A famous flop in its day. It's clear what sort of movie this is trying to be - a Wake in Fright style analysis of a town that goes a bit nuts when a murder is committed and the town gets whipped up into a frenzy to find the guy.
It's remarkably lacking in atmosphere and tension. Probably didn't need to be a period film. There's good acting - John Waters as the shy Rabbt, Melissa Jaffer as his former good time girl wife, Wyn Roberts as the cop (both he and Waters are pushed into it by their wives), Bill Hunter as a scary townie, Graeme Blundell as a jokey townie, Brian James as a journo.
Not quite sure what went wrong. I haven't read the original script. The music score doesn't help. Maybe this just should have been a TV movie.
While watching it and being a little bored I checked the synopsis for The Ox Bow Incident which showed how these things are done. Fast, passionate, a rich array of villains - the Confederate officer, his weak son, the bloodthirsty woman, the hoons - plus a sympathetic protagonist, and victims (three different ones) who we get to know and feel fore.
No one seems to care for the crime. There's no passion. Maybe if the person being chased was black or something. Oe we got to know the person being chased.
The best thing is the backstory of John Waters and Melissa Jaffer - that is touching. The one about cop Wyn Roberts wanting to go home to the city isn't that interesting.
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