For many Australians the local film industry is made up of movies like Strictly Ballroom, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Australia. The documentary Not Quite Hollywood celebrates lesser known works that are regarded as “genre cinema”.
Movies that contain ample ample breasts, buckets of blood, bikie gangs, car crashes, unrealistic looking crocodiles and violent yobbos in leather form part of the “genre” genre.
Not Quite Hollywood begins with a dubious attempt to connect the re-emergent industry with the anti-war movement and second-wave feminism. It’s on safer ground when it suggests that Australia’s excessive censorship laws gave rise to a plethora of movies containing boobs, bums, willies, vulgarity and a peculiarly Australian sensibility when those laws were lifted. After it was released in 1971 Stork apparenty became the most successful home-grown effort in about fifteen years.
The influence of the film-friendly Gorton and Whitlam Governments also gets a mention (“The Government’s shelling out piles of bloody moolah for any bastard who reckons he can paint pictures, write poems or make fillums”).
Even though Not Quite Hollywood’s too long to sustain the viewer’s interest, it does contain some stunningly silly scenes from truly stupid movies such as Turkey Shoot, Razorback, The Man from Hong Kong and Barry McKenzie Holds His Own. It also features some amusing, passionate and intermittently bitchy opinions from varied sources, including Bob Ellis (in grating “I’m so odd, clever, nasty and droll” mode) and Ozploitation fan Quentin Tarantino.
Interestingly, the film argues that “genre” exploded in the wake of the introduction of the 10BA tax incentive scheme. According to playwright David Williamson, “half the films made under 10BA weren’t released, they were that bad.”
Those who appreciate a little subtext with their cinema will be pleased to learn that Australian “genre” is deader than the victim of a crazed killer in a crap slasher flick; although there’s an attempt at the end of the documentary to claim it might enjoy a renaissance.
While there are many quotable quotes in Not Quite Hollywood, the following from Phillip Adams may well be the most memorable:
The sight of Lynda Stoner being stabbed through the left nork by a carnivorous lesbian was too much for me to take.
Not Quite Hollywood is now out on DVD.
Eddie Perfect’s currently playing Australia’s favourite cricketing bogan in Shane Warne: The Musical. While it’s a very entertaining show, its (mostly) affectionate portrait of Warne makes one wonder if any Australian satirists are prepared to kick the boot into their subjects these days. With that in mind, it can be reported that Casey Bennetto’s glorious Keating! The Musical can now be seen on DVD.
Filmed in Sydney earlier this year, the show’s an enjoyable romp through an increasingly distant moment in our political history. Highlights include audience member Cheryl Kernot going all giggly during “Heavens, Mister Evans”, Terio Serio’s wonderful take on John Howard and the freaky “Freaky” by Alexander D.
Extras include a brief history of the show and an (shock, horror) appearance by Paul Keating. It’s expected that the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (coming to a psychiatrist’s office near you in a couple of years) will add the following criteria to the diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
1. Patient attends musical named after them more than three times.
Besides “boobs, bums, willies, vulgarity”, it was def. the stunts involving cars/motorcycles/explosions which made many of them so popular here & in the US – The stunts were super dangerous & over the top & obviously low budget ie. more
real(istic), culminating in Mad Max.
Grant Page (Oz stuntman legend) – I’m sure would have gotten a big mention in ‘Not Quite Hollywood’? You could always be guaranteed some hair-raising jump off a big cliff into the water with vehicle plunging alongside, someone jumping/sliding off a motorcycle at speed etc.
Thanks Darlene, very much in the mood for a trip down memory lane – will borrow from video shop.
Movies that contain ample ample breasts, buckets of blood, bikie gangs, car crashes, unrealistic looking crocodiles and violent yobbos in leather form part of the “genre” genre.
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They really should bring that back. It was fun and a home grown genre. Had an authenticity about it. Here’s one. A Mad Max spin-off with a Nuke theme starrin’ The Biz.
About a month ago I won those two Ozploitation packs that have a lot of the films this doco was about. I haven’t got around to watching them yet but here is what’s on them.
Volume 1-The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, The Naked Bunyip, Turkey Shoot, Road Games, Harlequin, Night of Fear, Inn of the Damned.
Volume 2-Long Weekend, The Chain Reaction, Razorback, Stone, Fantasm, Fantasm Comes Again, The True Story of Eskimo Nell.
Grant Page gets a BIG mention in the doco, and many of his more frightening exploits (of the “How the hell did he survive that?” variety) are detailed. I got both the doco and volume 1 for Christmas; I was under the impression that Page’s vehicle ‘Stunt Rock’ was included in volume 2 but apparently not if post 3 is accurate
Although it IS overlong, I’d burden Not Quite Hollywood with the title of ‘Most Important Australian Film’ of the year, for the excavation work it does. As someone with a great fondness for many of the trashy movies it celebrates, I was amazed by how many MORE films it covered that I’d never heard of (the one omission that stood out for me was ‘Hostage’ from the early 80s, which riled many of our critics back in the day when it was selected to screen at Cannes while more ‘prestiguous’ flicks failed to be acknowledged).
It’a an entertaining, but I agree overlaong film. But I don’t think its central thesis bears too much examination. If you look at old ‘Cinema Papers’ at the time, you’ll see that many of these films weren’t maverick productions garnering no critical support or notice. Many of them have reams of column inches deveoted to them and the people who made them were at the centre of the film industry, not the periphery. I’m thinking of people like Richard Franklin, Grant Page,Brian Tenchard-Smith, Anthony Ginnane and Richard Brennan. The idea of genre is also used incorrectly as it’s conflated with exploitation films.
It’s arguable that the real maverick films were the ones coming out of the various
Filmmakers’ Co-ops, being produced for almost nothing.
I remember Razorback. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Its one of those horror movies you laugh all the way through, not because its funny but because its so bad.
Must check out tje Keating DVD.
Thanks, Jo. Yes, Grant Page gets mentioned quite a lot. There’s some shock that he is still alive. Some of those stunts in those days were so badly planned.
I have to admit those sorts of films aren’t my bag, Adrien. I do have a soft spot (titter, titter) for the Bazza films.
Jacques de Molay, that’s interesting so bad it’s good viewing to last you for a long time. Congrats on the prize
It’s an important work and certainly an enlightening work, Rodney. I hadn’t heard of most of the films that are mentioned, although many of them were popular. It’s also a great reflection on the drive-in era, which, of course, is no more.
That’d be an interesting doco, Fine. Yes, some of the artists featured did very well even though they made utter crap. You’re right, these aren’t indie guys.
The Keating DVD is very good. Paul’s appearance is a bit of shock. Not because he was there but because of how much he has aged.
The film about the giant mechanical bull was just a hoot. I wonder if the guy who made it has made other films (I believe he used to be a video director).
There’s a Greek legend about a mechanical bull and a Cretan Queen. …. ah, well,not all Greek myths have a PG rating.
Richie has a good review of Not Quite Hollywood here.
It’s a good article Helen. One can only imagine that working on these films would have been quite horrible for a lot of the actresses. There’s a big gulf between the more cheerful, rather silly sexuality of the ‘Alvin Purple’ films and the sexual violence of some of the others.
At the same time you had feminist filmmakers such as Margot Nash, Jeni Thornley, Margaret Dodds and Helen Grace, amongst others making films which could be described as a riposte to these ones.
Can Williamson blame 10BA for “Dog’s Head Bay”?
Mmmm, not one of David’s better known efforts.
OMG, I’d forgotten that. It was truly awful.
Not Quite Hollywood is a great little survey of ozploitation fillums – you seem to have forgotten about films you might consider more ‘worthy’ that featured in NQH, such as Wake In Fright, Patrick, Long Weekend or even The Survivor
WTF ?!? Have you actually seen these films? Particularly Razorback and The Man from Hong Kong are very very far from being “truly stupid”. The Man from Hong Kong is an incredible and unique kung fu action film – completely riveting and quite definately a product of this country. I’m not an action fan but it certainly is extremely refreshing to see an entertaining movie that one feels culturally connected to. The directing and execution of these films is actually very good, with tight scripts and impressive performances.
Sure they aren’t ‘arty’ or have noble lofty aims apart from being entertainment – but they are spectaculary well done & crafted to provide quite inventive entertainment, this certainly isn’t ‘truly stupid’.
Thanks for that comment.
I will be straight up and say that none of the films in the doco are my cup of tea (I do find parts of Barry McKenzie Holds His Own funny). I think I went to see Razorback because I was a fan of the director’s music videos (think Duran Duran).
It was….stupid, but visually attractive. Having said that, I thought Japanese Story was boring and pretentious, so while I prefer arty stuff, I’m not uncritical of arty stuff.
Thought the doco had some interesting and entertaining elements. The discussion about the star of The Man from Hong Kong was intriguing, as was the analysis of drive-in culture.
I still have nightmares about the teeth on that pig. Or maybe they’re about that grand mansion in the middle of nowhere.
One movie that deserved to be in there had it not been made in the mid 90′s is Body Melt. A horror/comedy that is so bad it’s actually quite good. I know after I saw it I was never able to look at Harold from Neighbours quite the same way again.