Movie review - "Alvin Purple" (1973) ** (re-watching)

 Look, not very good, but it has historical appeal. Big hit, of course. Right star, right amount of nudity treated the correct way. A 20 minute idea stretched out to a feature. Some fantastic actors and a deadly dull chase sequence.

Movie review - "Mad Dog Morgan" (1976) *** (re-watching)

 I want to like it more than I do. I love the photography, sets, period detail, cast, Dennis Hopper, violence, madness, boldness.

Not a great script - a series of encounters. No core relationships other than Hopper and Gulpilil which seems like two odd bods. Frank Thring is evil. Jack Thompson is a pursuing cop but his role is small - he's undermined in a way too by Michael Pate's pursuing cop.

Great visuals. Consistently interesting. Phillipe Mora can't quite hook in the viewer via narrative. But he had a go.

Movie review - "The Journalist" (1979) *

 This got made because Michael Thornhill was on the board of the NSWFC and so had an "in", Roadshow made money on Petersen and so loved Jack Thompson, I think funding bodies thought "it's time we made a light comedy and here's one" and it sounded fun - "Jack Thompson as a rapscallion".

It's terrible.

This feels like a first draft, a vomit draft. The sort of thing entered in the Monte Millers.

Why didn't they get David Williamson to give it a pass?

You sense it'll be bad from the opening credits -played over scenes of Sydney Harbour, but the water isn't blue and the credits go on and on. They can't even get the credits right. I mean, just have pretty pictures of Sydney and keep it short. But all these people get their own card eg Stewart Wagstaff.

The story is dumb and confusing. 

Thompson is bad.  

Okay what I liked

- Elizabeth Alexander is beautiful and tries

- I like Candy Raymond who pops in at the end

- Don McAlpine is a good cinematographer

- Sam Neill does well

- there is camp in seeing Jack Thompson at the disco

- it shows the sexual desires of elder women eg Carol Raye, Margot Lee

What doesn't work

- the film keeps changing what it's about - he goes to Hong Kong,  then he's a journalist, then he's doing a government job then he's a journalist

- he's a bad journalist writes lousy copy can't type and doesn't investigate

- it's unclear what his relationship is like with Liz Alexander - they're together, she's pregnant, but she never seems that intohim

- the references to other movies and films eg Shampoo, Annie Hall - just make me angry at Thornhill's ineptness

- no sense of theme, of character

- no sexy, no nudity, no jokes, Thompson can't even get it up for two women (why include this)

- it was a scandal this was made

Jack Thompson interview from 1975 Cinema Papers

 

Movie review - "Scobie Malone" (1975) ** (rewatching)

 I minded this less the second time. The sex comedy stuff feels shoe horned in but at least it's lively. And there's something endearing about how nakedly the film tries to be commercial. 

The odd structure comes from the book. Normally we stick with a detective the whole way and find out what he or she finds out. But here Malone's only in half the movie. The rest is flashbacks.

There's a little bit of a connection between Malone and Helga. I think it should have been a proper relationship - they dated. There's no Lisa, Malone is a stud.

The characters aren't that memorable - Helga is a minx, a Minister is stuffy, his wife is a dragon, a killer is sleazy. 

There are some visual flourishes - an intercut sex scene a la Don't Look Now, the murder of Morris in the bowels of the opera house. I think the piece needed more. Some of the sets are ugly though the Sydney Harbour locations are pleasing.

I've read Cleary's script - it had Lisa in it but not his parents. Malone was more active. I think it needed really classy direction to work - or stars in support parts. The acting isn't good. I think I blame director Terry Ohlsson. Imagine what say Bruce Beresford could have done with this.

Movie review - "Kostas" (1979) ***

 Early Paul Cox film benefits from simplicity - a romance between a Greek immigrant cab driver (Takis Emmanuel) and an Anglo (Wendy Hughes). It helps that Emmanuel and Hughes can carry the screen - Hughes is so gorgeous and Emmanuel a solid performer.

His character's backstory is interesting, as we see him being beaten up by Greece for his politics (he was a journalist). So the film has an edge.

Appearances from what would be Cox's stock company - Norman Kaye (a BBC expat), Chris Haywood (annoying man at dinner party), Graeme Blundell. Kris McQuade is in it too.

A bit rough but I liked it. Cox doesn't over-reach, the Greek milieu is well depicted, he knows what he's making a movie about.

Book review - "Wake in Fright" by Kenneth Cook

 The film is super faithful to this. You can "see" a film reading it with its evocative language. Just as empathetic, even more so - here Grant specifically acknoweldges that everything was his decision and that the townspeople are sad rather than bad. The rape sequence is subtle - Grant remembers something bad happened but not exactly what; he doesn't have a farewell scene with Doc.

An excellent book.

Movie review - "Wake in Fright" (1971) ****1/2 (re watching)

 I appreciate this more. I reacted more to the fact it was misrepresented. It's beautifully shot, very accurate, empathetic, well made.

Movie review - "Otto by Otto" (2024) ***1/2

 Moving, well done doco about Barry Otto from his daughter Gracie. I met Barry once or twice - he was off with the pixies then as his own family admit in the doco so his dementia was hard to pick up... although it was notable that he struggled with a script. 

I was really moved by this - in part because he reminded me of my grandmother, one foot in fantasy land, house full of crap, painting, eventually second foot goes off with dream land. 

Lovely for Brisbane people too to see the artistic community of Twelfth Night. His wife (second) helped set up the Nimrod but gave it up to be a parent... there is more story to be told there.

Appearances (or, rather, vocals) from people like John Bell, Gillian Armstrong (who does have to stop staying Australian stories started to be written in the 70s), Baz L, Cate Blanchett. A Bob Ellis review quoted. Excellent home movie footage and fascinating glimpses of Nimrod, Belvoir etc.

Movie review - "The Odd Angry Shot" (1979) ***1/2

 Tom Jeffrey directed two films that did poorly at the box office then made this which was a hit so it's weird this was the last film he directed (he produced some others). This is his best movie, a lovely, moving account of SAS troops in Vietnam. It concentrates on the banter and jokes - there's a lot of comic actors in it - but doesn't ignore the power of death. This feels real.

The set design looks terrific. The cast is very strong though some look too old/fat/rich to be in the SAS - especially Graham Kennedy who is otherwise very good (his laconic presence feels spot on... it's just his size). Kennedy's character makes a lot of homophobic cracks. I had a bit of trouble buying Graeme Blundell too - nothing against him as an actor he's very good he just felt a little too old and La Mama.

Everyone is in this film - Bryan Brown, Richard Moir, John Hargreaves, Graham Rous, Frankie J. Holden, John Jarratt, Max cullen, Grant Page, Ray Meagher, Roger Newcombe (an actor who plays one of the Americans), Tim Page (bald dude from Young Doctors), Tony Barry. They look more like soldier types. Brian Wenzel is in it too.

My favourite bit was Kennedy telling Cullen to f*ck off for being a sack of sh*t - that was hilarious and felt very real. There's other tremendous sequences like the scorpion fight that lead to a brawl.

It's well produced, being focused on the base and in the jungle. Bryan Brown's mine injury is an effective cut - one minute laughing then the next being on the ground.

I wasn't wild about the music but this is  a very good film.

Movie review - "The Removalists" (1975) ***1/2

 This must have been incredible to watch on stage back in the day - Aussie society with its knockabout ockers smacking each other around, the verbal jousting, the machoness. What a writer.

This film is a worth encapsulation of the play. It's basically a filmed play but quite well done, with a superb cast. Everyone is perfect: Peter Cummins as the blustering cop, John Hargreaves as the callow newbie, Jackie Weaver as the dim sister, Kate Fitzpatrick as her wealthy sister, Chris Haywood as the supremely neutral removalist who only gets wound up when people say moving things are easy, Martin Harris as the vile husband.

The drama ebbs and flows, explodes and subsides. It's got Williamson flaws that we would see time and time again - both women just Want It - but the depiction of men are perfect: the little Hitler cop, the gangly youth, the ocker stud. The set is quite ugly. Tom Jeffrey generally directs well. There's some awkward bits like a close up of Jacki Weaver's boobs when she arrives.

Random observation - I wonder if this was even if subconsciously influenced by A Streetcar Named Desire... if Blanche married someone straight, this could be her coming to fetch Stella from Stanley's place.

Movie review - "Weekend of Shadows" (1978)**

 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.

Movie review - "Abba: The Movie" (1977) **1/2

 Few countries adored Abba more than Australia and their tour here was a big deal - so it was typically smart of Reg Grundy to finance a film. Full of interesting names: Lasse Hallstrom directed, Robert Caswell co wrote the script, future inmate Robert Hughes starred (another deep voiced actor, Bruce Barry plays his boss), Tom Oliver is Abba's bodyguard.

The film actually wasn't a big hit but it travelled and has had a long life. 

Plenty of documentary footage of the band - answering dumb Aussie press questions ("You won a poll for best arse how do you feel  about that?"), performing in concert (SOS, Money Money Money).

Some scene age, er, not too well eg Robert Hughes asking questions of kids. Other scenes are fascinating time capsules, eg audience members going on about how they like Abba because "they're neat".

The "plot" consists of journo Hughes trying to get an interview with Abba and that's it. But it's watchable with the songs, and the band, and scenes clearly shot in Sweden.

Book review - "Home Truths" by David Williamson (2021)

Enormously enjoyable. Better than his wife's biography. Peak Boomer - there's an index "Williamson - real estate purchases". Invaluable. Names names of inspirations and circumstances. Has an engineer's thoroughness. 

Leaves out some stuff eg his Macbeth. Some bitchy swipes eg people being mean to Kristen. Both of them seem like big personalities. Talks a lot about kids. The Bob Ellis orgy is in there. 

Wonderful book though.

Movie review - "Alvin Rides Again" (1974) *

 They didn't trust in the concept of Alvin. The first twenty minutes they do... Alvin is irresistible to women including Briony Behets, Candy Raymond (who goes full frontal), Abigail and Penne Hackforth Jones among others.

But then the plot switches and becomes about Alvin having to impersonate gangster Balls McGee. He's depicted as an American gangster with molls dressed appropriately - it's all played in broad dinner theatre revue style. The central concept of Alvin is thrown out the window.

Nothing wrong with Alvin being a lookalike or being involved with gangsters but they forgot the basis of Alvin - that he's a nerd who is catnip to the ladies. Also Balls is so unrealistic it's this extra layer of unreality on top of the character.

Like why not make it that Alvin as Balls is now irresistible and all these molls go after him? Why not put him in a woman's prison? Or a nunnery.

This was annoying. The incompetence of this is annoying.

There are incidental pleasures: the randomness of the cast (Chantal Countouri, Kris McQuade, Frank Thring, Maurie Fields), an extended Brian Cadd performance.

I saw a 75 minute copy of the film - I remember seeing a long version where Alvin and his mate dressed up in drag to play women's cricket. It was a mean spirited sequence and isn't missed.

Movie review - "Break of Day" (1976) **1/2

 Pat Lovell and Cliff Green, coming off Picnic at Hanging Rock, teamed with Ken Hannam, coming off Sunday Too Far Away resulting in a movie that didn't do as well as either, though it has its pleasures, such as a loving depiction of small town.

It's about the impact on that town of a visiting bohemian, Sarah Kestelman, in particular on a young former Anzac (Andrew McFarlane). Both actors are fine... I think Kestelman needed to be better looking or sexier or something. Like he should have seen her bathing nude to start off with. That is blunt but the film needs an electric charge like that.

Beautifully shot and all that. Very much an "AFC film" like The Irishman and so on. I enjoyed so much time being dedicated to a cricket sequence at the end.

Nice performances in the support cast from people like Tony Barry, Maurie Fields,  John bell, Geraldine Turner. The film might've been more interesting told from the bohemians point of view - with bisexual Kestelman, war veteran Bell, etc. Downer of an ending with the reveal McFarlane shot himself in the foot to avoid more fighting at Gallipoli, and then seeing Kestelman has slept with Turner.

But not a bad film.

Movie review - "Cathy's Child" (1978) **

 Donald Crombie's third feature has a good, solid story, even if without movie stars it was probably better suited to being a telemovie. That's no criticism of Michelle Fawdon and Alan Cassell, both of whom are very good - Fawdon's Maltese accent sounded believable to me, and Cassell has a great tough presence, spitting out dialogue. And I can't think of what stars could have played the role as well. Maybe Rod Taylor in the Cassell part. A post-Newsfront Bill Hunter? Gerard Kennedy? Jack Thompson was too young.

The film is mostly from the POV of Cassell - so they don't dramatise scenes that would've been exciting like seeing Fawdon clash with her husband, and finding her child going missing. There's a lot of reportage. There may have been budget/legal reasons for this but it means Fawdon doesn't get the automatic sympathy she would have otherwise and the journey isn't as compelling.

There's a lot of reportage and backstory. A lot of smoking too.  Heaps of two and three handers where people talk.

I like that Cassell's real life character was actually interesting - a boozy journo. They had to pull back on that and the fact he slept with Cathy. And presumably legal reasons why we can't see the husband.

Support cast full of familiar faces - Bryan Brown, Lex Marinos, Robert Hughes, Arthur Dignam, Grant Dodwell, Frankie J Holden.

It has the pace of a decent procedural.But far too many Q and A scenes. It doesn't really dramatise the story. Great piece of material but they were hampered by being unable to show too much true story.

Movie review - "The Irishman" (1978) **

 One of the many coming-of-age period pieces made in Australia in the late 1970s. It feels very much a film from a different era, with its healthy budget and period detail. Michael Craig is fine in the part of a gruff old type who laments the passing of time with his clydesdales.

Lou Brown and Simon Burke are his sons. Robyn Nevin is mum. I thought the film would be about Burke but Brown gets story too, rooting some girl and fighting with dad. It might've been better to have one son. Or more conflict. Or something.

Caddie had inherent conflict - single mum bucking the odds trying to hang on to her kids. This doesn't. Craig doesn't want things to change but... it's his own fault. He's a boozer and a dick and not much of a dad. It's hard to care. About anyone. Plot ambles. They're trying to do John Ford without being Ford.

You can't help have some affection for it - it's a valentine to old Queensland, with references to labor disputes and the old pub. It's just dull.

 

Movie review - "Stone" (1974) ***

 Beloved Australian film has tremendous integrity... Sandy Harbutt clearly has great admiration and affinity for bikers and this comes across in the film's best bits... the funeral sequence, the stuns of bikes falling off cliffs, the scenes of bikes on the highway, the camaraderie of the gang, the ethos. 

Harbutt is very effective as the head biker; Hugh Keays Byrne and Vincent Gil are superb as fellow bikers, Roger Ward and Bindi Williams are a lot of fun. Rebecca Gilling was one of the best looking women on the planet at the time - especially in denim. Helen Morse is amazing too, as Shorter's uptown gal (who still goes off and seemingly roots Patrick Ward).

The plot about Ken Shorter joining the gang to help find out who's trying to kill them feels more haphazard. It's serviceable... I just wish it had been done with a little more polish. The baddies are basically forgotten until the end. And it is contrived that Hugh Keays Bryne witnesses an assassination, a whole bunch of people die as a result, and it's not until the end he goes "oh that's right I witnessed the assassination".

I remember guys from my school re-enacting the funeral scene. That's how much it penetrated.

The support cast is full of delight - Drew Forsyth as a nerdy businessman, Gary McDonald as a mechanic, Bill Hunter as a publican.

Articles on Drums of Myrrh

 

Variety 24 May 1978 p 58

 

SMH 14 Aug 1977

SMH 16 June 1999