Movie review - "Turkey Shoot" (1982) *** (rewatching)

 I watched this out of the corner of my eye on a computer, and that's the best way to see it - distracted, so you can asborb the atmosphere, it's not hard to follow the story, there are explosions and sex.

The film is actually very emotionally satisfying with the prisoners rising up - Olivia Hussey's character has a journey from coward to revolutionary (she seems innocent and adds to tension), Steve Railsback brings intensity, Michael Craig and Carmen Duncan are terrific, Lynda Stoner is sweet. It's a very well cast film. 

The rape and murder of Stoner is still yuck but watching it distracted works. It looks great. Impressive production value at the end.

Ozploitation Top Ten

 1) Roadgames (1981)

2) The Long Weekend (1978)

3) Patrick (1984)

4) Razorback (1984)

5) The Man from Hong Kong (1975)

6) Fantasm (1977)

7) Stone (1974)

8) Mad Max (1979)

9) The Money Movers (1979)

10) Snapshot (1979)

NB.I don't include the ocker comedies in this. 

 

Book review - "The Girl on the Balcony" by Olivia Hussey (2018)

 The sort of book I expected Hussey to write - sweet, a bit scatty, full of love and emotion. She was Argentinian but went to England as a girl, didn't have a lot of money but was blessed with beauty. Had a long stage run in The Prime of Miss Jean Bodie then got Romeo and Juliet. Admits she didn't take her chances -blew True Grit and Anne of a Thousand Days and did All the Right Noises, was prone to taking off long slabs of time but developed a niche for being in ensemble pieces such as Death on the Nile and was especially good at played scared girls. She seems like a lovely person.

Movie review - "Jenny Kissed Me" (1985) *

 A fascinating melodrama, key in the career of Brian Trenchard Smith because it was a departure in one way, being a melodrama, but in another way being a stock Trenchard Smith movie, full of action and incident. It also shows what held back his career - a lack of understanding about story and character.

Jenny Kissed Me is full of pace and character but is just too... off. Ivar Kants is such a perfect person, hard working, devoted to the child (his partner hints at incestuous feelings but this isn't developed), upstanding, muscular, handsome. And when he abducts the kid she's all for it.

Deborrah Lee Furness' mother is hot but lazy, she can't find a job, bored, best friends with a hooker, has an affair with Steven Grieves, neglects her daughter, yells at her daughter, leaves with Kants.

Trenchard Smith seems terrified someone will get bored so something's always happening - there's nudity (from Furness and others), sex scenes, a scene in a brothel pool, drugs (Nicholas Eadie is Paula Duncan's sleazy boss), drug busts, Wilbur Wilde as a handyman, fights, slaps. One hour in Kants is revealed to have a terminal brain tumour, he gets arrested, out on bail, brings a gun to abduct Jenny, a car chase ensues.

The film is so unsympathetic to Furness and so sympathetic to Kants it's unfair. Well, that's fine if it's the story you want to tell, it's just uncomfortable to watch. Kants never takes any blame for the breakdown with Furness because none of it is shown to be his fault. Kants' behaviour at the end is fairly reprehensible - having him kidnap a kid and engage in a car chase that almost kills her in a crash and take her on the lam in the bush. But at the end Furness asks for his forgiveness and teaches her how to parent.

This has been pitched at as a melodrama in the Douglas Sirk tradition but those films were aimed at women, women aren't going to like this, the woman is the villain. This film's natural target audience is divorced dads. Especially with its mean female magistrates and social workers.

The acting is pretty good. Tamsin West is terrific.

The film could've worked. Give Furness a troubled background. Like a drug habit. Make Jenny's dad a character - a real piece of shit. He gets Furness back on drugs, he gets her ito the brothel. The film needs a real baddie.

Movie review - "Death Cheaters" (1976) **

 Brian Trenchard Smith's follow up to The Man from Hong Kong has a nice light tone and decent cast plus some fun stunts. The basic idea is strong - two stuntmen are recruited to do a special mission - but the script is dodgy. It takes 30 minutes for Noel Ferrier to ask them to go on the mission, a lot of the stunt sequences are just sort of gags/sequences for the sake of it, instead of being tied in with the story, the mission doesn't star until something like 45 minutes in.

I think they missed a trick by having Hargreaves in a relationship with Margaret Gerard (Mrs Trenchard Smith) instead of having them fall in love during it - or at the least have her go on the mission. They definitely made a mistake starting the mission so late - that could've been the second act, with Gerard kidnapped for the third act.

Movie review - "Adventures in the B Trade" by Brian Trenchard Smith

 Warm, affectionate, highly entertaining memoir. Goes off on tangents (as the author himself admits), and not all will be gripped by the technical detail. But an invaluable look at BTS's life and times... and his movies. I was struck how much of his career was a struggle (even when established in Australia he had a rough few years working in the US). He was fired off films, ignored by agents, fired by agents, suffered consistent lack of respect... but ploughed on. He had a strong entrepreneurial streak and was smart enough to have a day job (cutting trailers). And an ability to keep things on time and budget is not to be sneezed at.

He never had a big fat hit to push him to the next level - not even, say, a Psycho II that Richard Franklin had. I wonder what it was. Maybe lack of taste/material. Just bad luck?

I will say that he should've done Dark Age and Les Patterson Saves the World wouldn't have hurt him. And I really really wish Siege of Sydney had gotten up.

Movie review - "A Dangerous Summer" (1982) * (warning: spoilers)

Dumb. So dumb. Quenin Masters is a poor director. Why didn't they do a straight up fire disaster movie? This is about a series of arson attacks. Tom Skerritt is fine. James Mason adds class. Wendy Hughes turns up to be killed in a swimsuit. Kim Deacon plays Skerritt's daughter though at first it seems she's like his school girl lover.

The film feels cut-about, rewritten. Brian Trenchard Smith apparently directed some footage that was used - I wish he'd directed the whole thing.

Ray Barrett is a fire fighter. I wish they'd done more with him. 

I wish they'd tied in Skerrit more to the movie - they could have cut him out.

I wish this wasn't so bad. Hospitals Don't Burn Down shows how it should be done.

Movie review - "Day of the Panther" (1988) **

My memories of this movie are better than watching it again. The story is functional though full of cliches - white man raised to fight like Asian, very white dominated (even his Obi Wan is white - John Stanton).

Some camp factor like the aerobics instructor gal doing a "sexy" dance to the hero and John Stanton doing kung fu. Michael Carman camps it up though again my memory was that he was funnier. Eddie Stazak is fine. He has a decent look and can fight.

Typically fast pace, some decent fights and interesting use of Perth locations like the water and an ampitheatrei.

Great Unmade Australian Films

* For the Term of His Natural Life - Australia's greatest silent era director, Raymond Longford, was meant to direct this adaptation of one of our greatest novels but as the budget went up Longford became on the nose and the backers decided to employ an American. A great shame.
* Robbery Under Arms - the dream film project of Ken Hall who surely would've done a better job than Jack Lee. Hall at his peak in the 30s or 40s would've knocked this out of the park.
* Collitt's Inn - Frank Thring was a limited director but great producer and one of his triumphs was this stage production. He meant to film it but struggled to raise funds and died before he had the chance.
* My Love Must Wait - a book about Matthew Flinders which was optioned by Charles Chauvel
* The Drums of Myrrhh - Ion Idriess has been filmed surprisingly little for such a popular author - Sandy Harbutt was going to make this his follow up to Stone but could not raise the funds
* The Siege of Sydney - Brian Trenchard Smith does an early version of The Rock - a great shame.

Movie review - "Race for the Yankee Zephyr" (1981) **

I remember wanting to enjoy this as a kid because of its great title and concept but being underwhelmed by it. It remains underwhelming, with a great title and concept.

Brian Trenchard Smith was apparently flown to New Zealand for a day to keep director David Hemmings in line. It's a shame Trenchard Smith couldn't take over because he'd have brought the right light touch that this needs. Hemmings' work is fairly ordinary.

Brian May's score feels brooding and the playing isn't there. Donald Pleasance is ideal in the Walter Brennan part, and George Peppard camps things up as he's been asked to. Ken Wahl is a good looking guy with some charisma but isn't quite right here - he's a bit lumbering or something. (At times I wished Peppard was playing Wahl's role and Hemmings was playing the villain). Lesley Ann Warren feels wasted - I get she's meant to be a good girl who gets a bit naughty but she lacks a scene that's hers; a bathtub moment or an action scene or something.

The plot is fairly simple - Peppard chases the gang of three. It could've done with a twist like the betrayal of a friend or a death or some other reversal - like the government being involved, or a widow of one of the dead pilots coming along or something. I guess Pleasance is captured but that doesn't feel too major.

The scenery is stunning, there's some awesome camera work. Bruno Lawrence pops up as Peppard's henchmen. It is a film that just wants to entertain you, I'll give it that.

Movie review - "Drive Hard" (2014) * (warning: spoilers)

Disappointingly poor action-comedy which the director has hopefully suggested is a throw back to Midnight Run but in fact feels like a poor knock off of Collateral. It actually has a couple of decent ideas including a strong set up - former car racing champ Thomas Jane now runs a driving school and is giving a lesson to mysterious John Cusack; Cusack asks if he can pop out for five minutes and it's to rob a bank and Jane is up to his neck in mayhem.

Now that's a pretty good idea for a film and adding to the fun is the fact that Cusack is an anti-corporate crusader. But the problem is the movie doesn't do anything much on top of that. Cusack's "revolutionary" nature is limited to the bank being corrupt. There are dodgy cops going after Jane/Cusack (good old Damien Garvey playing this role once again) but also an honest one (Zoe Ventura, not very convincing) so the dodgy ones don't cause much trouble.

A lot of time is spent on Cusack and Jane bantering but really it comes down to Cusack going to Jane 'man up dude and race cars again' which Jane does, which also feels a little blah.

The script feels as though it's going to do all these things to make it more exciting/interesting but that doesn't happen - the corrupt cop looks as though he's going to do something really bad but doesn't; Jane and Cusack look as though they're going to take a hostage like Carol Burns but they don't; the good cop never catches them; the good cop is just good and that's it (I did like how all four cops ended up shooting each other to death - the film could have done with more intense moments like this); there's a few mentions of them being Yanks in Australia together, and you think there'll be some culture clash comedy but there isn't; there's something potentially interesting in Cusack and the wife of bad banker Chris Morris but it's never really exploited; I kept waiting for Chris Morris to hire a really scary baddie but the ones that come along are comic more than anything else; a work mate of Jane's says she had an affair with him and the wife believes it but it's all cleared up easily; I kept expecting the baddies to go after Jane's wife and daughter but they don't; Jerome Ehlders (another banker) looks as though he's going to do something interesting but doesn't; there's no third act twist like or emotional depth there was in Midnight Run (eg de Niro's associate being a traitor, meeting de Niro's estranged wife and daughter) or Collateral (eg Mark Ruffalo catching up to Foxx and being killed).

Brian Trenchard Smith keeps everything at a light, fast pace and the photography is good but the action is disappointing. There isn't even that much car racing. John Cusack and Thomas Jane don't look in very good shape - Cusack is all pale, Jane has a dreadful haircut - but they do provide some good moments.

Movie review - "Turkey Shoot" (2015) ** (warning: spoilers)

The third remake of an Aussie-sploitation "classic" following The Long Weekend and Patrick, which doesn't look like being any more successful than those films, though I could be wrong. This was a frustrating movie which actually seemed closer to the 1987 Arnie film The Running Man rather than the Aussie original and is irritatingly dumb in some parts, but isn't all bad.

First of all the good stuff. Jon Hewitt knows how to use the video camera well and there were some exciting scenes where we'd cut to CCTV footage and then back - I think this was done to help cover the low budget (especially a car chase) but it was effective. I really liked the music and some of the action sequences were very well done.

But it's a poor story. And a boring one. Satire of game shows where people watch other people being killed was done a lot in the late 80s - not just Running Man but also Robocop - but here its presented like it's something new and fresh and funny. Smiling cheesy comperes talking about people being killed - hahahaha! Satire! The network executive (Belinda McClory) is ruthless about ratings - wow! satire! (Will network TV even exist a few years in the future? That doesn't seem considered here.  We see the complete credits for the Turkey Shoot TV show not just once, but three times.

I never got a true sense of the world - it's a few years in the future, okay, set mostly in the US (it's annoying that there's Australian tax payer dollars in this with all the characters acting in American in a story which could have easily been set in Australia but never mind...), where the US has been at war in Africa which is going on and on with no end in sight, and Dominic Purcell is in prison for supposedly having committed a massacre in Africa, which the audience boo at, but America has been transformed into this society where there's a show where people cheer at criminals being hunted down and killed? I didn't buy it - at least not the way set up here.

Dominic Purcell lumbers through the lead - he's got the looks and the physicality, but lacks charisma, sensitivity and humour. He never seems too stressed or torn or worried by what's going on- and the script makes him far too much of a superman. It's like there is no threat on Earth enough for him - they constantly introduce all these antagonists and have Purcell dispatch them in about five to ten seconds. The one that made me really mad was when he took out an entire squad of trained killers with automatic weapons by using nothing but a few hand guns and quick reflexes. At this point I felt the filmmakers could be bothered bringing in any tension or legitimate excitement, they were phoning it in. So by the end of the film when they have Purcell take on "the world" - which is admittedly a clever concept and could have sustained the movie if introduced earlier and actually explored - I didn't get into it because I knew they wouldn't do much with it, and they don't.

Viva Bianca at least has warmth, even if she's not terribly convincing as a Navy officer - the filmmakers made the mistake of introducing her via a long take of her walking down the corridor in uniform, and she sashays so much I thought they were setting things up with the gag that she was a stripper. She doesn't have much of a character to play either but at least she participates in the action. (No nudity though despite her track record on Spartacus - like a bewilderingly large proportion of modern day movies which are nods to 70s/80s exploitation, this is relatively sexless and tame in the nudity department.)

Robert Taylor should have made a good villain - he's got the voice, the talent, the presence. But the filmmakers cut off his balls by making him the most incompetent sniper in recent cinematic memory - Purcell sneaks up on him easily not once, but twice; he shoots at Purcell several times but never shoots him; Purcell knocks him out.

The consistent plot holes in this movie were infuriating. The powers that be want to take out Purcell because he knows The Truth but have been unable to kill him over three years even though he's been in prison? (I get that he can survive the occasional shanking in the showers but three years?) General Nicholas Hammond wants to make amends for what he's done with his life (a good character motivation, and his death scene is the best bit in the film).... so instead of just confessing himself, he arranges for Purcell to go on this show, and then Bianca to help him escape, and engineer it so that Purcell visits him? How about just screen something yourself? And Purcell is given the "secret information which could bring down the government" - he doesn't give it to a journalist or upload it himself, he gives it to a random woman (Leah Vanderberg) he meets at a protest? Seriously, she could have been anyone.

I think the big problem with this film is it was made by people who were technically skillful, had some vague idea of what was commercial from what they'd read about, who ripped off a bunch of far too old ideas from the 80s, threw in some lazy "hey the war in Afghanistan is a con" type satire and blamed no one turning up at the cinemas on the fact that there's no market for this sort of movie any more.

Movie review - "Frog Dreaming" (1985) **

If Brian Trenchard Smith had had better luck with the scripts he filmed he might have had a career more like Simon Wincer's - not that he's had a bad career, it's just his filmography lacks something like a Phar Lap or Free Willy, which he was perfectly capable of making. This kids film is full of energy, charm, verve and pace, and for a while you forget the basic story isn't that great. But it isn't that great and ultimately this isn't that good.

He's not helped either by Henry Thomas' rather flat performance in the lead. He seems monumentally uninterested in what's going on, at times even bored; compare his work with that of Rachel Friend, who is obviously less experienced and can go over the top, but you can see the emotion all over her face. They have a cute tween urst relationship (it's actually kind of a menage a trois, with Friend's little sister Tamsin West also involved) which helps Thomas; so too does the fact Thomas plays several scenes with Tony Barry, who is very good as Thomas' guardian. (It's a shame Barry never got to play a super dad for a long stint on a TV show he is the perfect laconic Aussie dad. Even if he is a Kiwi.)

The plot as Thomas investigate mysterious goings on at a water hole. But there are no real stakes - unlike BMX Bandits where the stakes were high (wanting to raise money for a BMX track, stopping a robbery, baddies who wants a robbery to go ahead, the MacGuffin of the walkie talkies), this has none. The only thing driving Thomas is curiosity, there's no real reason to uncover the mystery, there are no real baddies except Friends understandably protective dad (why not throw in some thieves or something?), and Thomas is passive at the climax.

It's a real shame because the direction is brisk, the support cast great and the scenery wonderful. Aboriginal lore is rich fodder for for a kids film - it would be worth revisiting.

Movie review - "BMX Bandits" (1983) ***1/2

After being pillorised for making Turkey Shoot Brian Trenchard Smith bounced back into critical favour with this delightful children's film - although interesting enough both movies have a lot in common: fast paced, full of action, a lively sense of humour, good production value, strong performances. The main difference is that this movie has a good heart whereas Turkey had a black one.

It's also a hell of a lot more positive in its depictions of women than Turkey Shoot: Nicole Kidman admittedly is kidnapped by the baddies twice and has to be rescued but she is brave and smart, gets to ride the bike, is part of the gang and is lusted after (in a cute tween way) by her two men; the only vaguely competent police officer is a woman.

I know this is in hindsight, but Nickers has terrific charisma from the get-go - her appearance really lifts this movie, with her frizzy hair and distinctive voice. No wonder she was rarely out of work in Australia (her stunt bike double does look a bit too much like a man). Her two co stars aren't as good but aren't bad - James Lugton is funny (even if his voice always sounds dubbed) and Angelo d'Angelo quite engaging - the three of them have a solid camaraderie. David Argue is hilarious as one of the crooks whose pursuit of the kids provides the plot. I also felt for the fat rich kid who teased Nickers, calling her moll - he's supposed to be a sort of villain but I looked at him and kept wondering he is probably full of self loathing, scoffing that chocolate milk and hating himself.

The film does bog down in a middle with yet another chase sequence (nothing wrong with the sequence, it just feels like yet another chase sequence), but rallies for an inspiring finale. The locations are well used - Manly looks beautiful (and so clean!). People who've lived there will get a kick out of seeing the wharf, Tanya Park, the mall, etc. There are some funny lines as well as daggy funny ones, and a few risqué (of the Are You Being Served kind - there a few English actors in the cast.) To be blunt some of the BMX stunts look a little lame but it's a really fun and nice film.

Movie review - "The Stuntmen" (1973) **

Early documentary from Brian Trenchard-Smith, who met Grant Page while making it, this is a look at some of Australia's stunt men at the time, including Page - although I was never clear what TV show or movie they were working on. There's some talk of the philosophy of being a stunt man (the appeal, pay, worry about dying) and a lot of stunts. I found it a bit dull after a while, but then I don't really care about stuntmen. Best bit is when Trenchard Smith sets himself on fire to prove its safe then quickly douses the flames.

Movie review - "Hospitals Don't Burn Down" (1977) ***1/2

It's a great shame Brian Trenchard Smith never got the chance to direct an Australian disaster movie because on this evidence he would have been terrific - this is a 22 minute short for Film Australia about a discarded cigarette which causes havoc in the hospital. The response of the staff is basically professional - a few people make mistakes, others do the right thing, some die simply from bad luck.

It's very well directed - tight, fast paced, gets straight into the action. Jeanie Drynan is attractive and likeable as the heroine (a nurse), there are some great support turns by people like Ray Marshall (whose cigarette causes the tragedy), some funny lines. Film Australia made a number of non-memorable feature films in their day - I wonder why this was never expanded?

Movie review - "Turkey Shoot" (1982) ** (warning: spoilers)

This gets off to a pretty good start, with your standard early 80s montage of society collapsing (well done, it should be said), then some John Carpenter-esque music playing as three prisoners are taking off to a camp, throwing us right into the action. (Apparently there were scenes setting up the action which were cut out but I think they were right to get straight into it, with only quick flashbacks for Steve Railback and Olivia Hussey but they set up everything you need to know.)

There is some campy (excuse the pun) fun at the prison, with Noel Ferrier and Michael Craig excellent as wardens, Steve Railsback hamming it up hilariously as a resistance leader, Lynda Stoner showing off her bare arse in the shower, Olivia Hussey looking terrified, Roger Ward as a sadistic guard, Gus Mecurio as a castrated guard, Carmen Duncan being nasty. All the actors play their roles in exactly the right styl for this sort of thing - intense Railsback, reminding me of a communist militant captured by the Nazis, beautiful flower Hussey out of her depth, scenery chewing pirate acting from the villains etc.

And, you know, some of this was pretty good  - the satire, the Most Dangerous Game set up, the quality of the cast, some of the delirious excesses (a werewolf, the most hilariously inappropriate stand-in breasts for Olivia Hussey during her shower scene). There are bits of over the top violence I didn't mind - Roger Ward's sadistic guard deserved to have his hands cut off, Michael Craig deserved to blow up, the werewolf deserved to be cut up, the cowardly vicious prisoner... well you didn't mind him being tortured. And of course the prisoners taking over the camp and slaughtering all the guards at the end was justified.

But other stuff just felt plain mean - the pretty girl beaten up by Roger Ward at the beginning (Oriana Panozzo) - she didn't deserve that, and the film lingers over her pain. Ditto the brave prisoner (Bill Young) who is part of the escape. Most of all there is the horrible scene where Carmen Duncan captures Stoner, then rapes her and stabs her through the eye with an arrow. I will go along with Trenchard Smith's claim the movie is "only" satire for the most of this movie's running time - but not for these scenes. These scenes have a black heart. And there are far too many of them. (Though it must be said when I watched the movie for the third time, in 2015 on the big screen at the Astor - they bothered me less. Maybe because I knew they were coming. But still, they are not satirical and funny, it is sadism and catering to that market.)

Olivia Hussey's performance is an interesting one. A pretty actress, she looks absolutely terrified throughout the film (apparently this was her emotional state during filming too). She does some kind of empowering things - zipping up Gus Mecurio's dick, chopping off Roger Ward's hands, stabbing Carmen Duncan - but remains scared all the way through. Still, it's sort of a journey.

Seeing it on the big screen in 2015 made me appreciate the quality of the photography and the North Queensland locations. However it did show up a lack of logic in the action sequences - characters run around with little rhyme or reason, baddies are ridiculously bad shots with their guns.

In the end, I look on this as a partly fun futuristic violent satire, with a really, really mean side.

Movie review - "Stunt Rock" (1978) **

An utterly fascinating movie that is impossible to dislike because it is so completely, utterly daggy. Brian Trenchard Smith tried on several occasions to make a star out of Grant Page and never quite succeeded - this was his international attempt, a concoction of stunts, an un-famous rock band (Sorcery) and a random Dutch actress, plus Trenchard-Smith's own wife and some stock footage involving Page's stunts in old movies such as Mad Dog Morgan.

Trenchard Smith keeps everything going at a fast clip but deserves to be wrapped over the knuckles for not coming up with anything approaching a story - Grant Page plays Grant Page who turns up in LA to do some work and is related to a member of a band. Margaret Gerard (Mrs T-S) is a journalist doing a story on him. And that's it. Seriously - I thought someone would try to kill off members of the band, or Page, or something but it never happens. Page gets injured, recovers, does a stunt, there is some philosophical discussion on the nature of stunt work, the climax involves Page doing a stunt at concert, there's a sort of romance between Page and the journo... but that's it. It's negligent this was made, really - but I'm giving it two stars just for the sheer randomness of its existence.

Movie review – “Dead End Drive In” (1986) **1/2

In recent years the reputation of this Brian Trenchard-Smith actioner has improved, due in part to it featuring in Not Quite Hollywood. I remember reading about it at the time and being really excited about the film because of its central idea, and it came from Trenchard Smith, but it came and went in the cinemas very quickly and when I saw it on video I was disappointed.

Looking at it years on, I would still call the movie a half success. For a story set in the “near future” it feels very 1986, and quite main stream 1986 – the colourful fashions and hair cuts, pop music on the soundtrack (Machinations, Kids in the Kitchen), some of the most unthreatening juvenile delinquents in recent history (how’s this for a line up… Wilbur Wilde, Dave Gibson, Murray Fahey, Brett Climo). So this kind of makes the movie feel jokey and unscary when there was so much more potential in the story.

It’s a good concept – teenagers being lured into drive ins, given coupons, junk movies and junk food, going along with it like sheep. It feels as though something darker needs to be going on, i.e. the kids will be killed or become slaves, or something. (The cops – led by the unthreatening Gary Who – are corrupt and thuggish but not really evil.) Instead the last act has some Asians turn up and everyone getting racist. I get the point but not that much is done with it except having the baddies say racist things (the Asians are represented not by teenagers, like the whites, but by families and a kindly Indian man) – a great opportunity is wasted here.

It does look great – the set is impressive. Ned Manning isn’t a bad hero – he’s not terribly charismatic or compelling but he’s likeable, and has an engaging character (the one person in the place determined not to eat junk food and to get out of there); Natalie McCurry, a late 80s crush, is believable as his dopey girlfriend. There’s not a lot of action – only at the end, really – but it moves along fast, and is quite tense and thought provoking. I think if it had been scarier and darker in the last third (with a greater sense of threat) this would have been a classic.

Oh, and despite Trenchard-Smith’s deserved fame as an action director the final stunt isn’t very well handled – too much cutting, and you never get a really good look where you see how amazing the stunt was.

Movie review - "The Man from Hong Kong" (1975) ***1/2

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.