Briony Behets Movies
- 1996
In Australia for a seminar, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) receives word that she has inherited 130,000 acreas of land currently used for sheep grazing. The locals aren't happy when Jessica arrives to claim her property, believing her to be in cahoots with a powerful mining company. Evidently someone is so displeased by Jessica's presence that they're willing to commit murder--twice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Hollywood actress Heather Thomas was center of attention in the Australian miniseries Flair. Thomas was cast as New York-based fashion designer Tessa Clarke, who in the course of events returned to her native Australia to make her mark in that country's dressmaking industry. Created by Paul Davies and Gayle Hopgood, the two-part, four-hour drama boasted an impressive Austral-American supporting cast, including Joseph Bottoms, Rowena Wallace, and Charles "Bud" Tingwell. Flair originally aired over the Seven Nework on August 1 and 8, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Debuting in May 1989, the Australian TV soap opera E Street was designed as a "hip," youth-oriented variation of the long-running continuing drama A Country Practice, featuring one of the stars of the earlier series, Penny Cook. Set in the inner-city community of Westside, the daily 50-minute series cast Cook as dedicated general practitioner Dr. Ellie Fielding. Other regulars included beat cop George Sullivan (Les Dayman); George's rebellious teenaged daughter Alice (Marianne Howard); feisty legal-aid lawyer Sarah McKillop (Katrina Sedgwick), who was abruptly killed off six months into the series; Sarah's rather sexier replacement, Jennifer St. James (Virginia Hey); social worker Martha O'Dare (Cecily Polson); pub keeper Ernie Patchett (Vic Rooney) and his hotheaded son Chris (Paul Kelman), who was forced via an unwanted pregnancy to wed snooty socialite Megan Bromley (Lisabeth Kennaly); and the series' most popular character, "cool" Reverend Bob Brown (Tony Martin), who like most of the adults on the program was saddled with a contentious offspring, namely his son Harley (Malcolm Kennard). Whenever the ratings flagged -- as they did when Ellie Fielding was written off the series -- the producers hauled in another Country Practice alumnus, notably Kate Raison as rich-bitch dowager Sheridan Sturges and Joan Sydney as Ernie Patchett's sister Mary. The series also indulged in the time-honored practice of sweeping the boards clean by having several characters killed off at once in a single tragedy (an explosion, an auto accident, etc.) so that a whole new flock of younger, prettier regulars could be introduced. By the time the series entered the home stretch, most of the stories focused on a crippled rock singer named Wheels (Marcus Graham) and his entourage. Created by Forrest Redlich, E Street chalked up 404 episodes before its cancellation in 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
A psychic Australian woman can see the future--including the death of her mother. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tessa Humphries, Shane Briant, (more)
- 1980
Jenny Neumann, star of the cult/trash classic Mistress of the Apes, stars in this tedious slasher movie from director John D. Lamond. A little girl named Cathy tries to keep her mother from making out with a man while driving one day, and she inadvertently causes her mother's death in the ensuing crash. Sixteen years later, Cathy is somehow named Helen and has become a psychotic actress. Since her mother died with a shard of glass in her throat, Helen begins hacking through the cast of her new play, "Comedy of Blood," in similar fashion. This is a torpid, slavish slasher film where sex equals death (there is copious nudity) and Colin Eggleston's script equals boredom. Lamond further mucks up matters with the standard subjective-camera shots during the murders, which are doubly pointless here because the killer's identity is obvious from the beginning. There is, however, some nice music by Brian May. Lamond returned with the smarmy sex-comedy Pacific Banana. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
An Australian couple sets off on a weekend to the coast in this psychological thriller. Peter (John Hargreaves) and Marcia (Briony Behets) are at each other's throats from the moment they pull out of the driveway, as Peter sneaks his dog along for the weekend and Marcia is harboring anger about a recent tragedy the couple faced. As day turns into night and they have yet to reach their destination, Peter hits a kangaroo while falling asleep at the wheel. This sets in motion a chain of mysterious events, which starts with them leaving the beaten path and appearing to go in circles through the darkened thickets of trees -- even though they've driven straight ahead for hours. Upon eventually reaching their destination, the strange happenings continue, with animals behaving in unusual ways, and a persistent cry of anguish floating over the water, which sounds almost human. Peter and Marcia are determined to prove they can rough it, even as they start to wonder if they've gotten in over their head. They doggedly remain camped, despite mounting evidence that they don't understand the feral Australian woods as well as they think. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Hargreaves, Briony Behets, (more)
- 1977
In this drama, the marriage between an unhappy young couple trying to hold themselves together for the sake of their daughter is chronicled. When the daughter disappears, the two finally come together for real. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Briony Behets, Tony Llewellyn-Jones, (more)
- 1976
A love triangle provides the basis of this subtle drama that centers upon a man living with one woman and loving another on the side. The trouble begins when the live-in catches him with the other. Though it hurts her at first, she and the other woman soon become close friends, much closer to each other than to the man who inadvertently introduced them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Derum, Judy Morris, (more)
- 1974
Alvin Purple (Graeme Blundell), the lothario hero of the Australian low-budgeter Alvin Purple (1974), "rides again" in this slapped-together sequel. This time, Alvin has more to contend with than the requisite beautiful girls who find him irresistable. It seems that there's an American gangster around and about, "Balls" McGee (also played by Graeme Blundell), who's the spitting image of our hero. The predictability of the plotline is enlivened by the film's unending stream of vulgar sight gags and scatological dialogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
