The Leading Edge

The prospectus for the movie offered 1100 investment units at $1000 (each) and it was quickly over-subscribed. ... Also formed was a special partnership to market the music from the film...

– Article in Tempo magazine, 28 August 1987

...a more-than-impressive piece of work from a director with a distinguished pedigree. ... this film delivers all it promises, including stomach lurching "ski's-eye views" of impossible descents and juddering footage of waterlogged rubber raft trips.

– Peter Calder, reviewing the film in The NZ Herald

[Bruce Grant's] role in The Leading Edge took a truly dramatic turn when an avalanche stunt went wrong, landing him in hospital with yet another broken leg. With only a week's filming "in the can", the script had to be severely rewritten to accommodate the hobbling co-star.

– Contemporary article in NZ Skier

Some of the hottest skiers of the day were cast for The Leading Edge: Christine Grant and her brother, the late Bruce Grant, who both represented New Zealand in Downhill at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo; New Zealand ski team member Evan Bloomfield; and highly-regarded ski mountaineer Mark Whetu.

– Writer Tim Brewster in 1964 magazine

In Off the Edge, the footage of superb skiing and hang-gliding skills are still, in the era of GoPros and 4K, remarkable. Made over two years, the crew spent nine months on location filming around the Tasman Glacier. There was drama from the start. On the first day of filming, [mountain pilot Michael] Gavin who was an alpine guide for the project, was lucky to survive an avalanche which swept him 1800 feet down a slope.

– Writer Tim Brewster in 1964 magazine

"The only people I knew there were Mark Whetu and [mountain guide/pilot] Gavin Wills. Gavin and I rode the chair at The Remarkables looking for skiers, and we spotted Bruce Grant." Approach made, accepted, and the movie was rolling. "It was beautiful. The whole script was made up as it went along." When Bruce really did break his leg during the shoot, Firth decided it should be part of the story, as a wee lesson in the perils of skiing powder-loaded crust."

– Mathurin Mogat recalls how the film was cast, 1964 magazine