Customer Reviews

Not Quite Hollywood

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Most people think of two movies when they think of films from Australia. The most popular was CROCODILE DUNDEE, a film which a friend of mine from Australia says most folks there would like to forget. The other is MAD MAX.

This low budget exploitation films kick started the career of Mel Gibson as well as a slew of apocalyptic visions on film that involved car chases in rusted out, souped up, turbo charged vehicles. A world where marauding packs of gun toting savages ruled the streets until the hero came along.

But there was more to films coming from Australia than these. And the recent release NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD celebrates those films as well as informs viewers of gems they might have missed. Comprised of clips and interviews, this well rounded documentary gives us examples of everything from sexploitation films to the already mentioned road chase flicks.

The DVD begins in the seventies when the restraints of censorship were somewhat lifted and there was an influx of films that were bawdy but harmless in the long run. Think back to films like CANDY STRIPE NURSES and STUDENT TEACHERS and you get the picture. Films that were the mainstay for many drive-ins across this country were sprouting up in Australia with a decidedly Aussie flavor.

But the rest of the world began to pick up on these gems as well. Exploitation films had arrived and were re-dubbed ozploitation. Films like ALVIN PURPLE that told the tale of a young man who women found irresistible, who all wanted to bed, started as far back as 1973. The film was so successful that it spawned a sequel. And many more films featuring over exposed men and women followed.

But it wasn't just sex that sold. There were monsters and gore films as well. The suspense film ROAD GAMES starring Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis kept viewers on the edge of their seat. RAZORBACK had a ferocious oversized boar attacking people. And PATRICK featured a catatonic patient whose psychic abilities were such that he could kill without moving from his bed of blinking.

Then there are the action films, most notably those of director Brian Trenchard-Smith. Starting with MAN FROM HONG KONG and later turning out DEAD END DRIVE-IN, Trenchard-Smith gave full blown, blast off the screen action films that had cars blowing up, martial arts battles galore and over the top action. But he wasn't alone. STONE from Sandy Harbutt gave us a new take on the biker film with a decidedly Aussie style.

The films discussed here are not to be lost and won't be due in part to those they have influenced. Tarantino for one. The director/writers of SAW for another. Or the terror filled film WOLF CREEK that scared so many just a few years back. All are made by film makers who grew up on these films.

This documentary mentions them all and features interviews with Jamie Lee Curtis, Stacy Keach, director Richard Franklin, Dennis Hopper, Barry Humphries, director George Miller, director Russell Mulcahy, Trenchard-Smith and more. It also has film buff Quentin Tarantino giving his take on the genre and why these films are treasures to be found and not forgotten. Each one gives their tales of the early days of the rise of Australian film making, the good the bad and the ugly. Tales of no budget, no release form, no safety minded film makers who just wanted to make something their own.

While major releases are hyped and propped up with mega ad campaigns, small exploitation films have always relied on word of mouth to get people to see them. Some do so on DVD (video when they first started), some develop cult followings and some are discovered when documentaries are made about the genre that say "hey, you might have missed this one".

The days of the drive-in theater are waning, but not quite dead. But the films that were made for them, the movies that used topics as old as the first story tellers expressed, are still around and available on DVD. This movie praises those early film makers for what they were able to achieve. It's also a guide book for films to seek out. And more than anything, it offers a fun look at the early days of an industry that started with an Aussie outlook that the world eventually adopted and enjoyed.

A great overview of a few wild years in the Aussie film scene. Will send you to your netflix que to look up some of these movies, although for a lot of these movies it's just the best bits of a bad movie that made it into the documentary. Very fun- watch it with friends and some beer.

This fantastic film serves as a Valentine to the halcyon days of Aussie genre movies, indeed 'Not Quite Hollywood' is all the things that Australian movies of today aren't: Fast paced, energetic and hilariously entertaining.

Even if some of the films weren't that great, the stories about them by the people who made them are often riotously funny. And it serves up two unsung heroes of the Australian film industry in director Brian Trenchard-Smith and superhumanly tough stuntman Grant Page.

The anecdotes fly thick and fast about a more free wheeling time in Australian movies when men were men, women were women, giant feral pigs threatened the box office - while vomiting on US 80's heartthrob Gregory Harrison- and political correctness didn't exist. It's a roaring good time, fuelled by the memories of the main players on both sides of the camera.

It's also a slap in the face to the ghastly, inbred navel gazing films that are mainly the Hellspawn offspring of the government teat today. These anti audience abominations are all Oz seems interested in producing (with a few notable exceptions like 'Kenny' and 'Wolf Creek'). Part social realism, part cultural relevence (whatever the Hell that might be) and all complete tripe that can only be enjoyed by people who store their eye's in the same glass they put their teeth at night.

'Not Quite Hollywood' is something of a retrospective vaccine to all that. In fact it's transcendantly good. You don't have to be particularly interested in the subject matter to have a great time watching people having a great time making some great -and not so great- genre movies.

Highly recommended.

Disclaimer: I viewed this film as a streaming rental, and as such, cannot comment on the audio or visual quality of this product. My review concerns the entertainment value of the film only.

This entertaining film is pretty straightforward in its goal - to present a picture of Australian exploitation cinema from the 70's and 80's - and it romps through the period with a mix of vintage clips and interviews with filmmakers and critics from the time. From the early 'sexcapades' to horror and violence to auto mayhem, the genre is covered from its beginning through its heyday and decline, and also hints at a possible resurgence from new filmmakers raised on the classics of yesterday.

'Not Quite Hollywood' is going to get the best reception from fans of B-movies, though I think there is enough appeal here to drag some other viewers along also. What comes across, over and over, was the unadulterated outrageousness of the ideas and the audacity of the actors who were willing to implement them. There's plenty of B-movie schlock to go around - Australians don't hold a patent on it - but they certainly seem wildly energetic about it. Several of the behind-the-scenes stories are frankly incredible, often hilarious.

The build-up is slow at first, though. The introduction has to explain how the times were right for the emergence of this kind of cinema, and while it feels necessary to the film's goal, it also seemed slow and less interesting than the last two/thirds, which dwelt on the horror aspects and the auto/motorcyle stunts. This last is where I thought the film really shone - the fellows working in these films were absolutely nuts.

My guess is that 'Not Quite Hollywood' is vastly more entertaining (with few exceptions) than the films from which the clips are taken - although I added several of them to my 'To Be Watched' list anyway. Scanning through the bonus features (which were not available on the streaming rental), I saw enough content to make me think that the entire disc is worth checking out for die-hard exploitation fans. Even those who are only marginally interested should still see enough here it make it worthwhile. Four Stars.

I really liked this one. If you are a fan of 70's exploitation cinema, this one will give you a nice list of videos to look up. It's primarily featuring Australian films but nonetheless, if you like "B" movies this documentary will give you a few good ones to seek out.

4.3 stars

I didn't know much about all the blokes who made the 70s Aussie grindhouse films, until I saw this flick. It's overloaded with info and clips and interviews with the principals and many fans. Tarantino and Curtis are quite entertaining, and the overall tone is appropriately loving but non-worshipful.

The extras feature a whole bunch of endings from some of these films, and they are often hilarious and just plain classic.

Any film fan will find this doc engrossing and entertaining; any b-movie fan will be in heaven.

this is a great compilation of movie clips (mostly from the 70s) from australia. besides the clips that range from sexploitation, horror, kung fu to biker movies, you get interviews from some of the actors, directors and people like quentin tarantino. it is very educational and entertaining. i highly recommend this dvd to any movie buff that enjoys compilations for either education or entertainment or both! enjoy it!

I have all the 42ND STREET FOREVER series of DVDs. I go ape over trailer DVDs & documentaries of low budget films. This DVD fils the bill perfectly.

I got a big buzz out of this intelligent, compact historical overview of an important, but largely neglected feature of Australian film making, the unapologetically violent, crude, and vulgar cinema of the 70s and early 80s. Following the meltdown of the great cultural iceberg that typified the insularity and cringe culture of the Menzies years, Australians were hungry for films about themselves. We elected Gough Whitlam and Don Dunstan, and things began to change. Funding became available and censorship rules eased. This documentary traces the trajectory that followed in film making, through vulgar self parody, sexploitation, horror, and some of the bravest stunt work ever undertaken. Eventually the public appetite for the genra fizzled out, and government funding redirected to film making considered to have enduring cultural merit. In time, that shift yielded international recognition, with Aussie actors, directors, producers, costume designers, and cinematographers, receiving the highest accolades from the various academies. This doco seeks to secure proper recognition for the impetus generated by those antecedent projects that were directed at the drive-in cinema market. It succeeds admirably. The commentary is provided by those who had direct involvement: the actors, directors, producers, and writers. There are also some great insights provided by Quentin Tarantino, and short footage of American icons at the tail end of the illustrious careers, such as Joseph Cotten and Broderick Crawford you should find interesting. The short piece on Denis Hopper at his wildest is also greatly entertaining. The great man returned here in 2003 to play Frank Sinatra in "The Day We Called it a Night". If you love film, this should be in your collection

This is a well-done, highly entertaining, and funny documentary of the Australian exploitation cinema. I remember wondering where the movies Road Warrior, Mad Max, and Breaker Morant, came from when they burst into theaters. Prior to movies like these, Australia and the movies just didn't click together in most American minds. Perhaps this isn't for everyone, but I found the pacing of the interviews and the clips just right, especially since they got to cover more people to interview and more movies to glimpse that way. It's also entertaining to see how often unsuspecting American, British, and European talent were drawn in only to find they were in for more than they bargained for, whether in grueling set conditions, often dangerous stunts, or requests for nudity from actresses. This was so interesting to me that I yearned to see more of these original films. I found there is a great set of films put out by Umbrella titled Ozploitation (vol. 1 and 2) which contain many of the films covered here -- unfortunately they are in PAL and would require a DVD player that is multiregion or capable of handling the PAL signal. Personally if I didn't own a multiregion DVD player I might get it to watch some of these movies, because they often very entertaining if a bit over the top. Now if only someone would come out with something like this for the Italian exploitation cinema of the 70's and 80's! Definitely one of my favorite film documentary DVDs, and I think anyone who grew up in the drive-in era of the 70's would get a kick out of this film.