"We're takin' this bloody car to Invercargill!"
Goodbye Pork Pie is a 1981 New Zealand road film, directed by Geoff Murphy and co-written by Geoff Murphy and Ian Mune, described as Easy Rider meets the Keystone Kops.
It follows Kaitaia 19-year-old Gerry Austin (Kelly Johnson), as he steals a yellow rental Mini and heads to Auckland for fun. There, he meets middle-aged John (Tony Barry), who has just had Sue, his girlfriend of six years, walk out on him, and the two decide to drive the Mini all the way to Invercargill to allow John to meet up with his girlfriend again. Hitchhiker Shirl (Claire Oberman) joins their escapades, which attracts the attention of police and leads to a nationwide car chase.
A remake called Pork Pie, directed by Geoff Murphy's son, Matt, was released in 2017.
Tropes:
- Auto Erotica: Plenty
- Cool Car: The yellow Mini which co-stars in the film, as well as the Dino 308 GT4 which briefly appears early on. Holden Kingswoods also make appearances as police cars, which was Truth in Television in Australasia during the 1970s and early 1980s.
- "Dear John" Letter: John finds one from Sue in his typewriter, which simply reads "Dear John".
- Double Entendre: Passing the policeman having sex in his car:Gerry Austin: Is that cop pulling out?
- Driving into a Truck: The Mini is driven in to a rail boxcar to avoid the police in the Wellington railway yards.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: The Mini crashes into the rear Sue's sister's car - one second later, her car bursts into flames.
- Eiffel Tower Effect: Pretty much every region and city the Mini passes through: the Harbour Bridge in Auckland, the Beehive and Parliament in Wellington, the ChristChurch Cathedral in Christchurch, and the Octagon in Dunedin.
- Needle in a Stack of Needles: To escape the police in the central North Island, John parks the Mini in a car wrecker's yard.
- Police Are Useless: The entire New Zealand Police force can't take down three people in a Mini.
- The '70s: Goodbye Pork Pie is set in the spring (Northern Hemisphere fall) of 1978.
