MOVIE · 1981
Smash Palace
DramaThriller108 min
Al Shaw’s world is a rural New Zealand wrecking yard called the Smash Palace, where the former race-car driver spends more time with cars than with his family. Bruno Lawrence is Al, stubborn and increasingly cornered, while Anna Maria Monticelli’s Jacqui has reached the end of a marriage shaped by neglect and resentment. After Al finds her with another man, he takes their young daughter and disappears into the bush, turning a private collapse into a dangerous standoff. The film stays close to the strain inside this family, with scrapyards, back roads, and rough country pressing in around them.
Find out what fits your taste.
Rate movies and shows in ReelRecs, save your next watch, and get personal recommendations from the Reel Recs online service. Free on iPhone and Android.
Where to watch in US
These offers have not all been recently verified. Check the provider for current availability.
Included with a subscription
- ARROW
Free
- Kanopy
Rent
- Google Play Movies
- YouTube
Buy
- Apple TV
- Google Play Movies
- YouTube
Availability checked October 24, 2026. Offers can change. Rentals and purchases are separate from subscriptions.
More to consider
Sleeping Dogs (1977)
Framed for murder and branded a revolutionary conspirator, recluse Smith is swept into a conflict between guerrillas and right-wing forces in a fractured New Zealand. Sam Neill is Smith, trying to hold to non-violence a…
Mesmerized (1985)
Around 1900 in New Zealand, an orphaned young woman enters a marriage that looks like security and quickly turns into something far more claustrophobic. Jodie Foster is the bride, living under the roof and rules of a mu…
Goodbye Pork Pie (1981)
A stolen yellow Mini turns a casual road trip into a chase from one end of New Zealand to the other. Gerry slips out of trouble in Auckland with a plan to head south, but the ride picks up two more passengers: a drifter…
Catalogue checked October 30, 2026. Use ReelRecs with an assistant