Bill Kerr Movies

One of the most expensive miniseres ever assembled for Australian television, Changi covered a time-span of nearly 60 years. The story was told in flashback as a group of six former POWs, arranging a reunion, recalled their experiences in a Singapore prison camp. Though all six suffered mightily at the hands of their Japanese captors, all managed to survive the ordeal and remain friends even after cessation of hostilities. Still, each man had retained a deleterious "side effect" from his imprisonment, which threatened to cast a tragic pall on their reunion. Running an exhaustive gamut from comedy to horror, Changi sustained its believability by having each of the main characters played by two actors -- one young for the WWII scenes, one old for the postwar scenes. Though critics and the general public were impressed when the series first aired on Australia's ABC network from October 14 to November 12, 2001, there were a number of real-life prison camp survivors who condemned the project as unrealistic and offensive (and never mind that at least one of the lead actors on the show had himself weathered six years in a Japanese stockade). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Somewhere in the Northeastern U.S., Alma (Olympia Dukakis) is a 60-year-old recent widow who has never been on her own since her early marriage to a domineering husband. Her son tries to immure her in a dowdy apartment in the basement of his house and showers her with perfunctory and thoughtless shows of public affection while preventing her from having any sort of life of her own. Her other child is a socially ambitious woman married to an ambitious Australian politician. Offended by the patronizing and heavy-handed attentions of her son, Alma flies off to see her daughter in Australia but swiftly discovers that she is not wanted there. In fact, she overhears her daughter and son-in-law talking about how to get her to leave. Rather than stay where she is unwelcome, she buys a vintage-model Chevy and charges off into the countryside, contemplating suicide -- or at the very least, kicking over the traces. She runs into Dutch (Derek Fowlds), a cantankerous but generous man about the same age as she is, and the two of them begin an impromptu tour of the glories of Australia. For the first time in her life, she has a romance between equals, and it takes her some time to adjust to it. While her daughter is worried that her neglect of her mother will reflect badly on her in public life and is anxious to track her down, Alma is having the time of her life and is discovering that she's a pretty spunky, capable woman in the bargain. This quiet little gem of a movie sparked little interest at the box-office but has done well in televised showings, and is available on tape. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this strange caper flick, a trio of old codgers who served in World War Two decide to go after a crooked cop, after running into a wall of indifference by authorities to the death of one man's grandson from a heroin overdose. The resulting violence and mayhem would do credit to a large crew of much younger men, much less these old fellows. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

An elite Australian cavalry unit attacks the Turkish-held stronghold of Beersheba in this World War I adventure drama. Four friends goes through the trials of battle in this epic $10 million production. The Australians resent being led by the British who continually misuse the cavalry. They conspire to strike out on their own to prove their effectiveness and drive the Turkish hordes from the desert town. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The ugly American bullying his way through a foreign country was a subject for comedy in several films of the 1980s, most notably Bill Forsyth's Local Hero and this film from exiled Yugoslavian director Dusan Makavejev. Eric Roberts plays Becker, an aggressive marketing executive for the Coca-Cola Company; he has been assigned to figure out why sales in hot and dry Australia aren't higher. Becker comes up against a low-key but formidable adversary, T. George McDowell (Bill Kerr), whose homegrown soda has cornered the market in his little corner of the country. Complicating matters is Terri, a local woman (Greta Scacchi) Becker hires as his secretary; she's McDowell's daughter and a single mom who's romantically attracted to the brash American. Becker wants to make a deal on his (and his employer's) terms, but he finds himself falling prey to the charms of life Down Under and the ministrations of Terri. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

In this saga of family stress and antagonisms, an 80-year-old grandfather is brought out of his retirement home to celebrate his birthday with his family in their nearly 100-year-old country house and farm. Unknown to the grandfather, his son Geoffrey has made the decision to sell everything because it has become nearly impossible to make a living off the land. Family members range from Uncle Edward (Norman Kaye) a tippling priest, to Geoffrey's daughter Clare (Alyson Best) and some siblings and friends who are at least partially dysfunctional. With this group along to celebrate his birthday, the grandfather may want to make it back to the peace and quiet of his retirement home as quickly as he can. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Before he directed the cult classic Highlander (1986), music video creator Russell Mulcahy adapted this stylish, tongue-in-cheek horror film from the novel by Peter Brennan. Gregory Harrison stars as Carl Winters, a grief-stricken American husband who has come to a remote corner of Australia to seek answers in the death of his wife, a TV journalist who was investigating a story on kangaroo poaching. Carl meets Jake Cullen (Bill Kerr), a man obsessed with hunting down what he says is an enormous razorback boar that consumed his grandson. Although he was acquitted, most of the locals believe that Jake murdered the boy himself and invented the crazy story about a giant pig. Jake tells Carl that he believes the razorback is also responsible for his wife's death. At first skeptical, Carl becomes a believer when he encounters the beast. He and Jake track it to a dog food processing plant, where the owners are illegally butchering kangaroos for industrial use. The factory operators are also feeding the dog food to the gigantic razorback, increasing its size and carnivorous appetite. Joined by farmer Sarah Cameron (Arkie Whiteley), Carl and Jake set out to kill the powerful mutant. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

This charming love story set in the 1950s brings together an older, crafty man, a somewhat innocent young man, and a former call girl with a pure heart in an unconventional menage à trois. When the two men come into an outback town they make the acquaintance of Joycie (Lorna Lesley) who has just been fired from her job and has no place to stay. The men invite her to live with them in their shack on the outskirts of town -- and while the three are happy together, a few puritanical (and some hypocritical) townspeople start to be more and more vocal in their opposition to the trio. Their intent is to make it too hot for the threesome to even consider staying in the vicinity. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A bunch of kids fall in love with a moth-balled ferry that is marked for the junk yard. They organize a fix-up committee that sets out to repair the old boat. With the ship's original captain, they make it sea-worthy and take it out for a spin. Of course the encrusted city officials are outraged and call the local police in to capture the vessel-fixing kids who try to elude the cops in a action-packed boat chase. ~ All Movie Guide

An introverted girl who yearns for popularity (Kristy McNichol) attends a pirate festival in her seaside community, featuring a swordplay demo led by a curly haired hunk (Christopher Atkins). After selecting Mabel (McNichol) to participate in the act, the instructor invites her aboard his boat for a real ride on the high seas -- at which point a gaggle of her catty acquaintances latches on for the trip. Sent to get hamburgers for the outing, Mabel is "accidentally" left behind when one of her "friends" pulls the anchor prematurely. Determined not only to fit in, but to track down her dream guy, Mabel steers a tiny sailboat into stormy waters in pursuit, and gets shipwrecked. Thus begins a fantasy in which the unconscious Mabel imagines herself in a real pirate adventure, complete with her dashing pirate hero, a legion of his crusty shipmates, and dozens of unwed sisters who must rise to the altar before she can. The fantasy mixes film parodies, love songs, animation, and the score of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance. The story also loosely follows the structure of said operetta. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

Poorly acted, unintentionally funny in parts, and with transparent literary pretensions, this horror film is about a well-established screenwriter who loses the ability to distinguish between his fantasy world and the real world -- with disastrous consequences. As he ruminates on his place in any world and loses his grip, he also loses his wife (not misplaced, she leaves him) and his children's respect, and critics tear him apart. The final undoing of this screenwriter is a deadline that must be met at all costs -- and the costs turn out to be too great. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

British sleaze artist Pete Walker applies his characteristic sleazy, ultra-violent touch to this audacious, Catholic-bashing tale. A deranged, sex-mad priest (Anthony Sharpe) exploits the sanctity of his office as a means of harassing young women who confide their sins in his confessional, recording their confessions in order to blackmail them into doing his vile bidding. Eventually, evidence of these transgressions reaches other members of his parish (including his mother), prompting him to bump them off in creative ways, utilizing the trappings of his profession -- strangulation by rosary, arsenic-laced communion wafers, bludgeoning by incense burner, etc. Much criticism has been leveled against this film for its unabashed attacks on Catholicism, but it's really Walker's trademark amoral approach to filmmaking that elicits a strong urge to take a hot bath after viewing. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide