Rod Mullinar Movies

Coma meets Heathers in this Australian black comedy about crime, revenge, and kidney thieves. Brad (Matt Day) and Gregor (Jason Barry) are eager med students struggling to make ends meet. Thanks to government cutbacks, they are forced to share a cockroach-infested one-bedroom apartment, which they rent from their odious landlord (Reg Evans), and they're even forced to share the same bed (an inflatable sex doll in a nurse's uniform divides the mattress and reasserts their nervous heterosexuality). Their living situation is made even worse by their obnoxious neighbors; one guy who lives upstairs (Robert Carlton) engages in loud parties and noisy lovemaking at all hours of the night while another guy's car alarm constantly goes off. Unable to sleep or eat, much less study, the two are on the brink of giving up their studies. To make matters even worse, they are up to their stethoscopes in debt to gangster/western-enthusiast George Roy Rogers (Chris Haywood). Though his penchant for cheesy western memorabilia and silly hats seems a bit daft, he is deadly serious about collecting, and his two muscle-bound thugs Dale and Trigger are hell-bent on enforcing the debt. Brad and Gregor's luck changes when they learn of a noted surgeon, Marcus Browning (Rod Mullinar), who is willing to pay top dollar for organs, just before a sharply-dressed yuppie takes a flying leap and splatter-lands at their feet. Thinking quickly, Brad yanks out a kidney, crams it in an ice cream carton, and carries it over to Browning. Counting their cash, they realize that they have happened upon a neat little way of getting out of the red. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Exceeding all expectations, the weekly Mission: Impossible revival of 1988 managed to weather its first 19 episodes, graduating to a second season beginning September 21, 1989. In a truly ill-considered move, ABC rescheduled the series to Thursdays, opposite NBC's blockbuster sitcom The Cosby Show (the accompanying ad campaign went something like, "Tonight's Mission: To Give American an Action Alternative to Cosby"). The second-season opener, "The Golden Serpent," was not only the series' first multi-part adventure since 1970, but also brought back one of the original IMF team members, electronic wizard Barney Collier (Greg Morris). Assigned to Australia (where, in fact, the entire series was filmed), the IMF attempts to ruin a drug-running operation by convincing top man Prince Selimun (Patrick Bishop) that his long-deceased twin brother is still alive. Part One of "The Golden Serpent" was scripted by Michael Seims, Ted Roberts, and Jeffrey M. Hayes, from a story by Seims. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sam Barlow (Gary Day) is a Vietnam veteran who runs a small store that caters to surfers in this action thriller. When his best friend is murdered, Sam takes on the mobsters to avenge the death. With the help of a beautiful blonde (Gosia Dobrowolska), Sam uncovers a sex scandal involving a high-ranking government official. Also implicated are a sadistic soldier of fortune (Rod Mullinar), and a corrupt cop (Tony Barry) who tries to impede the investigation. Although the hero sells surfing-related items, he is never actually seen surfing in the feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

It is perhaps a blessing that Hannah Scott, daughter of American-born Australian settler Maggie Scott (Louise Caire Clark), had been sent off to boarding school school before the third season of Five Mile Creek got under way (this move was motivated by the departure of series regular Priscilla Weems). Financial setbacks have forced everyone in the community of Five Mile Creek, including Hannah's mom Maggie, hotel owner Kate (Liz Burch), and stagecoach drivers Jack (Rod Mullinar) and Con (Jay Kerr), to pull up stakes a seek out a new home in the Australian outback of the 1860s. The journey across the Great Divide is fraught with danger, and the settlers receive a none-too-friendly reception upon arrival in the town of Emu Plains. Even so, Maggie and Kate are able to get back to business, and Jack and Con quickly reestablish their stagecoach line. New to the series this season is handsome, callow cowboy Matt Buckland, played by Shannon Presby), and feisty, tomboyish miner's daughter Annie, enacted by a talented redheaded teenager named Nicole Kidman. Also, the character of Five Mile Creek's "boss" Charles Withers (Peter Carroll), hitherto appearing only on a recurring basis,has been elevated to full regular. Among the season's story developments: Annie sets her cap for Jack, but she proves to be a bit rough-and-tumble even for his tastes; Jack must compete with a dashing Irish sea captain (Noel Trevarthen) for the attentions of Maggie; a hotly contested election is highlighted by the arrival of a balloon ascensionist; Con has a deadly showdown with a masked bandit; and, perhaps inevitably, the female leads are imperiled in another hostage crisis. In the series finale, Con is given the opportunity to start a new stagecoach service in faraway America. How will this development affect his partnership with Jack--not to mention his romance with Kate? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season two of the "Australian western" Five Mile Creek begins on a disturbing note, as headstrong stagecoach driver Jack (Rod Mullinar) is threatened with execution for killing a local bandit whom the townsfolk regard as a 19th century Robin Hood. On a lighter note, both Jack and his partner Con (Jay Kerr) find themselves vying for the attentions of the newly widowed Maggie (Louise Caire Clark) and hotel proprietress Kate (Liz Burch) with a couple of handsome newcomers. Later on, Maggie tries to establish a school in the outback that will accommodate both settlers and the local aboriginies; a bounty hunter shows up, demanding the arrest of Kate's enigmatic Irish handyman Paddy (Michael Caton); Maggie and her daughter Hannah (Priscilla Weems) are kidnapped by outlaws; a raging fire threatens to destroy everything that the settlers have built; and as the profits accrue from the current Gold Rush, bandits move into Five Mile Creek to fleece the unwary prospectors. In the last of the season's 13 episodes, financer Mr. Withers (Peter Carroll) announces that he plans to retire--which may force the closing of the Australian Express stage service and the forced relocation of every man, woman and child in Five Mile Creek! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For the Term of His Natural Life, Australian novelist Marcus Clarke's epic tale of the hardships and deprivations of his native country in the 1830s, served as the basis for one of the most famous Australian films of the silent era. That was in 1927; 56 years later, Clarke's novel again went before the cameras, this time resulting in a three-part, six-hour TV miniseries. Colin Friels starred as Londoner Rufus Dawes, who thanks to treachery and deceit was arrested on a trumped-up charge and transported to a penal colony in Tasmania, while an impostor laid claim to his birthright. Eighteen years into his incarcaration, Rufus managed to escape, and was subsequently reunited with his sweet Sylvia (Susan Lyons), daughter of the colony's warden. Unfortunately, a happy ending was not in the cards for the hero and heroine. For the Term of His Natural Life aired over Australia's Nine Network in 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Melbourne fashion business in which she is an executive requires that Jackie spend some time each year in Paris. By the time she is leaving this year, she has been together with her boyfriend for almost a year and is fondly thinking of marrying him and giving up her annual journey. However, when she unexpectedly calls on him at their home, she finds him in bed with another woman and resignedly resumes her Paris trip. On the plane, she is beset by the aggressive flirtation of a fashion photographer, whose behavior these days would get him slapped with a harassment lawsuit. However, something about the City of Lights softens her feelings towards this inept and accident-prone man, and the two of them become lovers. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Fran (Judy Morris) is a 29-year-old university researcher whose biological clock begins to tick so loudly that no alarm is needed to wake her up -- if she does not find a suitable romantic partner soon, how in the world can she have any kind of a life at all? So she embarks on a series of false starts, one after the other, that seem to leave her worse for the wear. Her first long affair with a married man -- hardly a reasonable choice given her aspirations -- has been brought to a quick termination by the man's wife. Her next unfortunate liaison is with her boss, who has no intention of making any commitments. Another of her ill-advised suitors tries to rape her. As she goes from bad to worse, she ends up considering a plodding farmer willing to offer both marriage and commitment -- just what she wants, but not with him. The story only confirms the adage that after the age of 30 or so, all good men are always somewhere else. Fran is left to consider her options -- reset the clock or unplug it. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This cold-blooded, thinly wrought horror film has a warm-blooded theme -- the regular imbibing of said substance by a certifiably crazy cult. Kate Davis (Chantal Contouri) is slowly drawn into this cult against her (and everyone else's) better judgment. Once involved, she discovers that they have sanitized, hospital-like centers where red-blooded individuals are kept zoned out by tranquilizers. Otherwise they might have some objection or another to being essentially imprisoned and immobilized in order to supply blood on demand. In cases where the supply source is particularly popular with one of the cult members, then complete exsanguination is ordered. Even the slightest hint at humor, levity of any kind coming from any direction, might have balanced the weak plot and one-dimensional characters by covertly acknowledging their limitations. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

When his freight business is threatened by a repo man, the skipper kidnaps the repo man's daughter to try and save his business. (AKA Magee and the Lady) ~ All Movie Guide

For dubious reasons of his own, a politician hires two gunmen to help quiet down a group of religious fanatics in the Australian outback in the 1870s. When the gunmen decide they need help and recruit it from a local prison, things get a little confused as the misfits try to put down the rebel group. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Sex is the only discernible subject of this Australian film that begins on a beach and chronicles the confession of a young woman to her lover. To him, she admits he is the first man she has ever been with. All the rest of her lovers have been women. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide