I say "modern" Australian genre movies because I have heard in the past that Australia had a thriving homegrown cinema scene in the early part of last century, until US companies bought the screening venues here and (suprise, surprise), started showing US movies instead of the local product. An example of US capitalism acting like a cuckoo on the world scene, perhaps.
What you get in this docu is lots of talking heads and scenes from the movies being discussed. It's a pretty entertaining combination. Some of the interviewees include American fan-boy Quentin Tarantino (a successful genre movie maker himself), industry players like Phillip Adams and the politician Barry Jones, as well as the stars of the exploitation movies, like George Lazenby (Australia's own James Bond), Rebecca Gilling (whom I remember for her role in the brilliant trashy mini-series "Return to Eden"), Lynda Stoner (of the great police soap "Cop Shop"), Abigail (of the popular and notorious sex obsessed soap "Number 96") and Graeme Blundell, 'Alvin Purple' himself and who would later feature in George Lucas' Star Wars prequels.
As well as the stars of these movies, you get interviews with the makers themselves...be they the schlockmeisters you've never heard of (unless your name is Quentin Tarantino!) or people who would forge significant international careers like George Miller, who made the uber road carnage movie "Mad Max".
There are lots of interesting and entertaining inside stories on the movies which are mentioned here. Tales of the death of stunt people because the films were made in the days before there was any sort of safety oversight of them...or the local media giving overseas stars a hard time because locals weren't getting their job. One time 'scream queen' Jamie Lee Curtis fits into the latter category. Along with Stacy Keach, she is one of a few overseas insiders interviewed for the docu. She had a role in "Road games" with Keach, and I must say, my interest in seeing this movie has been piqued. Usually having an American in a local movie would signal to me that the film was a dog. "Road games" could be a genre movie which doesn't vindicate that prejudice of mine.
As far as the 'potted' history of Australian cinema in recent times goes, that too is enlightening. Before we made our own movies, overseas productions would use our country for an exotic backdrop. Singer Mick Jagger playing Australian outlaw icon Ned Kelly is a major example of this phenomenon. We then started making gross out, populist comedies, like "Alvin Purple" and "Barry McKenzie". If you are easily offended or have a squeamish sensibility, some of the clips may displease you. Some scenes are what you would expect from a gross out comedy, whilst some are more horrific, as you'd expect to find from horror genre movies.
The success of these genre movies had an 'Establishment' backlash. The Aussie 'Renaissance' in movies was more about presenting an image to the world which we felt comfortable with...it was sort of a battle for Australia's soul...the 'evil' populist side was abandoned as funding bodies supported more 'nice'/'proper' subjects for movies. There is a very funny scene where famous Aussie satirist Barry Humphreys suggests that the art-house movie "Picnic at Hanging Rock" could have been even better if it had only had scenes of...(won't spoil the surprise for you on that one!).
Also fascinating in this docu is how Australian genre movies were influenced by overseas genre movies and vice-versa. E.g. it was a revelation to me that the notorious sex-romp creation "Alvin Purple" was basically taken from the premise of the British movie "Alfie" but with a plot twist used for comedic effect. Movies like "Mad Max" and "Patrick" had Italian rip-offs too, showing their influence on the world scene.
Have heard recently that Australian genre movies like "Patrick" and "Thirst" are to be remade here. I've seen the latter...many years ago. Interesting take on the vampire genre...I really only remember one visually stunning scene. This docu reminded me of another absolutely stunning scene from that movie...you'll see it too if you watch this docu. Fan-boy Tarantino often talks of arresting moments in such genre movies. The shower scene from Thirst would be an example that works for me.
I'm sure we like to imagine that we live in more liberated times than people did decades ago. Watching this docu, you'll realise how mistaken you are! In the 1970's on Australian free to air TV, you could see full frontal male and female nudity on shows like "Alvin Purple" and "Number 96". You don't get stuff like that nowadays...not even on US shows which are on cable TV there. Sure, a lot of that stuff was sexist, but that is not hidden in this docu...women like Jackie Weaver discuss this topic at some length.
This docu has definitely piques my interest in some of these movies: must get around to watching "Patrick" one of these days, as well as revisiting "Thirst" some time too. No doubt due to some of the tax concessions the government offered, some absolutely worthless movies were made here. Those tax concession days are discussed here too, plus you get the points of view of people who have utter contempt for these movies (like Bob Ellis) as well as the out and out fan-boys, like Quentin Tarantino.
Really, you don't have to be Australian to appreciate this docu or even be that familiar with the movies which are covered here. It's just a great over-view of a niche scene in the world.
...I suppose the only lamentable thing is that the early Australian cinema scene was killed by the US movie business. We had arguably the first motion picture ever made ("The story of the Kelly gang"). How much richer could Australia's cinema history have been if government had protected our industry?
What you get in this docu is lots of talking heads and scenes from the movies being discussed. It's a pretty entertaining combination. Some of the interviewees include American fan-boy Quentin Tarantino (a successful genre movie maker himself), industry players like Phillip Adams and the politician Barry Jones, as well as the stars of the exploitation movies, like George Lazenby (Australia's own James Bond), Rebecca Gilling (whom I remember for her role in the brilliant trashy mini-series "Return to Eden"), Lynda Stoner (of the great police soap "Cop Shop"), Abigail (of the popular and notorious sex obsessed soap "Number 96") and Graeme Blundell, 'Alvin Purple' himself and who would later feature in George Lucas' Star Wars prequels.
As well as the stars of these movies, you get interviews with the makers themselves...be they the schlockmeisters you've never heard of (unless your name is Quentin Tarantino!) or people who would forge significant international careers like George Miller, who made the uber road carnage movie "Mad Max".
There are lots of interesting and entertaining inside stories on the movies which are mentioned here. Tales of the death of stunt people because the films were made in the days before there was any sort of safety oversight of them...or the local media giving overseas stars a hard time because locals weren't getting their job. One time 'scream queen' Jamie Lee Curtis fits into the latter category. Along with Stacy Keach, she is one of a few overseas insiders interviewed for the docu. She had a role in "Road games" with Keach, and I must say, my interest in seeing this movie has been piqued. Usually having an American in a local movie would signal to me that the film was a dog. "Road games" could be a genre movie which doesn't vindicate that prejudice of mine.
As far as the 'potted' history of Australian cinema in recent times goes, that too is enlightening. Before we made our own movies, overseas productions would use our country for an exotic backdrop. Singer Mick Jagger playing Australian outlaw icon Ned Kelly is a major example of this phenomenon. We then started making gross out, populist comedies, like "Alvin Purple" and "Barry McKenzie". If you are easily offended or have a squeamish sensibility, some of the clips may displease you. Some scenes are what you would expect from a gross out comedy, whilst some are more horrific, as you'd expect to find from horror genre movies.
The success of these genre movies had an 'Establishment' backlash. The Aussie 'Renaissance' in movies was more about presenting an image to the world which we felt comfortable with...it was sort of a battle for Australia's soul...the 'evil' populist side was abandoned as funding bodies supported more 'nice'/'proper' subjects for movies. There is a very funny scene where famous Aussie satirist Barry Humphreys suggests that the art-house movie "Picnic at Hanging Rock" could have been even better if it had only had scenes of...(won't spoil the surprise for you on that one!).
Also fascinating in this docu is how Australian genre movies were influenced by overseas genre movies and vice-versa. E.g. it was a revelation to me that the notorious sex-romp creation "Alvin Purple" was basically taken from the premise of the British movie "Alfie" but with a plot twist used for comedic effect. Movies like "Mad Max" and "Patrick" had Italian rip-offs too, showing their influence on the world scene.
Have heard recently that Australian genre movies like "Patrick" and "Thirst" are to be remade here. I've seen the latter...many years ago. Interesting take on the vampire genre...I really only remember one visually stunning scene. This docu reminded me of another absolutely stunning scene from that movie...you'll see it too if you watch this docu. Fan-boy Tarantino often talks of arresting moments in such genre movies. The shower scene from Thirst would be an example that works for me.
I'm sure we like to imagine that we live in more liberated times than people did decades ago. Watching this docu, you'll realise how mistaken you are! In the 1970's on Australian free to air TV, you could see full frontal male and female nudity on shows like "Alvin Purple" and "Number 96". You don't get stuff like that nowadays...not even on US shows which are on cable TV there. Sure, a lot of that stuff was sexist, but that is not hidden in this docu...women like Jackie Weaver discuss this topic at some length.
This docu has definitely piques my interest in some of these movies: must get around to watching "Patrick" one of these days, as well as revisiting "Thirst" some time too. No doubt due to some of the tax concessions the government offered, some absolutely worthless movies were made here. Those tax concession days are discussed here too, plus you get the points of view of people who have utter contempt for these movies (like Bob Ellis) as well as the out and out fan-boys, like Quentin Tarantino.
Really, you don't have to be Australian to appreciate this docu or even be that familiar with the movies which are covered here. It's just a great over-view of a niche scene in the world.
...I suppose the only lamentable thing is that the early Australian cinema scene was killed by the US movie business. We had arguably the first motion picture ever made ("The story of the Kelly gang"). How much richer could Australia's cinema history have been if government had protected our industry?