bikerpaul68

The opening credits say that this film is based on a true story; I was doubtful about that, but some commenters here describe having been sent to similar camps. And in the UK the Thatcher government notoriously set up young offenders' institutions expressly aimed at delivering a "short sharp shock", which were rapidly closed after predictable abuses.

Anyway, as far as the film goes, you get what it says on the label. The first few minutes are a bit pedestrian as the story is set up, but then things move along at a decent pace and the acting is good enough. The ending packs a punch too. It's all entertaining without the delightful silliness of "Turkey Shoot", which may be a good or a bad thing depending on your point of view. A solid 7.

A film should be judged by what it is, not by what you want it to be. Road Train falls fairly and squarely into the genre of Ozploitation of the "Something Nasty In The Outback" type. So you expect scenes of horror and gore and a bit of soft porn, only just held together by something loosely resembling a plot.

Four youths from the city are on a trip through the scenic Flinders Ranges in South Australia when they have a traumatic encounter with a road train that has a mind (and a fuel supply) of its own. The soft porn consists of a bit of groping at the start, and 30 minutes at the end of Bob Morley with his shirt off displaying bloodstains and tattoos. It's about par for the course.

This is a bleak uncompromising picture of life in 1960's Britain in a poverty-stricken town where teenagers like Colin and Mike are drawn relentlessly into lives of petty crime. When Colin is sent to Borstal, he discovers the joys of cross-country running, and the scenes of his runs across the English countryside contrast strongly with flashbacks to his life in a slum in Nottingham. I would urge anyone who enjoys the film to read Alan Sillitoe's short story, which, like the film, is a kaleidoscopic jumble of Colin's memories, thoughts and intentions.

A couple of reviews have suggested that the regime in the Borstal that the film depicts was not that unpleasant. But there are two very brief scenes which evoke the sadistic beatings the officers inflict on Stacy when he is recaptured after an attempted escape. There is no doubt that Borstals in 1960's Britain were nasty brutal institutions which were designed to punish, not to reform.