Ozploitation Revisited: Not Quite Hollywood
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▐ ‘For every Caddie there was a Felicity. For every Picnic at Hanging Rock there was a Stunt Rock. For every Jimmie 1 Blacksmith there was an Alvin Purple.’ ▐ MARK HARTLEY Ozploitation Revisited Not Quite Hollywood direct opposition to mainstream Australian film culture. As he observes: ‘For every Mark Hartley’s new film straddles unpretentious Caddie there was a Felicity. For every Picnic at Hanging Rock there was a Stunt glee and obsessive research, writes Alexandra Rock. For every Jimmie Blacksmith there Heller-Nicholas. was an Alvin Purple.’1 Not Quite Hollywood launches with Rose Tattoo’s euphoric bogan anthem ‘We HE main intent of Mark Hartley’s Ozploitation renaissance that this docu- Can’t Be Beaten’, a track that in both lyric documentary on Australian com- mentary will no doubt trigger both here and and mood emphasizes the raucous (if Tmercial genre cinema of the 1970s abroad – is Quentin Tarantino. The Ameri- somewhat delusional) self-aggrandizing and 1980s – or, more affectionately, can cult film icon leaves little room in Not spirit that permeates many of the films Ozploitation film – is to highlight trash as Quite Hollywood for even his most vocal the documentary examines. In fact, it is an integral building block of the Australian critics to question his encyclopedic knowl- this precise tone that also governs many film industry as we know it today. edge of Australian commercial genre film of the most engaging interviews: from the of this era – a deliberate incitement to the outset, a spectacularly grumpy Bob Ellis Film scholars in Australia have very little cultural elite in this country that Tarantino clashes horns with an equally deadpan experience observing the mechanics of refers to as ‘snobs’. At the 2003 Austral- Phillip Adams and Barry Humphries as the legitimization of local cinematic trash, ian premiere of Kill Bill: Vol 1 in Sydney, they thrash out a historical framework watching it turn from fool’s gold into a rich Tarantino famously dedicated the screening upon which Hartley elegantly builds his mine of valuable cultural artefacts. While to Brian Trenchard-Smith, to the shock of a narrative. Segueing neatly from what we can view with detached fascination the few but to the bewilderment of most. Adams calls the ‘great cinematic silence of myriad instances of this occurring in for- Australian cinema’ of the 1960s, through eign contexts, Not Quite Hollywood (2008) Along with a cache of other key players, to the fascination with Australia of foreign challenges local audiences – critics and Trenchard-Smith is a central figure in Not directors such as Nicolas Roeg and Ted punters alike – to direct the mirror inwards. Quite Hollywood, and demonstrates in Kotcheff, the popularity of comedies such The result is that films that have been suc- person all the boisterous charm of his as Stork (Tim Burstall, 1971), Alvin Purple cessfully deleted from the filmic landscape films. This documentary unapologetically (Tim Burstall, 1973) and the Barry McKen- are now playing at such credible cultural aims to rescue Trenchard-Smith – and zie films (Bruce Beresford, 1972 and 1974) events as the Melbourne International Film Richard Franklin, Antony I. Ginnane, John is praised as laying the foundations for Festival (MIFF). Lamond and Terry Bourke, to name a this new mode of Australian cinema. few – from their contemporary obscurity, The informal patron of the film – and of the and Hartley actively positions their films in Encompassing both the Ocker comedies 14 • Metro Magazine 158 3 2 4 IDE FILMS W ITY C 2008 5 © 6 PHOTOS PHOTOS and sex comedies in this introductory section, Not Quite Hollywood succinctly 1: BARRY HUMPHRIES WITH DIRECTOR MARK and economically ticks the significant HARTLEY 2: THE ADVENTURES OF BARRY textual boxes: Felicity (John D. Lamond, MCKENZIE 3: MAD DOG MORGAN 4: DIRECTOR 1979), The Naked Bunyip (John B. Murray, JOHN LAMOND AND ACTRESS GLORY ANNEN 5: STORK 6: DEAD END DRIVE-IN 7: DEAD KIDS 1970), Petersen (Tim Burstall, 1974) and Eliza Fraser (Tim Burstall, 1976) are all landmarks in establishing the textual car- is here that Hartley’s hardcore insight into tography of Australian genre film from this softcore trash becomes apparent. Hartley era. The bulk of the documentary is then 7 is, in street parlance, bona fide: this is no divided neatly into two sections: horror poseur ego trip by any stretch. In fact, and action cinema. Aside from Hartley’s one of the most simple but overwhelming admirable grasp of the material in ques- selves and the motley cast of characters pleasures on offer in Not Quite Hollywood tion, it is the simple structure of the film responsible (and, in many cases, irrespon- is the chance to see – even if just in short that so effectively demonstrates both his sible) for their production. clip form – snippets of texts rarely (if ever) main claims regarding the unjust orthodox seen outside of late-night 1990s television refusal to acknowledge the influence and The conceptual logic of the ‘body genre’ or $1 ex-rental VHS cassettes, blurred, impact of Ozploitation film, and the charm rubric allows the Ocker comedies and sex chewed and almost unwatchable. Hartley and power inherent in both the films them- comedies to fluidly segue into horror, and it tips his hat enthusiastically towards Metro Magazine 158 • 15 1 ▐ Hartley tips his hat enthusiastically towards the ‘big name’ horror films, but the real treat is the humble, ‘no big deal’ manner in which almost-vanished films are treated to equal curatorial insight. ▐ his finest film. The refusal of Patrick to lose its charm despite (or perhaps because of) its self-conscious campiness is almost as 2 supernatural as the telekinesis bestowed upon its title character. The sadly underappreciated Robert Thompson (who ap- peared in Thirst [Rod Hardy, 1979] and a few episodes of Prisoner) is unrelenting in his determination to pump up the intensity of Patrick, despite his muteness throughout the film. Patrick was a huge success in the United States and Italy, the latter spawning the unau- 4 3 thorized sequel Patrick vive ancora (Mario Landi, 1980) (1981) is another cinematic treat: while a which, despite the slagging- 1: TURKEY SHOOT 2: STUNTMAN GRANT PAGE 3: RAZORBACK 4: GRANT PAGE AND JIMMY WANG qualitative ocean away from Next of Kin, off it receives in Not Quite Hollywood, is YU IN STUNT ROCK 5: ANTONY I. GINNANE it is equally innovative, captivating and an example of the bizarre lengths to which (like the bulk of Terry Bourke’s oeuvre) Italian genre film was pushed in the 1970s. deceptively haunting, despite its mediocre the ‘big name’ horror films – Razorback production qualities. Long Weekend (Colin Eggleston, 1978) is (Russell Mulcahy, 1984), Roadgames given pride of place in the horror section; (Richard Franklin, 1981), Patrick (Richard Following a brief overview of Bourke’s Tarantino in particular waxes lyrical about Franklin, 1978) – but the real treat is the chequered contribution to Australian the horror that stems from the relatively humble, ‘no big deal’ manner in which horror, Richard Franklin’s first feature film, simple storyline and the taut screenplay by almost-vanished films are treated to equal Patrick, is placed under the microscope. Everett De Roche (who also wrote Patrick). curatorial insight. Most notable of these Hartley movingly dedicates Not Quite Thirst, The Survivor (David Hemmings, is the haunting Next of Kin (Tony Williams, Hollywood to Franklin, who tragically died 1981) and Harlequin (Simon Wincer, 1980) 1982), compared by Tarantino to Stanley from prostate cancer just three weeks af- are included (again, three films that have Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) but just as ter being interviewed for this documentary. aged remarkably well, despite the latter’s easily (and flatteringly) described as an While Franklin is clearly unwell, his poor insistence on placing Robert Powell in Australian The Changeling (Peter Medak, health cannot obscure the kick he gets out snug-fitting spandex), and Russell Mulc- 1980). Terry Bourke’s Lady Stay Dead of talking about what many would argue is ahy’s self-flagellation over Razorback is 16 • Metro Magazine 158 balanced out by Tarantino’s somewhat much Australian commercial genre film relevance to contemporary Australian film backhanded compliment that Mulcahy is is directly associated with 10BA, but the culture, the hasty and far-too-tidy manner in ‘a poor man’s Ridley Scott’. film also spends much time exploring the which films like Wolf Creek (Greg McLean, significance of non-Australian person- 2005) and Undead (Spierig Brothers, 2003) Hartley also enthusiastically embraces the nel being imported to the national scene. are declared as the Next Wave with very action segment. Swiftly edited interviews Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis are little explanation seems to expose the clum- with a variety of key players hilariously both interviewed extensively in relation siness of the premise. Paradoxically, the outline the outrageous production histo- to the production of Richard Franklin’s documentary until this point goes to great ries of Stone (Sandy Harbutt, 1974) and Roadgames, and discuss, together with lengths to demonstrate that film history is Turkey Shoot (Brian Trenchard-Smith, Australian interviewees, the cultural and far from simple, and the abruptly simplistic 1982) in particular, and – as the director of industrial response to imported American conclusion appears to contradict such a the latter – Trenchard-Smith is positioned talent being utilized in a supposedly ‘Aus- view. Indicative of this awkward concession as a vital personality in the documentary tralian’ film. The question of national iden- to market relevance is the inclusion of the and seated next to Tarantino in a few tity is expanded even further in Hartley’s banal observations of the Saw (2004) snake pivotal interview scenes. Trenchard- oil merchants, Leigh Whannell and James Smith’s The Man from Hong Kong (1975) Wan, who – in comparison to auslander and Dead End Drive-In (1986), Mad Dog Tarantino – demonstrate that Australian Morgan (Philippe Mora, 1976) and George origins do not make one an expert on Aus- Miller’s Mad Max (1979) are discussed at tralian film.