Backroads

Backroads is a 1977 Australian film directed by Phillip Noyce. Two strangers – one white (Jack), one Aboriginal (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 Zac Martin as Joe Terry Camilleri as Jean Claude Julie McGregor as Anna Essie Coffey as Aboriginal Woman Allan Penney as Shopkeeper