Chicago gone, Maury hires a young fan named Ted, an aspiring country singer, to be his new driver. Rosamond, feeling distraught over Bridgeway's death, tells Ted that she wants to go home but doesn't have any money to go back. The local police and district attorney come to Maury's motel to bring him in for questioning over Bridgeway's death. He makes a dash for the Cadillac. With Ted in the back seat and Maury driving the car, Maury suffers a heart attack and dies behind the wheel. The film ends with Ted, who survives the crash but is badly injured, running out of a wooded area looking for help. Cast Reception Peter Schjeldahl of The New York Times called it "a brilliant, nasty little chrome-plated razor blade of a movie ... a 'road picture' that is not, for once, a sentimental odyssey, but rather a clear-eyed study of people whose lives are linked to the road, how they behave and what becomes of them. Its clarity is what makes it so extraordinary. It is a work of such dead-honest realism that it is hard to know how, except as a kind of literal truth, to take it." Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called it "a topnotch melodrama which explores incisively one of the dimmer aspects of the backstage pop music scene. Director Daryl Duke's feature debut is outstanding." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "While backstage dramas are nothing new and we have been shown the sneer behind the starry grin often enough, in 'A Face in the Crowd' and elsewhere, 'Payday' explores the Nashville-centered world of country with an easy authenticity which makes this nothing like a repetition of what has been before." The film was named one of The Best 1000 Movies Ever Made by The New York Times. DVD Payday was released by Warner Bros. on DVD January 8, 2008. See also List of American films of 1973 References External links 1973 films 1973 drama films American drama films Country music films Films directed by Daryl Duke Films scored by Ed Bogas Films shot in Alabama Selma, Alabama Cinerama Releasing Corporation films 1973 directorial debut films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films