Backroads (film)
Backroads is a 1977 Australian film directed by Phillip Noyce. Two strangers – one white (Jack), one black (Gary) – steal a car in western New South Wales and drive around the coast. The original characters came from a story by Adelaide writer John Emery, with whom Noyce had worked on a short film. Australian reviews of the film were mixed, and it opened commercially in only one cinema.
Plot
Jack and Gary steal a car and head off around the back roads of Western New South Wales. They pickup a trio of fellow travellers - Gary's uncle Joe, a French hitchhiker and an embittered woman. Joe drunkenly shoots a stranger and they are chased by police. The police arrest Joe and Jack and shoot Gary.
Cast
Bill Hunter as Jack
Gary Foley as Gary
Zack Martin as Joe
Terry Camilleri as Jean Claude
Julie McGregor as Anna
Essie Coffey as Aboriginal Woman
Allan Penney as Shopkeeper
Production
John Emery had written once of Noyce's short films at film school, Caravan Park and pitched him another story, The First Day of Spring about a young aboriginal. They developed the script together.