The closest U.S comparison I can make here to Michael Thornhill's 1977 coming of age drama is George Lucas' earlier 1973 American Graffiti.
The differences, where there are some, are marked however. Both feature - the strongest link - cars, this is in the F.J.Holden of the title, which as far as I can find out, was an General Motors model that was cheap and popularly souped up into a 'muscle' car. Like the American models in Lucas' film, these become far more than modes of transport, being every courting young man's way of life, to cruise around in, showing off like preening peacocks.
In a small town in New South Wales (filmed in Sydney) in the 70s, Bob and his mate Kevin are out boozing and cruising for girls to pick up. Kevin meets Anne. The two friends basically behave like slobs and fairly irresponsible ones at that, getting in trouble with the police and getting drunk and holding the occasional street drag race. When sex gets in the way of the the two, their friendship is tested.
For those that were either there, or were of that generation (I'm just a little too young) then this must bring back memories and hold a more special place for such. For the rest of us, the picture looks dated, but not in the interestingly way that American Graffiti does. I'm sure many a 'new' Australian would now cringe with some embarrassment at how their male young are perceived. These young fellas don't have the looming Vietnam conscription to force them to go off the rails a bit, which was a significant factor in American Graffiti.
There's some quite earthy dialogue and sex scenes to match - I would suggest a modern '15' rating here in the U.K. (in Australia, such DVDs as this one is, are marked "M", for 'mature' audiences).
Such is the nostalgia for both the time/place and the cars themselves, it makes giving a rating difficult, as judging whether it's a good film or not is masked by many personal feelings. Radio Times magazine online don't even list it - seems it's quite a scarcity, so I'm plumping for 6/10, though seven wouldn't be unreasonable.
I viewed the DVD as part of the 12 disc boxed set 'Australian Cinema Collection'.
