Smash Palace

Smash Palace is a New Zealand feature film that premiered at Cannes in May 1981 and was released theatrically in April 1982. The film chronicles a former race car driver (played by Bruno Lawrence) who inadvertently contributes to the end of his marriage, then kidnaps his daughter (Greer Robson). Lawrence's character runs a carwrecking yard in an isolated area of New Zealand's North Island. Smash Palace was the second feature directed by Roger Donaldson. Critical acclaim in the United States won him interest from Hollywood, and the chance to direct the first of a number of films financed outside of New Zealand, The Bounty. The soundtrack was composed and performed by New Zealand-born singer Sharon O'Neill. Smash Palace has an R16 rating. Plot Retired international racing driver Al Shaw returns home to take over his late father's car-wrecking yard, "Smash Palace", on the remote North Island Volcanic Plateau. Al's French-born wife Jacqui is increasingly unhappy with Al's obsession with cars and refusal to sell the yard, and fears for the future of their daughter Georgie.