This debut film has all the ingredients necessary to make it a cult movie. A ten-year-old boy is obsessed by the so-called motorama game; a promotional campaign organised by a chain filling station with an incredibly high cash prize. In a stolen, souped-up Mustang, with self-made extensions so he can reach the pedals, he criss-crosses America in search of motorama tickets with the right letters to make the word ‘motorama’.On his journey he meets the most unlikely types, each more crazy and obsessed than the last. They all seem so involved with themselves that no one notices the wilful little boy with his huge car. The boy’s quest turns into a nightmare; he is beaten up so badly he loses an eye, he is forcibly tattooed and his life is repeatedly threatened.Shils himself has called the film an ‘expressionistic hyper-reality’ and the word surrealistic is often used in reviews of the film. The Toronto Star: ‘A surreal slice of oddball Americana — the road movie from hell’.Scriptwriter Joseph Minion gained fame with his first scenario for Martin Scorsese’s After Hours. The music is written by erstwhile Police member Andy Summers, a respected composer of film music. The types the boy comes across on his way are played by actors who earned their spurs in other cult moviesor bring along their own cult status as pop stars or TV personalities; among the cult actors are Meatloaf and bassist Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
