A stylish and respectful docu-drama
On 17 November 1978 in Speedway, Indiana, four young Burger Chef employees fail to close-up shop, and the next day the staff do it for them, wiping away the evidence of what was to become nearly half a century-old cold case. Initially thought to be a petty theft, possibly committed by the employees, the bodies of twenty-year-old Jayne Friedt, seventeen-year-old Ruth Ellen Shelton and sixteen-year-olds Daniel Davis and Mark Flemmonds were found two days later in a forest in a nearby county. Though police had suspects, they never had any evidence.
Meanwhile, across the world in Australia, true crime tragic Luke Rynderman took an interest in the case before podcasts were even a thing. He hatched a plan to make a documentary about the murders, perhaps even solve the case, and with the help of his co-director and co-writer Adam Kamien, with The Speedway Murders, he just might have done it.
Was it the gang of Burger Chef robbers who’d hit the other franchise locations around the Indianapolis area? Was it the person who’d been detonating a series of bombs around town? These questions not only prove that Speedway was a volatile place in 1978, but that there were a few threads to follow.
Before the introduction to each theory is examined in this docudrama, Ruth (Davida McKenzie) slops a wet mop onto the floor, Dan (Jo Cumpston) says to his mother on the telephone, ‘I love you, too’ then hangs up and tells the manager on duty, Jayne (Essie Randles) ‘I can stay’, and she then gives him a high five. We see Mark (Nya Cofie) bending down to empty grease from the fryer and Ruth locking up the safe, Mark then taking out the trash.
‘Here we go,’ Dan says despondently and exhaustedly before one of the reenactments, and this is what’s utterly unique to the film: not only do the actors recreate the events of the night, but they also talk to each other about the different theories of what might have happened on that fateful Friday. Alongside interviews with real witnesses, police officers, family members and friends, the four doomed employees walk us through the case. It’s an ultra-clever device that’s both attention-grabbing and agency-giving to the four teenagers, allowing their ‘characters’ to step outside the victim status their deaths thrust them into. They become ghostly – however living and breathing – troubled youths who’d like to get the hell out of their groundhog day in the Burger Chef. At one point, while they’re going over the files of evidence, Jayne says, ‘I just want to go home.’
Not normally a true crime fan – and being an American – I admit I was immediately drawn to The Speedway Murders because of its nostalgia-inducing poster: four teens looking directly at the camera with serious faces, their orange and brown fast-food uniforms of the 70s matching the booths in which they sit, matching the brick wall out the window behind them. Faithful to the smartly styled, time-period poster, Kamien and Rynderman recreated the film’s setting by finding an abandoned Chinese restaurant on Goodwood Road in Adelaide’s Cumberland Park and turned it into the Burger Chef. Punters even walked in off the street hoping to buy burgers. Rynderman spent years hunting down the relics of the burger franchise to ensure the place was as authentic as it could possibly be, finding the real unforms employees wore and the exact cups they served. The film has been both a project of love and obsession, and production designer Jonah Booth-Remmers deserves a standing ovation.
Also nailing it is the all-Australian cast who transport us to America. I didn’t detect a moment of fake accent because I wasn’t ever looking for it. I’d just assumed Kamien and Rynderman had shot the film in America, such was the precision and vibe.
Produced by a South Australian crew, this docudrama should go far. In centring the murdered youth, the film accomplishes so much more than the poster could ever let on, namely a new way to honour the deceased so the sensationalised plot doesn’t shine brighter than the lives that were taken from them.
Reviewed by Heather Taylor Johnson
Originally premiered at the 2023 Adelaide Film Festival under the title Speedway, The Speedway Murders is currently available for streaming on Netflix.
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