Runaway

Part road movie, part man alone tale, Runaway was one of the first local features to steer a course away from the mainstream. Running from debt, David (Colin Broadley) leaves Auckland to travel around New Zealand. He encounters a deer culler (Barry Crump) and three very different women (played by Kiri Te Kanawa, model Deirdre McCarron and Bond beauty Nadja Regin). One of two Kiwi features in the 1960s, John O'Shea's moody outcast tale was marketed as a thriller, and renamed Runaway Killer in the UK. Tony Williams' stylish images were partly inspired by new wave director Michelangelo Antonioni. 

The picture has a brooding, dream like quality, but it lacks any real sense of urgency in the young man's flight from himself, too many motives are started but never fulfilled, and the direction is deliberate. Unusual camera shots occasionally succeed in creating atmosphere and the photography of the New Zealand countryside is fine. Colin Broadley displays quite a personality as David...

– British film industry magazine Kinematograph Weekly reviews 'Runaway Killer', 29 April 1965

Key Cast & Crew

Colin Broadley

As: David Manning

Tony Williams

Cinematographer

Robin Maconie

Composer

John O'Shea

Director, Writer, Producer

Deirdre McCarron

As: Diana

Barry Crump

As: Clarrie