Main Cast: Sam Neill, Bernard Kearns, Nevan Rowe, Ian Mune, Ian Watkin
Release Year: 1977
Country: NZ
Run Time: 107 minutes
Plot
Director Roger Donaldson's directorial debut was also a breakthrough film for New Zealand filmmakers, being the first film from New Zealand to open in the United States. Sam Neill stars as a man named Smith who lives in a near future of economic collapse in New Zealand. Smith is a husband who discovers that his wife has been having an affair. Unable to deal with it, he decides to move out and live by himself. But the precarious political chaos in New Zealand has created a right wing backlash, with repressive government forces murdering opponents to the government's policies. Smith finds himself joining a group of freedom fighters that sets out to preserve democracy. Opposing Smith and the freedom fighters are the government thugs and an apolitical soldier of fortune named Willoughby (Warren Oates). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Don Selwyn - Taupiri; Tommy Tinirau - Old Maori Man; Bill Johnson - Cousin; Roger Oakley - Assassin Leader; Clyde Scott - Jesperson; Dorothy McKegg - Gloria's Mother; Tony Groser - Gloria's Father; Davina Whitehouse - Elsie; Bill Julliff - Burton; Donna Akersten - Mary; Warren Oates - Willoughby; Ken Smith - Special 3
Credit
Craig McLeod - Costume Designer, Roger Donaldson - Director, Ian John - Editor, David Calder - Composer (Music Score), Murray Grindlay - Composer (Music Score), Mathew Brown - Composer (Music Score), Michael Seresin - Cinematographer, Roger Donaldson - Producer, Geoff Murphy - Special Effects, Craig McLeod - Sound/Sound Designer, Ian Mune - Screenwriter, Arthur Baysting - Screenwriter, Karl Stead - Book Author
A political thriller with action film elements, it follows the lead character "Smith" (Neill) as New Zealand plunges into a police state as a fascist government institutes martial law after industrial disputes flare into violence. Smith gets caught between the special police and a growing resistance movement and reluctantly becomes involved.
The scene in which Sam Neill ("Smith") escapes the police van and runs off into the crowded street was filmed without formal permission from the police. When Neill's stunt double ran from the van, an off-duty police officer tackled him, mistaking the stuntman for a real criminal attempting to escape custody. The stuntman had to point out the camera crew to get the officer to release him.
In the scene where Warren Oates steps out of his jeep and meets "Smith", he is actually holding a page of the script, fearing that he'd forget the lines. Oates acted as if the paper was a list of directions to the hotel.
