Steve (James Laurie) is a young race car driving man who believes his father Red was kidnapped or perhaps killed by gangsters. Steve wants to get to the truth, but first he must prove himself in the world of "sprintcar drivers". Meanwhile he and Ruth (Carides) get together romantically. His team is called "Team Rat" and the movie Midnite Spares primarily revolves around this world and its crazy denizens, including the comic relief team of soot-encrusted Wimpy (Spence) and his friend Rabbit (Argue).

What's interesting about 'Spares is that it is a character piece. It is a slice-of-life sort of thing that revolves around the interpersonal connections between the characters. There is a lot of quirkiness going on here. But while the movie takes time and care with the characterizations, and that is nice, the public probably will come to 'Spares seeking the car stunts and action scenes. There are some real gems, including a car that lands on another car and blows up, but the movie is about people, really.

There are a lot of interesting and wacky details, such as the main hangout for the characters, Grubb's grub, and the overall feeling of the car-racing underbelly, as expressed through all the garages, warehouses, mechanics, grease monkeys, racetracks, chop shops and junkyards we see. Max Cullen plays Tom, the man who repaints all the cars and always has paint on his face and gives Steve some of the info he needs. John Clayton plays Vince, the head of the car-theft ring. The aforementioned Wimpy brings a lot of color and humor, and the rubber-faced Spence does a fine job bringing this character to life.

There is some good car mayhem at the end, followed by a sitcom-style multiple freeze frame setup of highlights from the movie while the end credits roll. The catchy soundtrack includes the gem "love is the law".

Something like a less-intense version of Paul Verhoeven's Spetters (1980), we recommend Midnite Spares if you are looking for something different and more character based. It's definitely not your average brainless crash-em-up. Released in the U.S. on Virgin Vision, try Midnite Spares for a quirky detour.

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To put this film into perspective.Perhaps not sophisticated by to days "movies".Its takes Australians back to bygone days.Rich historical scenes never to be seen of Sydney ever again.A wonderful time warp.

What has resulted here, is not a badly made film. I gotta be honest with ya. It's got a lot more going for it, than the slightly bland, Running On Empty, this one slightly better. Again, centered around fast cars, whatever, I've found this pic quite entertaining, and it's thanks to the characters, bad or good. We got hot chicks, bad cops, mobsters, and a young man looking for his father, a race champion who's disappeared, where seeing other films with these stories, the inevitability is pretty obvious. where Steve, (Laurie) also a race car driver (and he is good) is out for avengement to take down these baddies. Some of the great moments of the films, are from Bruce Spence (Stork) and David Argue, as layabout mechanics. Spence with his towing truck business, farts and loves accidents, as it means more work. Jonathan Coleman is funny as a cringing sleaze bag, racist, lowlife, cafe worker, who is the bad guy's ears, if wanting info, a sort of middleman, I guess. Even in it's starting, the film entertains, where it shows how these stolen car rackets work. I don't know, this film, just really entertained me, where there are a lot of funny moments, and hardly a dull one in the film. Too, Laurie who strikes up a relationship with a Greek cafe girl, (a younger Gia Carides) is copping pressure from her olds as of course, Laurie's not Greek. The scene where the whole street of Greeks, watch Laurie drive off with Carides is an unforgettable one, as is the single line of dialogue which follows from each of the youngsters. The rock track "Love Is The Law" is awesome. This is just a livelier car stealing movie, which even has a nice little strip scene, just for the bad guys, which is a diversion, like this film might be, if happening to catch it.