The Big Steal

I am Danny, and yes, I did have a girlfriend named Joanna who I was desperate to impress. My friends were there too: Alex, who actually was Russian but hung out with a group of Greek petrol heads, did indeed drive a Monaro - a Limited Edition in burgundy - and fancied himself something of a Lothario. My other good mate Peter would hate to have been told he was just a bit nerdy, but he was, and he worked part time at a parking station behind the cinema strip in Sydney while we were studying Engineering and going out and trying to impress the girls and all those things you do when you are 19 or 20.

My parents aren't perhaps quite as eccentric as the parents of the movie Danny, but they are close, and certainly keen on Scrabble and wordplay, and while there wasn't actually a Nissan Cedric in the family (it was actually a Mazda) it was a family in-joke. They also happened to be friends with some of the people involved in making this movie, so stories about my misadventures with the Jaguar, and Joanna and so on obviously got back.

The strangest thing it was then to see the movie, in company with several of the people whose lives were depicted, when it first came out. We had no real inkling of where the story had come from, beyond "hey, it is about a boy with a Jag, like yours". So many scenes I'd lived through (and some I only wished I had) were up there on the screen. And so many in jokes, like the reference to the Jensen Interceptor (which Peter had), and the horror of being caught driving a Volvo. Joanna really did say "nice car - what is it?" and "I'm not really into cars", though to some extent her character is an amalgam of the real Joanna and another girl I went out with (who had a father in the property development game, and who did front me to tell me what he expected and what would happen if I misbehaved with his daughter). The Jaguar really did leave me in the lurch in the middle of the Cross and on several other occasions, and undergo an engine swap, and there's too many others to list. Farkas was a lot like the bloke in the Eastern Suburbs to whom I traded the Mazda on the Jaguar too: Steve Bisley may not have met him but he really nailed the character.

In fact in the end I came out of the cinema thinking "how did they know all about that" and "I didn't think I'd even told Mum and Dad some of that stuff", and with my friends asking the same question. That is how close to the truth it was.

My view of it all is therefore coloured, but I did really enjoy it. It really is a picture of a time I remember with fondness, and in some respects where it didn't quite happen the way it is depicted well, it should have.

I can't believe I have never seen or ever heard about this film before. To impress a girl at his school, a boy trades in his car for a Jaguar from a crooked second-hand car dealer. It was just a good-spirited, funny and delightful film to watch. I also must admit I loved the fact that I have shot a film at that very car park where the boys work, and it was located on the street I used to live, so I have some personal connection to the locations as well. This aside, it is intelligent, amusing, and keeps the pace going throughout the film.

It was the first leading role for Ben Mendelssohn and a spirited performance by Claudia Karvan. It is also good to see Steve Bisley performance. It can be hard for me to shake his role in Police Rescue and Water Rats, but I have seen him in more and more films recently during his early career, and I have to admit he had a substantial part of building up Australian cinema.

Not a horrible film but nowhere near a classic cinema 10 some reviews would have you believe it is.

Not horrible though, just disposable light weight aussie comedy.

It doesn't matter if you like teen movies or not , once you have seen the Aussie version of this genre you will forget all the rest. Ben Mendelson and Claudia Carvan make you fall into the plot as a teen couple from different sides of the school yard who eventually fall in love. However , as with all teenage boys , Danny Clarke (Mendelson) cant resist the fallacy of having to find a way to impress the girl and win her love, and you guessed it , it involves a CAR ! A jaguar no less ! Anyway , with the help of his friends they get the car of his dream only to realize that they have been ripped off by the car yard he bought it from. Needless to say, the girl is not impressed by cars, and the resulting chaos of getting back at the car dealer ends up in a hilarious comedy of everyone chasing each other around. I still remember this film as the one that made me fall head over heels in love with Claudia Carvan.... Didn't You ?

If ever there was a great duo , it would have to be Ben Mendelsohn and Claudia Carvan. This movie is a down to earth , no rubbish , personification of youth in Australia. I have seen this movie many times and still want to see it over and over again. True Blue Aussie humour at its best.