''Runaway'', also called ''Runaway Killer'', is a 1964
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
made thriller film and a
road movie
A road movie is a film genre in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the theme of alienatio ...
.
John O’Shea of
Pacific Films
Pacific Films is a film production company in New Zealand.
It is not to be confused with other companies with the name, including the film company in Hawaii that produced Phantom Below''.
History
The Pacific Film Unit was established in Wellin ...
produced, directed and co-wrote it. Shot in black and white and released on 35 mm and also 16 mm, it was cut to 80 minutes and renamed ''Runaway Killer'' for release in Britain, although this lost continuity between scenes. The film stars
Colin Broadley in the lead, and several New Zealanders who became famous in other fields;
Kiri Te Kanawa,
Barry Crump
John Barrie Crump (15 May 1935 – 3 July 1996) was a New Zealand author of semi-autobiographical comic novels based on his image as a rugged outdoors man. Taken together his novels have sold more than a million copies domestically. Crump's 19 ...
and
Ray Columbus
Raymond John Patrick Columbus (4 November 1942 – 29 November 2016) was a New Zealand Benny Award-winning singer and songwriter, television host, music manager and entertainer, with a career spanning six decades. As the lead singer of Ray Colum ...
.
Plot
High-flying but high-living accountant David Manning gets heavily into debt, loses his job and goes on the road. He is given a lift by the wealthy Laura, who fancies him and is jealous of Isobel, a young Maori woman they meet. After a fight he steals Laura's car and heads for the mountains of his childhood, meeting Diana on the inter-island ferry and pursued by police. They head up the glacier for a mountain pass. Diana falls, but Manning continues his hazardous journey up towards the pass.
Cast
*
Colin Broadley as David Manning
*
Nadja Regin
Nadežda "Nađa" Poderegin (2 December 1931 – 6 April 2019), commonly known by her stage name Nadja Regin ( sr-Cyr, Нађа Регин, ), was a Serbian actress. Performing in Yugoslav films from 1949, she developed an international career i ...
as Laura Kossovich
*
Deidre McCarron as Diana
*
Kiri Te Kanawa as Isobel Wharewera
*
Selwyn Muru as Joe Wharewera
*
Barry Crump
John Barrie Crump (15 May 1935 – 3 July 1996) was a New Zealand author of semi-autobiographical comic novels based on his image as a rugged outdoors man. Taken together his novels have sold more than a million copies domestically. Crump's 19 ...
as Clarrie
* Gil Cornwall as Tom Morton
* Sam Stevens as Tana
*
Tanya Binning as Dorothy
* Doraine Green as Sandra
* Clyde Scott as Athol
* Rim D. Paul as Simon Rangi
* Alma Woods as Mrs Milligan
* William Johnstone as Alex Manning
* Murray Smith as Driscoll
* Mary Amoore as Helen Manning
* John Atha as Bellamy
* Kauri Toi as Mrs Wharewera
*
Ray Columbus
Raymond John Patrick Columbus (4 November 1942 – 29 November 2016) was a New Zealand Benny Award-winning singer and songwriter, television host, music manager and entertainer, with a career spanning six decades. As the lead singer of Ray Colum ...
as Bandleader
References
*''New Zealand Film 1912-1996'' by Helen Martin & Sam Edwards p54 (1997, Oxford University Press, Auckland)
External links
*
*
Runaway' – entire film online at the New Zealand Archive of Film, Television & Sound
''Runaway'' at Rotten Tomatoes website (shown as a 2012 film)
1964 films
1960s New Zealand films
New Zealand drama films
Films set in New Zealand
1960s English-language films
1960s thriller films
Films set in the 1960s
Films shot in New Zealand
1960s road movies
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