Phil Adams 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

An American woman turns an Australian home upside down in this Australian picture. Dallas Adair came to Australia from L.A. as a golf course consultant. En route she meets Charlie Sommers, the son of one of her sponsors, Stephen Sommers. After their plane almost crashes, the two become friends. Dallas is invited to stay at the Sommers' home. There she meets the rest of the family Rosalind, frustrated wife of Stephen and Rastus, an intelligent teenager with a passionate belief in UFO's. Dallas immediately begins seducing every member in the family except Rastus, who despises Dallas. The sex scenes are more implied than explicit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Even today, the Australian outback (the never-never of the title) is a daunting place to be left alone. In 1901, it was even more rugged and wild. In this artful drama, Jeannie Gunn (Angela Punch McGregor), a very genteel and citified Victorian-era newlywed, joins her husband in the Northern Territory to help manage a station ("station" is Aussie for "a large ranch"). There she gradually sheds her prim ways and, thanks to her friendship with the local Aborigines, becomes a representative of an entirely new class, sometimes called "Australian outback women." In addition to chronicling the transformation of a Victorian woman, this film offers insight into the situation of Aborigine society at the time, and it received high praise from Australian reviewers. It is based on the diaries of Jeannie Gunn herself. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Based on John Embling's book Tom, the Australian Fighting Back is set in a hellhole of a slum school. Most of the teachers have given up on the "unreachable" students. Not so idealistic John (Lewis Fitz-Gerald), who channels all his energies into elevating the intelligence and self-confidence of unruly 13-year-old Tom (Paul Smith). The latter actor is so good that it's hard to believe that Fighting Back was his first film. This sincerely-intentioned drama should not be confused with the like-vintage American actioner Fighting Back (aka Death Vengeance). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the late 1970s, Grendel by John Gardner was a highbrow best-seller that everyone with pretensions to intellectual sophistication was reading. In it, the author retold the epic Anglo-Saxon hero myth of Beowulf from the point of view of the monster the hero killed, rather than from the hero's vantage point. In so doing, he scored numerous points about the violence and intolerance of human beings and raised more profound philosophical issues. This animated feature was adapted from Gardner's book and never quite found its audience; too simplified for the literati, it was definitely not a children's feature and was not aimed at mainstream audiences. Taken on its own merits however, reviewers lamented that it deserved a better fate than the obscurity to which it was consigned. Peter Ustinov provides the voice for the beleaguered monster. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Early in his career, Australian director Bruce Beresford helmed Don's Party, which closely mirrors Shampoo in its basic premise and its edgy correlations between sex and politics. One pivotal election night, Don, played by John Hargreaves, throws a party for a group of friends, ostensibly so that everyone can watch the ballots roll in on television. But when booze is consumed in quantity, inhibitions are kicked downstairs. Particularly boorish under the influence of alcohol are Don's male friends, who indulge in a barrage of insulting verbal attacks on each other when they aren't trying to get each other's wives into bed. Unapologetically adult in its content and themes, Don's Party was adapted from a play by David Williamson; it marks one of the earliest classics of Australian New Wave cinema. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide