Judy Morris Movies

Filmmaker Mark Hartley explores Australia's hidden genre in this documentary that casually casts aside "official" film history to celebrate the demented genius of director Brian Trenchard-Smith, and the exciting wave of little-known but supremely entertaining films that entertained adventurous Australian filmgoers throughout the 1970s and '80s. Every film student worth his or her weight in celluloid has seen Breaker Morant and Picnic at Hanging Rock, but what about the lesser-known gems that didn't make the film-school textbooks? In his forward to Tim Lucas' book Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark, director Martin Scorsese states, "We have to keep resisting the idea of official film history, a stately procession of 'important works' that leaves some of the most exciting films and filmmakers tucked away in the shadows." In this documentary, director Hartley explores the films forgotten by "official film history" with the comprehensive eye of a true film buff. As a child watching such films as Snapshot and The Man from Hong Kong, Hartley immediately recognized how wildly disparate they were in tone and execution from the films that comprised Australia's traditional film library. Appearing like American genre films that just happened to be shot in Australia and cast with Australian actors, these so-called "Ozploitation" flicks flourished in the wake of relaxed censorship laws down under. Yet despite constant chatter about the "new wave" of Australian cinema, financially successful films like The Man from Hong Kong and Patrick that were popular both at home and abroad were never mentioned, sneeringly dismissed as "genre" films rather than Australian films. Perhaps in the wake of such successful Australian films as Wolf Creek and Undead -- and looking ahead to such films as the slasher shocker Storm Warning and the eagerly anticipated remake of Long Weekend -- curious filmgoers are finally prepared to discover what they've been missing all these years. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The 1995 Academy award-winning film Babe was Australian-made and featured the latest in talking animal anima-tronics. It told the heart-warming story of a sheepherding pig named Babe and his rise to community fame. The film was a tremendous hit, both financially and critically. Babe: Pig in the City is the higher budgeted American-made sequel that picks up where the original left off. It was directed by George Miller (Mad Max trilogy) who produced the original Babe film, and received a lot of criticism for being much darker than the original. The story owes more to George Orwell's Animal Farm or Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist than the original film. Having triumphed at the National Sheepdog trials, Babe returns home a hero. But after farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell) suffers from a farming accident, Mrs. Hoggett, a naive portly woman, is left to work the ranch alone. It's not long before the bank comes knocking. Desperate to save her farm from foreclosure, she accepts an offer for Babe to perform his sheepherding abilities at an overseas state fair. Babe, Mrs. Hoggett, Ferdinand the duck, and the singing mice travel across the ocean to a surreal metropolis, where they suddenly become stranded and separated. Soon Babe is performing with circus apes, being chased by wild strays (sounding a lot like Marlon Brando in The Godfather), and making a new wheelchair-bound canine friend (voiced by Adam Goldberg). He also is anointed leader of the animal community. What Babe lacks in street smarts he makes up for in honest goodness as he teaches audiences yet again that "an unprejudiced heart can mend a broken world." ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide

Eggshells were what protagonist Frank Rose (Garry McDonald) constantly found himself walking on in this weekly half-hour Australian sitcom. A middle-aged roue, Frank was torn between two girlfriends. Making things even dicier, he was constantly being set upon by his ex-wife and his wisecracking kids. The 15 installments of Eggshells were broadcast by Australia's ABC network in 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Luigi" (David Rappaport) is a Cockney immigrant to Australia, whose job as maitre d' in a high-toned Italian restaurant requires that he take on an ethnic monniker and phony accent. Over time, he has become the confidante of a trio of his customer, yuppie women, all of them friends with each other, who have just lost substantial amounts of money during a sudden drop in the stock market in 1987. Each of them is propelled by this into a series of humorous adventures, including a "rebirthing" session, and an attempted murder (using tainted jam), which they recount to Luigi and to each other over the course of the film. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Set during the Great Depression, this Australian TV movie concerns the adventures of the Fletcher family. Dennis Miller and Judy Morris portray the Fletcher parents, who with their offspring head to the Outback to prospect for gold. The oldest Fletcher boy (Ken Talbot) is bullied by the son (Travis Latter) of another group of prospectors, but soon the boys become friends. When the boys come upon a nugget of gold in a nearby stream, everyone rushes to stake a claim--except for dad Fletcher, who has been incapacitated by an accident and may lose out on the upcoming bonanza. Colour in the Creek was first presented in the US on PBS' Wonderworks series in May of 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Australian entry into the early 1980s sub-genre of films dealing with families rejecting contemporary society for a life of freedom and non-conformity (Mosquito Coast, Lost in America), an Australian family tries to leave the suburbs and start afresh in the country. Connie (Judy Morris) and Lex (Barry Otto) are a happily married couple with a young son. They decide to leave the hustle and bustle of the city and purchase a farm two hours away from the city's noise. The problem is that Connie and Otto are not independently wealthy, and, until their farm becomes self-sufficient, one of them has to keep commuting into town to work. One solution to their dilemma is to hire a live-in baby-sitter. Connie hires Geraldine (Victoria Longley) and then their troubles really begin. ~ Paul Brenner, 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

In this human drama, five passengers are held in isolation on a remote island in New Zealand to find out if any are carrying the cholera bacteria. They rebel and escape, unintentionally heading into the mountains. Among them are Eric (Tom Brennan) an American businessman, Keith (Roy Billing) a New Zealander, and Thomas (Ctibor Turba) a man from central Europe. After several days, the group is rescued by the somewhat introverted Victor (Nigel Davenport) a geologist studying volcanoes, a photographer, and a woman writer who is doing a book on Victor. The drama heads into a series of potential eruptions once it is revealed that Eric is in the weapons business, and Turba is a hired assassin with Eric as his target. Turba's animosity grows as he is cheated out of his intended victim and he is goaded beyond endurance by another member of the group. The various actors in this drama manage to evoke a range of depth in their characters that indicate there are several kinds of "strata" involved in this story. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The plumber (Ivar Kants) shows up at the door of well-to-do Australian couple Robert Coleby and Judy Cowper. Though the plumber apparently hasn't been summoned, he is given unquestioned free reign in the household. He ends up staying several days, his work and personality growing weirder with each passing day. Housewife Cowper is driven to neurotic distraction by the plumber's presence and by his iconoclastic attitudes towards everything she holds dear. Then, the plumber walks out of the flat, never to return...leaving behind a residue of paranoia and shattered values. Filmed for Australian television, The Plumber may well be the most maddening 76 minutes ever committed to celluloid. Naturally, it only served to further the reputation of its gifted writer/director Peter Weir. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Australian drama, a man serves his six-year prison sentence for participating in a robbery and then tries to return home after his release. His former crime partners are waiting for him and angrily beat him up because he doesn't know where the loot from their last robbery is hidden. The hitchhiking ex-con is picked up by a mentally unstable model driving a 1938 sedan. Once they arrive, he learns that his mother has killed herself and that his girl friend has mysteriously disappeared. After that he and the model set out to find her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This comedy, based on Barry Oakley's popular novel Salute to the Great McCarthy chronicles the adventurous and amorous exploits of an Australian country boy. The whole mess begins when the strapping lad is kidnapped and taken to Melbourne to play Australian Rules Football. The perpetrator and owner of the team is Colonel Humphries who also gives the young man a job in his insurance company. There the lad has great fun making love to a series of women--including the colonel's daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide