AustLit

'Ex-cop Les Kearney (Simon Westaway) gets dragged away from his favourite Sea Wind Surf Club by a kidnap case. Construction boss Bob Castaldi (Barry Langrishe) is the client whose daughter Rebecca (Anja Coleby) is being held for a million dollar ransom. Even ‘Finder’ Les is insecure about the job, but Bob won’t call in the cops. As the ransom deadline approaches, Les gets ensnared in two killings and his ex-boss, Sgt Jack Matthews (Gerard McGuire) is handing him yet another deadline – or he’s busted. Meanwhile, the drug dealers operating around the nightcul where Rebecca was drugged are also after Les, led by elder brother Leo Natoli (Paul Mercurio). The chances of success are slim.'

Source: Urban Cinefile (http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=5048&s=reviews). (Sighted: 17/6/2013)

'After the tragic death of his fiancee, Raoul turns his back on everything he has known. In an attempt to exorcise his grief and to isolate himself from the world, he buys a dilapidated home on parched land in the middle of nowhere called Hurrah. When Julia arrives after crashing her car into Hurrah's gatepost, the layers of mystery surrounding her presence are slowly peeled away as she reveals her story - she is on the run from both her husband and lover in the city. Unaware of anything except each other, Raoul and Julia begin a passionate affair. It turns to love and it is only then that Julia's true identity and her mission are revealed.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 25/2/2014)

'Gary Day plays Sam Barlow, a Vietnam vet now living a peaceful life at Surfers Paradise, where he rents out surfing equipment (he never actually gets to do any surfing during the film). When his best friend is murdered, apparently by a couple of Vietnamese hit-men, Barlow becomes involved. He stumbles upon a blackmail plot involving a government minister caught in bed with a Vietnamese girl, and finds himself reluctantly allied to the mysterious Gina (Dobrowolska) on a journey north to meet a vessel due to dock at Townsville, which is his only clue to the mystery.

'The journey north is an extremely eventful one, with the couple pursued by a murderous cop (Tony Barry) and a sinister mercenary (Rod Mullinar).'

Source: David Stratton, 'A Surfer Worth the Paddle', Sydney Morning Herald, 3 March 1988, p.12.

'Couched in terms more suited to a sensationalist TV movie, this Australian production unashamedly employs melodramatic symbolism to emphasise the unbelievable truth of its true-life subject. Director Frank Shields secures a full-throttle performance from Ralph Schicha, as the brutal husband who not only subjects wife Kerry Mack to endless domestic violence, but also forces her to participate in the bank raids that sustain his neo-Nazi activities. Although there are references to the Baader-Meinhof group, ultimately the film is clearly less interested in politics than in the tempestuous marriage.'

Source: Radio Times (http://www.radiotimes.com/film/kbbdx/URL). (Sighted: 17/6/2013)