The Sentimental Bloke (1919)

An interesting if not that enthralling early Australian film.

Based on a poem, this film recounts the story of an ex-convict called Bill (Arthur Tauchert) and a good old normal Aussie bloke. His life is turned around when he meets Doreen (Lottie Lyell), a good woman. So, this film is basically about the romance and has plenty of Aussie stereotypes.

The film is rather hard to follow at time though the wordy inter-titles packed full of Aussie slang are a treat. It is certainly an unusual film, unfortunately not that interesting overall but the historic value can't be denied.

Mad Max (1979)

The start of the legend, the icon.

It is the near future (so basically the 1980s) and Australia is falling into anarchy with gangs of motorbike riding thugs roaming the land. Only the ultra violent remnants of the police force exemplified by Max (Mel Gibson) stand between civilisation and barbarians exemplified by the likes of Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne)...

However, Max wants out. He is bought off by a new V8 nitro boosted Ford Falcon XB GT (surely one of the coolest cars in movie history) but finally he heads off with his wife Jessie (Joanne Samuel) and child into the countryside. But they don't discover peace there, only Toecutter and his gang. After Max suffers a terrible loss, he returns to the garage and gets in his Falcon... only revenge on his mind.

A fantastic film, just the start of the iconic Mad Max series (and many imitators of varying quality). A hard violent film set in a dystopian wasteland. The road scenes are exhilarating. But this was just the start.

The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)

A historic film that unfortunately now only barely survives.

This film was one of the first full-length movies, originally lasting over an hour, though less than twenty minutes of it now survives. However, despite that we can see that the film was a stunning achievement for it's day. 

The film has six scenes based on the Ned Kelly Gang story. The gang are already notorious and hunted by the police when the film starts. We see the gang carry out a number of killings and hold-ups and even attempt to derail a train. Finally the police close in and Ned Kelly (possibly played by Frank Mills) fights to the very end...

The story of Ned Kelly is legendary and this was the first film to depict the Australian outlaw and terror of the bush. Indeed the film was made just 26 years after Kelly was executed and many would still have first hand memories. It is just such a shame so little now survives.

Puberty Blues (1981)

A tale of Aussie teen life in the early 1980s, which seems to have consisted of a lot of surf and a lot of sex.

Sue (Jad Capelja) and Debbie (Nell Schofield) are teenage girls living in the suburbs of Sydney. Their lives consist of cheating in exams (by writing the answers on their thighs), smoking in school toilets and hanging out on the beach with dumb guys who are only really interested in surf and want girls to serve their needs in various ways. The girls are desperate to be in the cool clique and not with the loser geeks (naturally). It is a vacuous life of course, the grown-ups try their best to put the youth on the straight and narrow. 

But never mind all that, the story is told from the point of view of the teens and, while artistically it won't uproot any trees, the film is strangely engaging and quite nostalgic for anyone who was a teen in the 1980s. The film has a fairly light touch, plenty of comedy though the more you know of 80s Aussie pop culture and life the more jokes you'll get. By the way there was nothing wrong with being a loser geek in the 80s, you just end up writing a blog like this one.,,

Country Town (1971)

A tale of drought, tension and romance in the Australian bush. At times this film is very soapy which is no surprise as it was a movie spin-off from the long running Australian TV drama Bellbird. 

The country folk have been hit hard by a drought, many farms are failing and businesses suffering without any cash. Reporter Philip (Gerald Maguire) arrives in town to discover what is going on. His arrival stirs up tensions but the locals rally round to hold a gymkhana to raise funds. Will the rain finally return? 

It probably helps to have seen the soap opera but this is a decent portrayal of country folk and some good rough humour (not always intentional). Also starring Terry MacDermott, Gary Gray and Lynette Curran. This film was made in the middle of the soap's run which continued into the late 1970s.

Money Movers (1978)

An incredibly violent and also incredibly Australian film, and an amazing thrill ride all the way through. A security company suffers a number of attacks including a raid on an armoured car. Is there an inside man? Well in fact there is, Eric Jackson (Terence Donovan) is planning the big one. To roll into the depot with a fake armoured car and steal AU$ twenty million!

Eric has problems though, local hood Jack Henderson (Charles Tingwell) finds out about the planned heist and muscles in. There is also the rather strange new security guard Leo (Tony Bonner) who is almost overtly suspect, and old sweat Dick (Ed Devereaux) who is a crack shot and quick with his fists...

This is a terrific film, a string of brawls and beatings wrapped around a number of intertwining subplots. The film is full of blokey humour, such as the guy who gets locked in a room with a time lock, though he doesn't really worry too much about it as he is sharing the room with a couple of boxes of beer! Oh yes, look out for the toe cutting scene...

Strike of the Panther (1988)

The sequel to Day of the Panther, Jason Blade (Edward John Stazak) stars in another Australian martial arts epic. After a fairly lengthy recap the story continues from the end of the last film. Jason and Gemma (Paris Jefferson) are now an item but Baxter (Jim Richards) has escaped from prison. He kidnaps Gemma and holes up in a power station full of explosives...

In a somewhat contrived and confusing story Jason has to first face an army of ski mask wearing ninjas before he can face Baxter in a final showdown, save Gemma and stop the power station being blowing up and poisoning half of Perth!

So quite similar to the first film though maybe a little more weird, including a rather strange fight in a brothel complete with blow up dolls and a man in a chicken suit. It is also more violent with lots of sword play and garroting. As with the first film the acting is middling to poor but the action is decent and with this kind of film that is the important thing. Enjoyable nonsense.

Day of the Panther (1988)

There haven't been many Australian martial arts films but this is one of them and while largely unexceptional is a fun enough ride.

Jason Blade (Edward John Stazak) is a top martial artist and special branch officer in HK who comes to Perth after his partner Linda (Linda Megier) is killed investigating the criminal Zukor (Michael Carmen) by his head henchman Baxter (James Richards).

Blade joins Zukor's gang as part of his plan to get close and finally get revenge. The Perth police meanwhile want him out of town as Zukor is an important man, and a drug lord...

Well forget the plot it isn't really important. Or the (lack of) acting. These kind of films are about the fighting, and there is a lot of it. Some of it is pretty good too amid the mostly ill-judged tomfoolery and awful 80s fashions. Stazak is a pretty good fighter, which is just as well as he isn't that good an actor.

Robbery Under Arms (1920)

An early Australian tale of bushranging in the Outback (though amazingly already in 1920 the third adaptation of the novel Robbery Under Arms, there were films in 1907 and 1911 too - two more were made after this one). What are bushrangers? They were outlaws in the Australian outback who were at their height in the nineteenth century, the most famous being Ned Kelly of course.

This film stars Kenneth Brampton as Captain Starlight who is a "gentleman robber", a nicely ambiguous character - a criminal but also a hero seemingly in the Australian tradition. He gets involved with two brothers Roland Conway and S.A. Fitzgerald who join him on his escapades.

The escapades are pretty epic too with plenty of action scenes against a superb backdrop. The Australian countryside being the real star of the film. After many shoot outs and horse chases the gang face the music. The moral angle is played heavily at the end (presumably to get over a ban at the time in parts of Australia for films depicting bushrangers). Crime doesn't pay, apparently.