While the immediate Mad Max comparisons are easy to make because of the Australian gangs riding about in garish junkers, Peter Weir's first feature is a little more difficult to define. Some of the poster art shows bloody lettering and a monstrous Volkswagen adorned with metal spines, the sort of thing the first act of Fury Road gave a nod to. And yet this isn't an action movie, it's not a pure horror story and the vehicles are not really the centre of attention. If I had to pigeon hole this at all it would fall into the broad category of 'weird people in backwater towns doing weird things'. Which at least aligns the eponymous town with other strange places in the middle of nowhere that film characters wish they'd never stumbled across.
Paris, New South Wales, is a creepy rural place which is home to a lot of strange goings on. After a very suspicious car crash kills his brother and leaves him injured, timid protagonist Arthur (Terry Camilleri) realises it is going to be difficult to leave after his recovery. The film is mainly a character piece, with a variety of odd eccentrics living in what is basically a wild frontier town. A few of them seem to have a strange obsession with this isolated way of life, as if they really are settlers in the outback. A few of them actually wear dusters and wide brim hats in some scenes.
However it's soon apparent that their little home grown economy is fuelled by a single industry - causing these car accidents every night and stealing what is left in the wreckage like vultures. Mayor Kelly (John Meillon) is particularly obsessed with this idea; even his children are orphans from past wrecks. He's continually trying to keep Arthur around by giving him work and taking him into this disturbing family. He's one of the strangest locals but that's not really saying much when almost everyone else has something odd about their behaviour.
Even relatively normal residents like the town doctor seems to work exclusively on the results of the accident economy. His medical 'research' with is really just an excuse to run sinister tests on brain damaged crash survivors. Elsewhere child like delinquent Charlie (Bruce Spence) is in this just for the thrill of the bloodshed. He collects trophies in the form of hood ornaments from the crash victims, and makes an immature amount of fuss when he doesn't get his share. But despite their disparate personalities they're all in on the roadside death business, which means that outsiders like Arthur and the local priest are treated with disdain.
Arthur's isolated situation doesn't get any better when he heals and is given the position of 'parking officer' during a town committee meeting after the mayor has taken a shine to him. The juxtaposition of so much inane town hall politics against the town's nightmare scrap yard is what lends the whole thing its dark but quirky tone. And this conflict between young hoodlums and the older generation is what builds to the action hinted at in the film's title. This clash of ideals slowly starts to reach a boiling point as the car enthusiasts start to fight back against the mayor's increased rules and regulations.
However as a results there's a lack of focus, which is probably the major issue here as it meanders between gory crash inspection and bickering locals. The tension as the young ruffians and the elders being to irritate each other isn't really the focal point, which affects the pacing and drains some of the potential suspense. Most of the narrative is spent with Arthur as he takes in all their creepy activities during his recovery time. But purely as a kooky black comedy the elements that work best provide a lot of bizarre moments. The idiosyncrasies of the community Arthur deals with as he overcomes his own neuroses are at least all pretty entertaining.
Maybe the name of the film should have been different else instead of being something that seems to highlight the vehicles that only feature very briefly. Its alternative name The Cars That Eat People is probably just as unhelpful but it does at least highlight the overall theme and the way the town causes its own destruction. Still... it kind of works just as one of those stories that makes you think twice about what normal looking people get up to on countryside roads after dark. Or in even what goes on in rural Australian villages off the beaten track. It's a weird, eerie film to say the least. It wouldn't say it's a cult classic by any means, but it remains essential cult cinema viewing.
3/5
