992) User Reviews

Bringing the champ out of retirement

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 28 July 2013]

Brad Pitt is certainly evil in this episode from Tales From The Crypt, evil but certainly charismatic, not unlike the performance he gave in Kalifornia one of his early successes. No doubt that he would become a big star.

In this episode Pitt is a drag racing legend, but feels his success would not be complete without taking on the more legendary Iceman who disappeared from the scene with a manslaughter charge hanging over him as a result of one of his drag races.

Pitt has tracked him down and it turns out to be a local sheriff played by Raymond J. Barry. To get Barry to meet him, Pitt romances then kidnaps his daughter Michelle Bronson.

Pitt truly dominates this episode and one of them meets a hellish end satisfying the supernatural aspects of this series. A must for fans of Brad Pitt.

Young punk vs. old racing legend. It's King of the Road!

[blanbrn · 6/10 · 7 August 2006]

Several years ago when I first saw this episode of "Tales From The Crypt" I felt after the viewing this was one of the better ones. At the time I didn't get HBO, but my aunt did and she had recorded this episode off of HBO on VHS tape. When viewing this I knew that Brad Pitt was about at the time to become an up and coming star, this is one of his earliest roles before his movie stardom. So for all of you Pitt fans, and history buffs watch this episode to see Brad Pitt at his wicked best! In "King of the Road", Pitt plays a young cocky punk drag racer, who thinks he's all it, and combined with a lethal wicked nasty attitude makes him a guy not to mess with. But never fear, he finds his match when he tries to goad a cop and a former old-timer racing legend (Raymond J. Barry) into a drag race. This challenge turns out to be not only just for pride nor bragging rights, but for human life! Also this competition is for the cop's daughter's life who has been kidnapped! Let me say Michelle Bronson is good and sexy as a damsel in distress! I wonder why Michelle Bronson didn't get anymore work in Hollywood, because she's very sexy and beautiful I would like to see her again. Well in the end the young punk learns his lesson in the drag race as a legend with wit, and determination always outsmarts risky danger. Remember the good can die young! In my opinion this is one of the best crypt episodes ever, and a must see for Brad Pitt fans, one of his youngest and earliest roles too.

Burning Rubber

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 1 November 2016]

***SPOILERS*** Billy, Brad Pitt, has always wanted to test his skills as a racing car driver by challenging Joe Garrett, Raymond J. Barry,the immortal "King of the Road" who's been hiding out from the law, as a town sheriff no less, since he was involved in a race car accident 15 years ago that he ended up killing someone and left the scene. Tracking down Garrett Billy first blackmails him in threatening to expose his criminal past to get him out of retirement and race him and then when that didn't work kidnaps his daughter Carey, Michelle Bronson,and threaten to murder if he didn't comply.

Having no choice but to accept Billy's challenge Garrett gets his old and in moth balls race car-The Blasck Mumba-tuned up and ready to roll for the big race with Garrett's daughter Carey's life on the line. Billy confident that he'll beat the former "King of the Road" lets Carey go and officiate on the big race but old man Garrett has plans for Billy that have nothing to do with race car driving. But in the road he chose where the race will be run and where the finish line will be.

***SPOILERS***Blazing down the road Billy quickly takes the lead and rushes in the dark, with his headlights on, to his ultimate fate without him knowing, before it was too late, where he's headed for. Not a happy ending for Billy who thought that speed will decide who will be the winner of this "Death Race" only to sadly find out that "Speed Kills" when he hit going full blast the finish line. One of actor Brad Pitt's earlier efforts when he was toted as the new James Dean and in this episode of TFTDS ended up like Dean did in real life.

Alright

[shellytwade · 6/10 · 15 April 2022]

It was interesting to see an early performance by Brad Pitt but it didn't blow me away. This was another non-horror episode so don't expect anything too gothic or chilling but given that it was an okay story to waste a few 30 minutes of your life on.

The worst ever tale from the crypt?

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 19 March 2007]

Tales from the Crypt: King of the Road is set in the small town of Middleton where local Sheriff Garrett (Raymond J. Barry) has a dark past that is about to come back & haunt him, top drag racer Billy (Brad Pitt) wants to race him since Garrett was an undefeated racer nicknamed the 'Iceman' many years go. At first Garrett doesn't bite but Billy is nothing if not persistent & uses any means necessary to get him to race...

This Tales from the Crypt story was episode 9 from season 4, the third of three Tales from the Crypt episodes to be directed by Tom Holland this surely has to be pretty much the worst Tales from the Crypt story there was, I mean I haven't seen all of the 93 episodes that were made but King of the Road has to down there with the worst of them that I have. The script by Randall Jahnson has a lot to do with it, it was based on a story from the 'Two-Fisted Tales' comic book which was published by the people who did the various horror comics Tales from the Crypt stories are usually based upon but it was a different style of comic & just more action orientated than horror or suspense. The only other Tales from the Crypt episodes based on stories from this comic were Yellow & The Showdown which are also considered low points in the show. King of the Road lacks everything that makes Tales from the Crypt usually so good, the whole style, sense of fun & morbid fascination just isn't there, there isn't any twist at the end, the character's are weak & clichéd in a bad way, the story is predictable & dull, it has no horror elements in it at all & is pretty much a waste of 30 odd minutes.

It looks OK & is quite well made with a few minor action scenes, there's no swearing, no nudity & not one single drop of blood which makes me believe the rumour that this episode along with Yellow & The Showdown were made for another series which Fox apparently rejected so HBO brought them & tagged some opening & closing Crypt Keeper (John Kassir) segments on & passed off as an actual tales from the Crypt episode even more. Soon to be Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt stars in this one but it's still not worth watching even for fans of his.

King of the Road is by far the crappiest Tales from the Crypt episode I've seen, your better off giving this one a wide berth as there is far better out there.

Fun change of pace episode

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 24 July 2011]

Cocky young hot rodder Billy (robustly played with appropriately brash swaggering bravado by Brad Pitt) rides into a small town and rises the ire of hard-nosed local sheriff Joe Garrett (a sturdy portrayal by the always fine Raymond J. Barry) by romancing his attractive daughter Carey (a solid and charming performance by fetching brunette Michelle Bronson). Things come to a head when Billy challenges former drag racing champion Joe to a big race. Director Tom Holland, working from a compact script by Randall Johnson, relates the snazzy story at a brisk pace, builds a good deal of tension, and stages the exciting climactic showdown with real flair and skill. Jack Kehler contributes a lively turn in a small, but memorable role as Joe's loyal old mechanic buddy. Gary B. Kibbe's slick cinematography provides an impressive glossy look. Warren Zevon's right-on rollicking score and the roaring trash-rock soundtrack both hit the get-down stirring spot. A rare non-horror entry in the series, this episode is often met with hatred and dismay by hardcore fans, but it's really quite a neat and entertaining little ride just the same.

One of the worst episodes

[hnt_dnl · 1/10 · 25 September 2022]

Re-visiting this series, I decided to get through every episode regardless. This one is making me regret that decision! LOL Maybe it's because I don't like Brad Pitt and think he's one of the most overrated actors in history, but this was a difficult one to watch. I don't know if actually saw it first run when I was younger and given how bad it is, I probably wanted to wipe it from my memory. Pitt actually did a lot of TV stuff in his younger years like appearances on Dallas, Growing Pains and also this Crypt episode KING OF THE ROAD. This episode kind of confused me. Was Pitt's character the re-incarnation of the guy that the Sheriff (played by Raymond J. Barry, a veteran actor that I actually do like and respect) killed 27 years prior? Was he a ghost? I really didn't care because Pitt's awful acting threw me off for the entire episode. Pitt has this acting style that I've always found grating with his monotone delivery even when he's playing offbeat characters. He played this drag racing character slimy and creepy almost for no good reason other than to be slimy and creepy. It just didn't work. There was zero chemistry between Pitt and the actress playing the Sheriff's daughter. Why did Pitt's character blackmail the Sheriff AND kidnap his daughter? The threat of going to prison for his past crime should have been incentive enough for him to agree to the race. Also, this episode somehow looked cheaper than most other episodes. I was expecting the Sheriff to either die or pay for his past crime in the end, but looks like he got away with it. Pitt's character just blows himself up...the end. Not surprising one of the worst episodes of the series features Brad Pitt.

Much better episode than what is given credit for

[bellino-angelo2014 · 9/10 · 27 June 2021]

Billy (Brad Pitt in an early role) is a cocky hot rod racer that one day learns that Sheriff Joe Garrett was himself a hot rod racer and decides to challenge him. Garrett refuses but Billy has a plan: kidnapping his daughter so that he is forced to come out of ''retirement'' and doing the race. They go for the race but unfortunately Billy loses; when Garrett comes out of the car Billy says ''You should have lost'' and throws the lighter on the trail of gasoline making his car with him in explode (and Joe and his daughter leave the scene in time).

I really loved the episode despite the ending because when it was over I thought that Billy shouldn't have messed with Joe in the first place. The soundtrack was very cool and looked like picked from many of those years' movies such as THELMA & LOUISE (quite fitting considering that Brad Pitt had his break with that movie). Another must see.

"I don't know who you are, but I don't like you."

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 3/10 · 24 October 2015]

This is a pretty standard and weak Crypt story that meanders about from beginning to end and never kicks off, and it doesn't even belong in this series anyway because it's not horror, it's a total unthrilling thriller. And that's what I don't like about it, there's nothing in it at all that particularly stands out as even slightly macabre! If you'd like to see something that's genuinely creepy involving the open road, you go check yourself out the Hitchhiker segment from Creepshow 2! This is pretty terrible to me, but I guess it could possibly be a little more enjoyable if you're a big car fan.. It's about a no-good psycho punk named Billy who wants to be the new king of nitty-gritty drag racing, so he forces the old retired champ, "The Iceman" out of retirement by first seducing and then threatening the life of his daughter - only to his cost does he underestimate the skill of his more experienced foe and learns the real meaning of going out in a blaze of glory! Oh wow, the most notable thing about this effort is that it features Brad Pitt's face not that long before it hit the big time! He really was kinda sexy in a cocky little roughneck bastard kind of way. He sure did play underhanded scuzzy creep exceptionally well. It's definitely him.. It's uh, pretty weird when he does that tongue thing at a guy..no? Heh.. Just flipping monstrously mundane garbage, the only part of it that I really enjoy is when Iceman punches Billy's smirking face in! This was a change of pace that the show was never asking for. Fact is at this point it was positively crying out for the tried and trusted style of great old fashioned tales that made it so special in the first place. Pretty dang p**s-poor!