Caz Lederman Movies

It is a simple thing that police officer Tony Bourke has to do to regain his detective status. All he has to do is go to a remote outback town and clear the local police of any wrongdoing in the shooting of an Aboriginal suspect. After all, he himself recently suffered from being demoted because of an accidental shooting he committed while on the job. Nothing could be easier, except for one irritating little fact, which his superiors have ignored: Tony actually believes in the laws of the land. He is not prepared to whitewash the white cop's misdeeds (if that's what they are) just because they have been committed against a person of color. In this painful social drama, the tensions caused by discrimination in Australia are skillfully highlighted. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Three imprisoned woman exact revenge upon the womanizing criminal who used them to smuggle his drugs while they were in college in this drama. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When Caz Lederman's child is born with brain damage, she sues doctor Ian Gilmour for malpractice. As the film shows, Gilmour's procedures are indeed questionable (and graphically photographed -- fair warning to those with queasy stomachs). But it is also clear that the doctor, a last-minute replacement for Gilmour's regular gynecologist, did not intentionally endanger the mother and child, and that the cesarean operation was performed under extraordinarily difficult conditions. When Gilmour is found guilty of malpractice, he is ordered to spend a year in extra training -- an extreme measure that, the film argues, should be imposed upon all obstetricians before a delivery-room disaster occurs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Australian children's story centers on a ten-year-old boy from Sydney. Young Orville Ryan just loves old airplanes. Unfortunately, the other kids reject him and refuse to let him fly model planes with them. Instead, he begins helping a curmudgeonly old pilot restore an antique DeHavilland Tiger Moth. As they toil, they are assisted by three ghostly pilots. These ghostly guardians protect the two from a gang of hoodlums who want to wreck the plane. Eventually they finish and are rewarded with a thrilling flight over Sydney. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In one of the oddest themes for a movie in any decade, Undercover is a slick film about women's underwear, as developed by an Australian designing firm run by Fred Burley (John Walton) in the 1920s. The story which is true in its basic outlines, begins with Libby McKenzie (Genevieve Picot) who leaves her small town for Sydney and hopefully, a better life. Libby ends up working for Burley's clothing design company where she meets all sorts of independent-minded characters, including her supervisor, the head designer Nina (Sandy Gore). Since the development of new underwear is a long stretch for a feature-length film, director (David Stevens) and writer (Miranda Downes) have Burley campaigning for Australians to buy home-made products, like his own, for instance. There is a certain disparity between the high standards in the opulent visual aesthetics of this film, and the fluctuating scenes that meander from melodrama to camp humor without finding a definitive voice. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Still another Australian soap opera from the busy firm of Crawford Productions, Holiday Island debuted Down Under in June 1981. The titular Island was a run-down vacation resort, supervised by Neil and Angela Scott (Nick Tate, Caz Lederman). Despite their strenuous efforts to make a going concern of the resort, Neil and Angela were usually sabotaged by the larcenous business schemes of Neil's brother Jason (Steven Grimes). In true Love Boat fashion, the series featured a number of colorful supporting actors cast as the hotel's staff, and also boasted an impressive guest-star list, comprised of British and Australian TV and movie favorites. Rushed into production to replace the failed continuing drama Bellamy, Holiday Island was filmed on location in Melbourne. After the series ran its 64-episode course, its enormous standing set was reconverted into a genuine suburban housing complex. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide