I have a massive soft spot for this film from watching it as a kid - I still remember the joy of watching a real action film that was Australian. WIth as much objectivity as I can bring to it though (which isn't much) this is still a joyously fun film, full of energy and verve. It's got one of the greatest opening sequences in Australian cinema: a montage of shots as the sun comes up over Uluru, a glorious over the top action sequence involving a drug exchange, kung fu fighting on the rock, a helicopter chase, an exploding car... then segueing into 'Sky High' by Jigsaw as a hang-glider flies over Hong Kong. I always love the bit where the credits end and you think that's it but then the song starts up again and there's this whole extra bit - it's like finding extra chips at the bottom of the pack.
I'll go over the flaws first - this goes for too long (the car chase towards the end was when I was becoming a bit tired), some of the dialogue is very corny, the script could have done with a little more complexity, George Lazenby and Hugh Keays Byrne could have done with more to do, a few of the bit part players are just silly (e.g. the cop who supports Roger Ward at the beginning).
But now we've gotten that out of the way now for the praise - how good is this film? Jimmy Wang Yu's skinniness, Roger Ward doing kung fu, Hugh Keays Byrne and Frank Thring being marvellously flamboyant, George Lazenby is great just being George Lazenby, Rebecca Gilling was then one of the most beautiful women in cinema (and she's nude), there are some tremendous stunts and action, Brian Trenchard Smith moves it along at a tremendous clip. This was a quite popular film, especially internationally, but it didn't lead to many imitators in the period film happy late 70s - a great shame, since Australians have liked action films set here (e.g. bushranger movies). It's lived on and it remains great fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment