The Big Steal
Clip 1: ‘You lookin’ or dreamin’?’
3 min 0 sec
Taken from the feature The Big Steal (1990)
Original title classification not known – this clip chosen to be G
Availability of the complete title
Curator’s clip description
Danny (Ben Mendelsohn) goes shopping for a Jaguar, driving the 1962 Nissan Cedric given to him by his parents for his 18th birthday. He meets Gordon Farkas (Steve Bisley), a car salesman who manages to be both insulting and friendly at the same time.
Curator’s notes
David Parker has said he began writing the film after meeting a few old-fashioned car dealers like Gordon Farkas, while trying to buy a new car. Danny’s youthful desire for the car of his dreams makes him easy prey for a guy like Farkas. The more Danny knows about Jaguars, the easier to fool him into buying one at an exorbitant rate of interest. The urgency is further heightened by love – Danny has told Joanna he’ll pick her up in his new car, a Jaguar – even though he hasn’t bought it, and she doesn’t care about cars anyway. He’s desperate to impress and car dealers love desperate buyers – a fact that Steve Bisley shows us in the subtle changes in his demeanour – from aggressive to ‘new best friend’.
Paul Byrnes, curator
