Matt Shea
RubySoho
Morgan Bell
Cibbuano
David O'Connell
Mountain Fog
The Big Steal
November 11th 2009 05:26
Now hardly remembered in some circles, “The Big Steal” was very much the local hit in 1990, picking up three AFI Awards for Best Original Music Score, Best Screenplay, and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.
Revisited almost 20 years later, the film doesn’t hold up quite so well; it’s pace is up and down and a good portion of the script is overwritten. Still, “The Big Steal” was a genre film when the form was quickly disappearing in Australia. It borrows heavily from the blueprint of American classics such as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Say Anything”, but imbues the teenage high jinks with a solid streak of down under culture.
Ben Mendelsohn plays Danny, a young man obsessed with two things: Jaguar motorcars and Joanna (Claudia Karvan), the class paragon of both beauty and brains. Danny’s eccentric parents (Marshall Napier and Maggie King) have little idea about teenage love and would certainly rather he forget about leaping cats, providing him instead on his birthday with their 1963 Nissan Cedric.
But Danny, having finally asked Joanna out on a date and needing to impress, trades the Cedric in for a 1973 Jaguar. Little does he know that dodgy car salesman Gordan Farkas (Steve Bisley) has switched the car's engine and soon his new pride and joy has broken down, leaving an unimpressed Joanna covered in oil and Danny covered in shame. With his good name destroyed and bank account depleted, a desperate Danny has to gather his best mates to help both win back Joanna and stitch up Farkas.
It is of course pretty formulaic stuff. There’s the awkward meeting with the nutjob father; the rich girl’s bitchy friends; the working class guy’s loyal mates: “The Big Steal” picks them all off one by one. But the fact it’s Australian automatically gives the film the individuality it needs, and when combined with a steady dedication to its central characters, a tight central plot and a clutch of clever scenes, “The Big Steal” easily charms its audience.
The film doesn’t work nearly so well when it goes out of its way to sew the gags. Danny’s parents are completely overwritten, their quirkiness quickly becoming irritating, and the boys’ scheming in their graphic arts class tries to be funny, but just comes off as implausible. A late car chase is also surplus to requirements, director Nadia Tass and editor Peter Carrodus being much better when dealing with the less stunt worthy material.
Thankfully, Mendelsohn and Karvan make an appealing young couple, and both performers benefit from the extra shades given to them by screenwriter David Parker. Bisley too was a deserving award winner for Farkas, his smarm almost greasing up the camera. The rest of the supporting cast tend to overplay their roles slightly, but in the case of Napier and King it’s perhaps as much the fault of the material as it is the performances.
Ultimately, it says a lot for the film that its faults take little away from the final product. Perhaps best remembered for making local stars out of Mendelsohn and Karvan, “The Big Steal” deserves a little more credit, remaining a charming teenage caper film in its own right.
I say: An engagingly light concoction that simply wouldn’t get made today.
See it for: A brilliant scene where Joanna’s parents come home early from vacation.
“The Big Steal” is part of the “Australian Cinema Collection: Volume 1” now available on DVD from Umbrella Entertainment.
| 75 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
This one certainly had a good cast assembled but Nadia Tass seemingly has never bettered her debut Malcolm.
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Yeah, check it out if you can, Dave. It's not bad stuff, and many of its faults could probably be put down to the era in which it was made.
But I think you're right - The Tass/Parker double team (husband and wife) hit their high water mark early with Malcolm.
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
I guess she can try and comfort herself with the fact that the film does have its share of knockers.
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Still, you would be bleeding if you were Nadia. What a different career she might have had.
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
I don't dislike it with a passion, but I tend to think it lacks the foot loose and fancy free magic of his other work.
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
Comment by Mountain Fog
Oh, and Ben Mendelsohn, while admittedly a good actor, he too annoys me slightly, as the Australian film industry seems to believe it can't get a project off the ground without him in it.
Sorry, feeling a bit testy today!
Fair and balanced review though Matt.
cheers
fog
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by Anonymous
They didn't even change my name or Joanna's, though they did change the name of my mate Peter, the slightly nerdy fellow who worked part-time in the parking station behind Sydney's George St cinemas, and Alex, the lothario with the Monaro. The Jaguar of course, and most of the fun and games too. Even the somewhat eccentric parents aren't a million miles from my somewhat eccentric Scrabble-playing folks - good friends of "script consultant" Bob Ellis. I suspect that Ellis deserves a great deal more credit than he's been given
I first saw this film when it was released, having no idea that it was being made, and went with many of the people portrayed. It was a strange thing indeed, for all of us, to see ourselves up there on screen, played by actors, so many scenes from our own lives played out (albeit in some cases rather embellished, as stories often are), and so many in-jokes. I look back on it with great fondness.
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
"script consultant" Bob Ellis. I suspect that Ellis deserves a great deal more credit than he's been given
I know a couple of screenwriters who would agree that a good script consultant often delivers well beyond his or her place in the end credits.