Film

Backroads

Name: Backroads
Genre: Action, Drama
Released: 1977
Cast: Bill Hunter, Gary Foley, Zac Martin, Terry Camilleri, Julie McGregor

A 1977 Australian road movie where two men—one white, one Aboriginal—steal a car and pick up strays heading toward the coast. What begins as petty crime spirals into something darker. Shot in 61 taut minutes, it's a prickly, uncomfortable ride that doesn't soften its characters' racism or desperation. Essential viewing for anyone interested in Australian cinema's reckoning with itself.

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Wake in Fright1971

A masterpiece of Australian outback dread. A schoolteacher spirals into madness and moral collapse across the desert. Like Backroads, it's unflinching about violence, racism, and how quickly civilization peels away.

But Relentlessly bleak and slow-burn. The pacing demands patience and the content—animal cruelty, casual brutality—is genuinely difficult.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith1978

Fred Schepisi's stunning film about an Aboriginal man driven to murderous revenge by systemic racism. Raw, propulsive, and angry in ways that feel urgent even now. Direct moral mirror to Backroads.

But Violent and deeply sad. It's a film about injustice that doesn't offer catharsis, only clarity about how things break people.

Mad Max1979

George Miller's lean, mean Australian thriller about collapse and survival. Like Backroads, it's economical filmmaking—no fat, all momentum. Both capture a particular Australian 1970s paranoia.

But The action scenes are dated now. If you need slick editing and modern stunt work, this will feel creaky.

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Merrily We Roll Along

Both trace how people betray each other and themselves in pursuit of freedom. The trajectory is identical: strangers, connection, escalation, ruin. Backroads just gets there through crime; this one gets there through art.

Stephen Sondheim's musical told backward, from despair to hope. Like Backroads, it's about how friendship and ambition corrode under pressure, but it asks the same questions through song and structure instead of violence and crime. Both are about the cost of wanting to escape.

But It's a musical that doesn't sing comfortably. The score is difficult and the backward chronology can feel gimmicky. If you want traditional narrative satisfaction, you won't get it.

Romper Stomper1992

A brutal look at Australian neo-Nazi skinheads. Geoffrey Wright doesn't judge or explain; he just observes. That same refusal to soften difficult people and their choices runs through Backroads.

But Genuinely disturbing. The violence is sudden and the racism is relentless. Not a film you enjoy so much as survive.

Muriel's Wedding1994

P.J. Hogan's comedy about escape and reinvention has the same DNA as Backroads—characters fleeing small-town Australia, desperate for something else. But it finds the absurdity and heartbreak alongside the darkness.

But Tonally opposite. If you want Backroads' grimness, Muriel's cheerfulness might feel like sugar after medicine.

Sunday Too Far Away1975

Jack Couffer's film about shearers in the Australian outback. It's got the same documentary realism and interest in working-class Australian men under pressure. Quieter than Backroads, but the same world.

But Very slow and very male-focused. If you want plot momentum, you won't find it here.

Silver City

Sofia Turkiewicz's film about Polish immigrants in 1950s Australia. Like Backroads, it's about outsiders trying to survive in a place that doesn't quite want them. Tender where Backroads is violent, but the struggle is the same.

But Obscure and hard to track down. Even if you find it, the pacing is deliberate and the rewards are quiet.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert1994

Stephan Elliott's glittery road movie across the Australian desert. It's got the same structure as Backroads—strangers forced together, the outback as crucible—but with wildly different energy and stakes.

But Camp and comedic where Backroads is ugly. If you want to see that same journey with joy instead of dread, you might feel like you're watching a different country.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert poster

Blackmail1929

A small-scale Australian crime thriller about ordinary people doing terrible things. It shares Backroads' interest in how quickly good intentions curdle into something worse.

But Minor and a bit mechanical. It's competent without being inspired, and it doesn't have Backroads' moral weight or the cast's combustibility.

The Ascent1977

Both are about men in flight, becoming worse versions of themselves. Both refuse sentimentality. Both use the landscape—Australian outback, Soviet snow—as a character that judges them.

Andrei Konchalovsky's Soviet film about two Red Army deserters trudging through a frozen wilderness toward moral collapse. Shot the same year as Backroads in black and white. Hypnotic, philosophical, and completely uncompromising about human weakness.

But Slow, bleak, and abstract. There's almost no plot. If you need narrative momentum or even basic dialogue, this will feel like watching a fever dream.