Never Say Die

When everyone’s out to get you, and you don’t know why... Never Say Die!

Never Say Die, New Zealand, 1988

Production Co.:  Everard Films
Director/screenplay: Geoff Murphy
Producers: Geoff Murphy & Murray Newey
Executive producer: Barrie Everard
Director of photography: Rory O’Shea
First assistant director: Chris Graves
Editor: Scott Conrad
Music: Billy Kristen & Sam Negri 

With:  Temuera Morrison (Alf Winters), Tony Barry (Evans), Geoff Murphy (Jack), Lisa Elibacher (Melissa Jones), George Wendt (Mr Witten)

Also featuring: Judy Fyfe, Jay Laga’aia, John Clarke, Elizabeth McCrae, Peter Rowley, Phil Gordon, Tony Monk, Martyn Sanderson, Barrie Everard, Murray Newie, Alan Sorrell

35mm, PG-contains coarse language, 104 minutes

When everyone’s out to get you, and you don’t know why... Never Say Die!

“Packed with thrills, spills and humour, Never Say Die is a Geoff Murphy film with energy and drive. Murphy toyed with the idea for the film before he directed The Quiet Earth in 1984. It wasn’t until 1988 that Murphy sat down and began to work it through. “ It fascinated me, the idea of a New Zealander who’s convinced someone is trying to kill him. Anywhere else, particularly in the States, no-one would even question the logic of it”, he said.  Murphy blended the classic ‘whodunnit’ with the slight political intrique in a comedy adventure that follows a chase from the West Coast to Auckland Airport. This chase is almost the reverse order of the great yellow mini chase in Murphy’s Goodbye Pork Pie. Murphy is of the opinion that films definitely have their right time. “Pork Pie was timed absolutely perfectly. The whole country seemed to want that picture at that moment. I’ve  got a feeling that the timing for Never Say Die mightn’t be too bad either” Muphy said at the time of its release. - 'Hair Raising Chases', The Daily Telegraph, 30/01/1991

“A red falcon races up Majoribanks Street, closely followed by two police cars, and with a screech of tyres, disappears round the corner into Austin Street. The scene, from New Zealand director Geoff Murphy’s new film, Never Say Die, was filmed in Wellington this morning. Majoribanks Street was closed so that cameraman Rory O’Shea could get the chase on film. Never Say Die, which involves a car chase from Franz Joseph in the South Island to Auckland, is very similar to Geoff Murphy’s very successful Goodbye Pork Pie, producer Murray Newey said... Wellington is an ideal place to film, Murray Newey said, because Wellington City Council are very co-operative. To find out what happens when the  car disappears round the corner into Austin Street we will have to wait until Christmas when Never Say Die is released” - 'Inner City Becomes Movie Set', The Evening Post, 02/03/1988

Screenings:Never Say Die screened on 28 & 29 May 2010