Its overheads were surprisingly minimal, to the point that the police cars used doubled as crew and towing vehicles, and that the director Geoff Murphy performed some of the stunts himself.

In the Northland town of Kaitaia in spring 1978, nineteen-year-old Gerry Austin opportunistically steals a wallet and uses the cash and driver's licence inside a Hertz car rental office to rent a yellow Mini.

The duo stop for petrol in northern Waikato but accidentally drive off without paying, drawing police attention to the car.

After failing to pay for petrol on purpose in the central North Island, they are pursued by a motorcycle officer, with the duo ending up avoiding arrest by driving into a car wrecker.

Leaving for the Interislander ferry the next morning, Gerry runs a red light and is immediately pursued by the police through central Wellington.

The trio avoid the police by driving through the Wellington railway station and stowing the Mini in an empty boxcar being shunted onto the ferry.

Arriving in Christchurch in the morning, the trio finds out the wagon is not leaving the city for the West Coast until that night, so spend the day on the town.

Crossing back over the Southern Alps, the Mini is pursued by a determined police officer down the Lake Hāwea shoreline.

The duo sell more parts off the car at Cromwell, but as they are short-changed John takes a full petrol can as extra payment.

John encounters a roadblock at the entrance to Invercargill and diverts through a cemetery to avoid it, but not before the Armed Offenders Squad shoots a hole in the Cromwell fuel can, spilling the petrol.

Director Geoff Murphy, who co-produced the film with Nigel Hutchinson, had been good friends with star Tony Barry (Smith) as well as Bruno Lawrence before Goodbye Pork Pie.

Co-producer Nigel Hutchinson sells a banana milk shake "with an egg in it" to John a short time before Gerry falls off the car.

New Zealand band Street Talk provided most of the music heard in the film and formed a large part of the soundtrack, but the group had already broken up by the time the movie was released.

The new bridge, at the time of the film's production, was on hold for a couple of years in an unfinished state due to prolonged industrial action.

[5] The same year, a re-enactment of the Lake Hāwea chase was filmed to promote the New Mini,[6] which featured prominently in the remake, simply known as Pork Pie.

[8] Dean O'Gorman, James Rolleston and Ashleigh Cummings star as Jon (John), Luke (Gerry) and Kiera (Shirl) respectively.