Goodbye Pork Pie
Goodbye Pork Pie is a 1981 New Zealand road film, directed by Geoff Murphy and co-written by Geoff Murphy and Ian Mune, described as Easy Rider meets the Keystone Kops.
It follows Kaitaia 19-year-old Gerry Austin, as he steals a yellow rental Mini and heads to Auckland for fun. There, he meets middle-aged John, who has just had Sue, his girlfriend of six years, walk out on him, and the two decide to drive the Mini all the way to Invercargill to allow John to meet up with his girlfriend again. Their escapades attract the attention of police, leading to a nationwide car chase.
Tropes used in Goodbye Pork Pie include:
- Auto Erotica
- "Dear John" Letter: John finds one from Sue in his typewriter, which simply reads "Dear John"
- Double Entendre: Passing the policeman having sex in his car:
 |
Gerry Austin: Is that cop pulling out? |
 |
- Driving Into a Truck: The Mini is driven in to a rail boxcar to avoid the police in the Wellington railway yards.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: The Mini crashes into the rear Sue's sister's car - one second later, her car bursts into flames.
- Eiffel Tower Effect: Pretty much every region and city the Mini passes through: the Harbour Bridge in Auckland, the Beehive and Parliament in Wellington, the ChristChurch Cathedral in Christchurch, and the Octagon in Dunedin.
- The marked confluence of the Clutha and Kawarau Rivers in Cromwell, before the area was flooded for the Clyde Dam.
- Needle in a Stack of Needles: To escape the police in the central North Island, John parks the Mini in a car wrecker's yard.
- Police Are Useless