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individual motivations. David’s decision to head towards Westland results primarily
from his being on the run from the law. In Diana’s case she simply seems attracted to
the spontaneity of the idea. Yet they both have secondary motives. David sees
Westland as not only an opportunity to avoid the consequences of his actions but also
as a place where he can be free of the strictures of society which have not only left
him dissatisfied but, in his eyes, have resulted in his predicament. (It is likely that
many audience members, raised on a steady diet of cowboy movies, would probably
have recognised the link between the American and New Zealand notion of heading
west, a place where one could escape from urban life and values and begin anew.)
While at this point in the film his motives would have been apparent to an audience,
Diana’s would have less so. They may have felt that the idea that a “well brought up
young woman” would throw her lot in with a man she’d only just met was less than
credible. Yet, by opting to “go wild in Westland” Diana was reflecting a desire to
escape from her conventional existence. She’d had a good education and no financial
worries as her father was wealthy and work throughout the country was plentiful. Yet
for her to impulsively head westward with David was entirely plausible in a film
which, by this point, had shown that adherence to the social norms and financial
security were insufficient for New Zealand’s youth. Thus, although apparently acting
from differing perspectives, in opting to run away David and Diana had much in
common.
The motel owner was played by the president of the Drama Society of Christchurch,
an experienced radio actor. The motel interiors were one of the few times when the
film was shot out of sequence. During a period when they were unable to shoot on
the Franz Joseph glacier because of the weather, O’Shea elected to use this time by
having a motel interior set up in a dance hall alongside the Hari Hari Hotel. (It is, of
course, standard procedure for some interior scenes to be kept for those days when
bad weather prevents outdoor scenes being filmed.)
Caltex And Cars
Early the next morning David drives the Ford Fairlane into a Caltex station where the
attendant is seen placing an ‘Open’ sign on the footpath. The sequence at the Caltex
petrol station features Harry Lavington who had played the role of the impoverished
gold prospector Tim Shanaham in O’Shea’s Think About Tomorrow. His uniform is