In 1997, Michael Caton endeared himself to movie audiences as the Aussie battler who took on and beat the system in the comedy, "The Castle". Fans of Caton expecting another laugh-a-minute performance will be disappointed at first. Caton plays Rex a cabbie in Broken Hill, a mining town on the edge of the outback. His life is mundane: driving locals around town, drinking with his mates at the local pub and squabbling with his feisty aboriginal neighbour (Polly – Ningali Lawford). When Rex is diagnosed with terminal cancer he declines treatment and decides to make the long drive to Darwin where euthanasia has recently been legalised. The pace picks up when Rex takes to the road. He does not travel via the logical bitumen route to Darwin but instead takes to the dirt via the Oodnadatta track. This is undoubtedly a ploy for the director to showcase some classic outback scenery and characters. On the road, he meets up with a young aborigine running away from responsibility and a nurse escaping the London rat race. With time they begin to care for each other. Racism and euthanasia are sub-themes, but in the end it is romance that steals the show as Rex finds the courage to show his true colours. Once again Caton gives a memorable performance and Lawford is great as his unlikely salvation.
Review of Last Cab to Darwin
