The patchy portmanteau Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), a film most would have missed upon initial release, is an intriguing comedic offering; not so much a lost classic as a missing curio of its era.
It tells the story of the fictional town of Ticlaw, Florida: with an economy dependent on passing motorists, the townspeople become alarmed about their future when they learn a proposed freeway will bypass their town completely, leaving them without an exit ramp.
Road Movie Meets Small Town Melodrama
As Ticlaw’s cagey mayor (played by late character actor William Devane) creates increasingly demented schemes to rescue Ticlaw, we simultaneously follow the journeys of various characters heading in its direction – resulting in an odd fusion of road movie and small town melodrama.