Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Mark Hartley

Writer:

Mark Hartley (written by)

Release Date:

28 August 2008 (Australia)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Finally an Aussie film packed full of boobs, pubes, tubes ... and a bit of kung fu.

Plot:

NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD is the wild, untold story of "OZPLOITATION" movies - a time when Australian cinema...

Plot Keywords:

Sci Fi Filmmaking | Film History | 1980s | Film Discussion | Australian History

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Abigail	...	Herself (archive footage)
Phillip Adams	...	Himself
Christine Amor	...	Herself
Glory Annen	...	Herself
Victoria Anoux	...	Herself
Alan Arkin	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ian Barry	...	Himself
Briony Behets	...	Herself
Shara Berriman	...	Herself (archive footage)
Alyson Best	...	Herself (archive footage)
Steve Bisley	...	Himself
Jamie Blanks	...	Himself
Graeme Blundell	...	Himself
Gary Bond	...	Himself (archive footage)
Russell Boyd	...	Himself
Richard Brennan	...	Himself
Dan Burstall	...	Himself
Tom Burstall	...	Himself
Don Chipp	...	Himself (archive footage)
Robin Copping	...	Himself
Broderick Crawford	...	Himself (archive footage)
Barry Crocker	...	Himself
Cul Cullen	...	Himself (archive footage)
Lynette Curran	...	Herself
Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Herself
Gianni Dei	...	Himself (archive footage)
Cassandra Delaney	...	Herself
Everett De Roche	...	Himself
Ross Dimsey	...	Himself
David Eggby	...	Himself
Bob Ellis	...	Himself
Noel Ferrier	...	Himself (archive footage)
Alan Finney	...	Himself
Richard Franklin	...	Himself
Belinda Giblin	...	Herself
Rebecca Gilling	...	Herself
Antony I. Ginnane	...	Himself
John Grey Gorton	...	Himself (archive footage)
Deborah Gray	...	Herself
David Hannay	...	Himself
Sandy Harbutt	...	Himself
Rod Hardy	...	Himself
Gregory Harrison	...	Himself
Rod Hay	...	Himself
Robert Helpmann	...	Himself (archive footage)
David Hemmings	...	Himself (archive footage)
Carla Hoogeveen	...	Herself
Alan Hopgood	...	Himself
Dennis Hopper	...	Himself
John Michael Howson	...	Himself
Wendy Hughes	...	Herself
Barry Humphries	...	Himself
Bill Hunter	...	Himself (archive footage)
Olivia Hussey	...	Chris Walters (archive footage)
Ivan Hutchinson	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Jarratt	...	Himself
Barry Jones	...	Himself
Brian Jones	...	Himself
Stacy Keach	...	Himself
Graham Kennedy	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ted Kotcheff	...	Himself
John D. Lamond	...	Himself
Nina Landis	...	Herself
George Lazenby	...	Himself
Christopher Lee	...	Himself (archive footage)
Chris Löfvén	...	Himself
Greg Lynch	...	Himself
William Margold	...	Himself
James Mason	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ross Matthews	...	Himself
Donald McAlpine	...	Himself
Bob McCarron	...	Himself
Pat McDonald	...	Herself (archive footage)
Hal McElroy	...	Himself
Greg Mclean	...	Himself
Kris McQuade	...	Herself (archive footage)
John Meillon	...	Himself (archive footage)
George Miller	...	Himself
Spike Milligan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Vincent Monton	...	Himself
Philippe Mora	...	Himself
Katie Morgan	...	Herself (archive footage)
Judy Morris	...	Herself
Russell Mulcahy	...	Himself
Rod Mullinar	...	Himself
Debbie Nankervis	...	Herself (archive footage)
Grant Page	...	Himself
Barbara Parkins	...	Herself (archive footage)
Michael Pate	...	Himself (archive footage)
Susan Penhaligon	...	Herself
George Peppard	...	Himself (archive footage)
Luan Peters	...	Herself (archive footage)
Donald Pleasence	...	Himself (archive footage)
Robert Powell	...	Himself (archive footage)
Chips Rafferty	...	Himself (archive footage)
Steve Railsback	...	Himself
Candy Raymond	...	Herself
Cheryl Rixon	...	Herself
Carmen Russo	...	Herself (archive footage)
Joanne Samuel	...	Herself
Fred Schepisi	...	Himself
John Seale	...	Himself
Ken Shorter	...	Himself
Bruce Spence	...	Himself (archive footage)
Lynda Stoner	...	Herself
Rosie Sturgess	...	Herself (archive footage)
Quentin Tarantino	...	Himself
Rod Taylor	...	Himself
Al Thomas	...	Himself (archive footage)
Henry Thomas	...	Himself
Jeremy Thomas	...	Himself
Jack Thompson	...	Himself
Sigrid Thornton	...	Herself
Brian Trenchard-Smith	...	Himself
James Wan	...	Himself
Garry Wapshott	...	Himself
Roger Ward	...	Himself
Lesley Ann Warren	...	Sally (archive footage)
John Waters	...	Himself
Jacki Weaver	...	Herself (archive footage)
Leigh Whannell	...	Himself
Gough Whitlam	...	Himself (archive footage)
David Williamson	...	Himself
Tony Williams	...	Himself
Simon Wincer	...	Himself
Arna-Maria Winchester	...	Herself
Uri Windt	...	Himself
Norman Yemm	...	Himself
Susannah York	...	Herself

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic nudity, sexuality, violence and gore, some language and drug use.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Australia | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | UK:18 | USA:R | New Zealand:R18

Company:

City Films Worldwide

Movie Connections:

Features Dead-End Drive In (1986)

An entertaining potted history of modern Australian genre movies...

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?