00:00
/
00:00
Tank Busters
Television (Full Length) – 1970
The Italian Job meets cheap jugs and a student union gig in this early heist tale from Geoff Murphy (Goodbye Pork Pie). The plot follows some university students — short on exam fees and beer money — and their scheme to crack a campus safe. Murphy enlisted $4000 and a bevy of mates (including Bruno Lawrence in one of his earliest screen roles), and made it over nine months of weekends. It sold to local television (as well as the ABC in Australia). Its deliberately low key, naturalistic acting stood in stark contrast to the stage-influenced television dramas of the time.
We decided to analyse television's methods in detail, and then do the opposite ... Heroic poses were out. You didn't take a lot of care enunciating your words. English accents, hand gestures and facial expressions were not allowed.– Geoff Murphy on Tank Busters, in his 2015 autobiography A Life on Film, page 80
Key Cast & Crew
See all 14 credits
Produced by
Acme Sausage Company
More from The Bruno Lawrence Collection...
Numero Bruno
Numero Bruno is a warts and all biography of widely...
Magic Kiwis - Bruno Do That Thing
This fast-paced trip through Bruno Lawrence’s...
Blerta Revisited
If a single word could sum up the free-wheeling...
Smash Palace
Smash Palace is the classic film which...
Tears
Band Spats demonstrated they could write a catchy song...
The Quiet Earth
In director Geoff Murphy's cult sci-fi feature, a...
Utu
It's the 1870s, and Māori leader Te Wheke (Anzac...
Making Utu
Director Gaylene Preston captures the making...
All Things Being Equal - 22 September 1978 Episode
Written by future Gloss creator Rosemary...
Wild Man
Wild Man is the missing link between 1970s...
Tank Busters
The Italian Job meets cheap jugs and a...
Hurry Hurry Faster Faster
Before the Blerta bus and Goodbye Pork...
1990 Commonwealth Games promo - Join Together
This epic Lee Tamahori-directed promo for the 1990...
Loose Enz - The Venus Touch
In this infamous edition of the Loose Enz...
Goodbye Pork Pie
Goodbye Pork Pie was a sensation,...
One of those Blighters
One of those Blighters began life as a...
It's Lizzie to those Close
In this tale of an English servant woman doing it hard...
Inside Straight - Card Game (Episode Seven)
Shot on location, Inside...
Wild Horses
Mitch (Keith Aberdein) moves to Tongariro National...
Cowboys of Culture
Cowboys of Culture is director Geoff Steven's...
Pukemanu - Pukemanu Welcomes You (first episode)
Pukemanu was the first continuing drama...
Battletruck
In a lawless fuel wars future, marauders roam the...
Kaleidoscope - Roger Donaldson in Hollywood
In the early 1980s, director Roger Donaldson was part...