The Big Steal on DVD, Comedy, Ben Mendelsohn, Claudia Karvan

On Monday, Danny Clark (Mendelsohn) is the reluctant recipient of a birthday present he would rather forget: his father's old Nissan Cedric. By Tuesday he has asked beautiful Joanna Johnson (Karvan) out on a date, but promised to pick her up in a Jaguar. In a tight fix, he trades the Nissan Cedric for a Jaguar--only to be ripped off by dodgy car salesman Gordon Farkas (Bisley). Danny sets out to rectify wrongs.

STARS: Ben Mendelsohn, Claudia Karvan, Marshall Napier

99 min | Comedy | 1990 | Color

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The Best Australian Film Ever

I first this movie as an early teen and immediately identified with Danny Clark. I have watched this movie numerous times since and still feel this eclipses the Castle, the Odd Angry Shot and Malcolm as the greatest Aussie film ever.
Essentially, Danny Clark (Ben Mendehlson) wants a car and a girl ... and both seem very unlikely.
This movie follows the nervous and unsure Danny in his attempts to attain both the girl and the car at the same time but what follows is a complete comedy of errors and schemes.
Ably assisted by his two best mates, Van (Remember those days when Greeks drove Monaro's?) and Mark, Danny conceives a plan to get even with the rogue car dealer that has "ruined his life". The deception of the car dealer, Gordon Farkas, is probably no surprise to any of us who have trawled Parramatta Road in Sydney and the like in trying to find that perfect set of wheels! Danny must also find recompense and we follow his valiant attempts to win over the gorgeous Joanna Johnson. Claudia Karvan is one of the most gorgeous and attractive Australian actresses and watching this as a young teen had me instantly falling in love with her too! The characters are identifiable to all of us that watch this movie and we immediately identify with the underdog from that first scene. His off-beat parents add that real quirky Aussie humour we all know and love and along with the over protective future father-in-law, Danny is sure to have a hard time attaining his girl.
For me, however, it was the performance of Steve Bisley which made this movie. As exaggerated as his performance may seem it is not unlike any of the dodgy car dealers you see operate their 'craft' on places like Parramatta Road. Indeed, Steve Bisley notes in commentary that he spent weekends at these yards to research the role and almost got sucked into buying a car himself! This is without doubt one of those born roles not unlike Burt Reynolds in Boogie Nights and it would seem Bisley is doing the car industry a disservice by staying an actor!
The soundtrack is perfect and songs like 'Dancing in the Storm' by Boom Crash Opera are memorable in being music of the time and place of this movie. I still get goosebumps watching the scene when this song comes on and sadly, have even tried to recreate this by playing the same song in similar situations!
My sad personal life aside, this movie has affected me and many Aussie guys and without a doubt, perfectly describes the adventures of our teens. The saddest thing of all is, you never learn and still get sucked in every time you buy a car or get a girl!

Most Excellent

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.

I was there!

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.