This teen classic belongs in the canon of must-see Australian films

Sometimes nostalgia betrays us. But seized by an urge to watch The Big Steal for the first time in at least 25 years, I’m pleased to report that the ’90s classic is as funny and charming as I remember it.

Set in Melbourne, the 1990 movie stars Ben Mendelsohn as shy, clever Danny Clark, who has just turned 18 and gotten his eccentric parents’ prized 1963 Nissan Cedric as a birthday gift.

Ben Mendelsohn and Claudia Karvan in The Big Steal.

Apart from cars, Danny’s main interest in life is his gorgeous classmate Joanna Johnson (Claudia Karvan). To his astonishment, she agrees to go on a date with him, and, figuring it will impress her, he promises to pick her up in a Jaguar.

Trading in the Cedric for a Jag sold by a seedy car dealer is his only hope of keeping his word, but how far will Danny get before his plan (and the car) blows up in his face?

Among the film’s many cracking lines, the most memorable is Danny’s parents’ endearing recurring bit about their son’s name. When Edith (Maggie King) calls out to her husband Desmond (Marshall Napier) to remind him it’s Danny’s birthday, he stops cleaning the caravan and turns to his wife with a twinkle in his eye. “Would that be Daniel the lion tamer, or Daniel our son?” “Daniel our son,” Edith responds, party hat on head, beaming proudly.

When Desmond later finds out that Danny has traded in the Cedric, he is apoplectic. Staggering into the backyard, shaking fists raised, he emits a roar as loud and long as the passing V-line train. “He was just the same when Joan died,” tuts Edith as she and Danny look on, blank-faced with concern. “Who?” asks Danny. “The budgerigar,” she deadpans.

With their northern English accents, tai chi routines by the Hills Hoist and shared fondness for Scrabble, Desmond and Edith’s antics often have teenage Danny almost radioactive with shame. But watching the movie as an adult, I realised that his parents are the heart, soul and true heroes of this film.

Just as iconic as Danny’s parents is Steve Bisley’s odious used car salesman Gordon Farkas. In one of his career-defining roles, inspired by writer David Parker’s real-life experience of old-fashioned car dealers, Bisley is perfect as the blonde-coiffed, aviator-wearing, smarmy, shady, rude, racist, sleazy and misogynistic Farkas.

In one indelible sequence, Farkas is pulled over by the cops after a night at the jelly mud wrestling and stumbles drunkenly out of the car wearing only his shirt, and, inexplicably, fishnet stockings, lacy underwear and stilettos. Should they ever compile a list of great breathalyser scenes in cinema, this one belongs somewhere near the top.

Perhaps due to their quirks and foibles, Danny’s parents and Farkas are the most vivid characters of all, but that’s not to take away from the charm of the young cast. Clear-eyed, fresh-faced and just 21 years old, Mendelsohn, in his first leading role, convinces as the awkward underdog that might just get the girl.

Steve Bisley as sleazy salesman Gordon Farkas.

With parents like Desmond and Edith, Danny was never going to be the swaggering school hunk, but he and his mates Van and Mark (Angelo d’Angelo and Damon Herriman, both wonderful as a Greek Casanova-type and a sweet nerd, respectively) know enough about cars to pull off some inspired capers.

To Joanna, who has grown up in a strict upper-class household (Tim Johnson, playing her overbearing father, also gets to have some fun in his role), Danny’s lack of airs and graces is refreshing.

Karvan, just 17 when they shot this movie, is teen dream material with her dark bangs, warm laughter and sparkling eyes, and apparently campaigned for the character of Joanna to be more than mere love interest to Danny.

It’s still a fairly two-dimensional role but Karvan’s sass and allure are effortless, even if her outfits and radiant beauty hit harder than her lines do. A pair of red, white and black cowboy boots, in particular, are so fab they dominate one memorable frame, recalling the cool girl style of Sloane Peterson in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, released a few years earlier.

John Hughes movies, such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, seem like an obvious touchstone for The Big Steal, from the cartoonish villains to the oddball characters to the outsized portrayals of dizzy teen romance. Like Hughes’ movies, The Big Steal also had a great soundtrack.

Mental as Anything’s twinkling The World Seems Difficult, which plays over the film’s opening credits as Danny gazes longingly at Joanna at school, feels as fitting as Don’t You Forget About Me kicking off The Breakfast Club.

Boom Crash Opera’s Dancing in the Storm, soundtracking Danny, Van and Mark’s late-night joyride after they refit the Jaguar with the engine Farkas stole from Danny, is as expansive and full of possibility as the starry sky stretching above the West Gate Bridge.

As a kid, I thought Danny Clark and Joanna Johnson were two of the coolest grownups I’d ever seen on screen. As an adult, it’s a trip to see just how young the actors who played them were, with the world at their feet and no idea of their terrific careers that lay ahead.

Karvan, of course, has been a winning and reassuringly regular presence on Australian TV over the past three decades. Mendelsohn, who lost the first few years of the new millennium to “excessive hedonism”, has credited Karvan with saving his career after she cast him as her love interest in Love My Way in 2005, which would set the stage for his future success in Hollywood.

As a launchpad for two of Australian screen’s most beloved stars and a Hughesian comedy with an undeniably local flavour, The Big Steal belongs firmly in the canon of must-see Australian movies, and now seems an especially good time to delight in its escapist whimsy. Whether it’s your first viewing or your hundredth, it’s hard not to finish this film in a better mood than when you started.

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