One Way Ticket (1997) (TV)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Richard Franklin

Writers:

Karin Altmann (writer)
Michael Brindley (written by)

Release Date:

25 September 2004 (UK)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot:

Based on a true story, One way ticket is about a criminal named Webb. He has been arrested for murder and looks like he will be...

Plot Keywords:

Criminal | Escape | Police | Based On True Story

Cast

Peter Phelps	...	Mick Webb
Rachel Blakely	...	Deborah Carter
Chris Haywood	...	Bertie
Jane Hall	...	Kate Stark
Joseph Spano	...	Kaiser
Adriano Cortese	...	Tumeo
Russell Fletcher	...	Geoff
Marie-Louise Jolicoeur	...	Maureen
Samuel Johnson	...	Jimmie (as Sam Johnson)
Doug Bowles	...	Preece
Regina Gaigalas	...	Lena (as Gina Gaigalas)
Richard E. Young	...	Louie (as Richard Young)
Sally Lightfoot	...	Pam
Dennis Miller	...	Alf
Elspeth Ballantyne	...	Elizabeth

Runtime:

Spain:96 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

St. Andrews Hotel, St. Andrews, Victoria, Australia

Company:

Grundy Television Productions

Fairly boring re-telling of a fairly boring prison break and a fairly boring romance

Often bland but mildly interesting dramatisation of the 1994 prison escape by career criminal Peter Gibb, in which he was aided by female warder Heather Parker. The pair had met in their diametrically opposite roles as prisoner and guard, and begun a secret relationship. When this was discovered the pair hatched a plan to break Gibbs out of the remand centre, taking along fellow prisoner Archie Butterly. Using a quantity of explosives Parker managed to effect the escape, although a policeman was shot and injured in the process. The pair then fled north into country Victoria, pursued by police for several days.

Australian TV 'veterans' Peter Phelps, Rachel Blakely and Chris Haywood take on the roles of Gibb, Parker and Butterly - renamed, for legal reasons, as Web, Carter and Bertie. All are competent if not brilliant performers, and bring some credibility to the telemovie, although the script seems flat and simplistic in parts. Admittedly, dramatising this event and writing a screenplay where three low-rent criminals plot, scheme and interact would've been difficult. Not quite as difficult as expecting viewers to believe that an escaped convict could walk into a country pub, wearing prison overalls, and order drinks and a counter meal at the height of nationwide publicity about their break-out - but still difficult nonetheless.

The nature of Parker and Gibb's 'love' seems stretched and expedient through this movie, as though the latter was using the former to provide means of escape. It should be noted, however, that the two served their prison sentences after capture and continued their relationship, co-habiting and having a son, after their release in 1997 - it seems their relationship was genuine rather than one of convenience. Not that that mattered for Butterly, who was killed in controversial circumstances during the siege that captured the pair. Last I heard, Gibb was back in prison for theft, so it seems that while romance may not be dead, recidivism is most certainly alive and kicking.