Backroads (1977) [N/A]
Featuring:
Bill Hunter, Gary Foley, Zac Martin
Written by:
Josephine Emery
Phillip Noyce
Directed by:
Phillip Noyce
Release Date:
June 27, 1977
Original Title:
Backroads
Alternate Titles:
Back Roads
Genres:
Action | Drama
Production Countries:
Australia
Ratings / Certifications:
N/A
Runtime: 61
Two strangers – one white, one black – steal a car in western NSW and head for the coast. Jack is abrasive, cunning and disparaging about Aborigines. Gary doesn’t really care – he just wants to escape. En route, they pick up Gary’s Uncle Joe, a French hitchhiker and a young woman who’s running away. Their petty crimes escalate as they go, heading towards disaster.
Backroads tells the story of an aimless white drifter, Bill, who has a chance encounter with Aboriginal man Gary. They steal a car, petrol and supplies as they need them. As they travel they pick up another Aboriginal man on the run from an unsuccessful marriage and the bored white wife of a service station owner. A French backpacker joins them for a short while. Always on the run from police, boredom and guns turn into a deadly combination. Backroads is a raw movie packed with powerful political content in the dialogues between Bill and Gary. You learn a lot about Aboriginal culture and white concepts as you travel with the movie's characters. However, Backroads is sometimes too lengthy. It might go well with the aimlessness of the main characters, but might as well be a result of Backroads being the first feature film of director Phillip Noyce.
