The movie starts. We’re introduced to a young man with a cloud of blond hair. He’s being utterly insufferable from frame one. I have my first thought about the film, ‘I hope this fucking guy isn’t our protagonist’. But, of course, he is, or he’s one of them at least, and let me tell you, it's rough going having this Gerry Blondini kid at the center of the movie for its entirety. Real arduous shit.

This is a modern outlaw narrative turned into a loosely concocted misogynist romp about a couple of entitled man children who, for no observable reason, are just careening through New Zealand without the breaks on and fucking up everyone’s day they come across. It’s formulaic,…

In 1977, the New Zealand film industry was woken by Roger Donaldson’s Sleeping Dogs – the first 35mm feature made with an entirely Kiwi crew, which attracted a large domestic audience. Based on Smith’s Dream by C. K. Stead, the plot involves a man coming to terms with the end of his marriage, who gets drawn into a guerrilla war against NZ’s totalitarian government. One of the writers credited with that adaption is Ian Mune – who co-wrote Goodbye Pork Pie with director Geoff Murphy. Pork Pie’s plot also deals with the end of a relationship leading to anarchy, here John (Todd Berry) pursuing his ex-girlfriend, gets a ride from Gerry (Kelly Johnson) in a stolen British Mini – which…

1st Geoff Murphy

A national comic classic like The Castle that I saw earlier this month, but far more anarchic and laddish. Our two heroes, Pork-Pie and Blondini (as they affectionately refer to each other in true buddy film style) hot foot it across New Zealand’s South Island and spend their time being thorough reprobates in the process. Much drinking, smoking of weed and general merriment ensues, though sadly there are no actual pork pies in sight. What there is, however is a lovely yellow Mini that gradually undergoes a quite violent denuding that nevertheless gives the little beast a strange dignity.

The Mini was always made to be modified; right from its inception people were adding parts to it,…

Viewed with the Amazing Edith's *Collab Film Group*.

To the surprise of many Peter Jackson does not make up the sole representation of the Kiwis. There is apparently this bloke named Geoff Murphy. As I understand it, Goodbye Pork Pie’s three main leads represent important demographics of the New Zealand peoples. While I cannot speak to the accuracy of this, I do find their inherent character traits and group chemistry rather on point. Easily a member of the buddy-road trip genre, these three goofballs revel in their youthful shenanigans as they wander around the far (very far) eastern landscape. The film is like the absurdist skeleton of Slither (1973) meets the commercial sensibility of the Herbie series. This is a…

COLLAB FILM CLUB

An early 80s combo road and buddy movie, this was apparently a big hit in New Zealand, but it frankly didn’t do much for me. Gerry, a frenetic delinquent 19 year old rents a yellow Mini using stolen credit card and drives off on a joy ride to Aukland. There he picks up John, a middle-aged guy whose wife just left him, and decides to take him to Invercargill to pursue his wife, on the other side of the country. A young woman Shirl also joins them. The bulk of the film has them being pursued by the police, with the media ramping up and creating a nationwide audience, rooting for the “Blondini gang”, based on a…

Wikipedia says Pork Pie is Easy Rider meets the Keystone Cops. I would like to substitute Rider with The Sugarland Express. Call me pretentious for saying this, but Pie does not have the same depth as Rider. One is French Wave meeting the American road trip movie, the other is more Kerouacian coming of age.

Kerouac is not a good starting point for Pork Pie though, because Collab watched the film this week as apart of a films of New Zealand theme. Kerouac's stories are not set here. The film is a foundation of New Zealand cinema, it would seem, as it was one of the country's first financially successful films. It put New Zealand on the map.

The country's…

50th movie watched with the Collab Film Club

“This is a story from the pages of History, from an almost forgotten age. The good old days when you could drive your car when ever you pleased, when petrol stations were always open and gas was less than a buck a gallon.”

Jesus, glad that chapter of history is dead. What a nightmare. #fuckcars

Goodbye Pork Pie is a mildly amusing though heavily contrived buddy road trip movie where 19 year old Gerry in Kaitaia steals a wallet so he can rent a car for…reasons, then ends up drifting down to Aukland for…reasons, where he is pulled over by a police officer for not wearing his seatbelt, but while conversing with…