Not Quite Hollywood? Our quite amazing film industry

This was so much fun!



Somehow it had passed me by that Quentin Tarantino was a such fan - fanatic - of Australian films of the 60s, 70s and 80s. While most of the other interviewees in Mark Hartley's amazing, comprehensive documentary on Aussie (s)expoitation films were polite, bemused, nostalgic, and even a bit reverential, Tarantino was... unleashed!

"Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!" is divided into three sections: "Ockers, knockers, pubes & tubes!" (including brief footage from "Number 96"), "Comatose killers and outback chillers!" and "High octane disasters and kung fu masters!" There are highlights and lowlights from an amazing array of films: Australian films that were so bad you'd forgotten how good they were, and Australian films that were so bad you'd forgotten how bad a bad Australian film could be.

Interviewees included "Number 96" alumni Rebecca Gilling, Wendy Hughes, Lynette Curran, Briony Behets, Candy Raymond, Deborah Gray, Roger Ward and Norman Yemm, all of whom made even more notorious, often nude, appearances in "Ozploitation" movies. I also noted David Hannay, who was an associate producer of "Number 96" and "The Unisexers". The archive footage of Abigail, in her many non-96 appearances, are far more revealing than any of her supposedly more-notorious "Number 96" scenes!

I'm not sure how well this doco is doing in its cinema release - due to the Indian Film Festival at Fox, it was promoted from its art house status and was screening in the larger cinema complex. It deserves to do well and, I suspect, will be a sleeper hit on DVD. I find myself curious to check out many of the films the doco saluted, although for some of the more gory examples in "Comatose killers and outback chillers!" perhaps the snippets chosen for the doco are sufficient.

I came home nursing my contributor's copy (see Bonus Features) of "Number 96: The Pantyhose Strangler" DVD set. Thanks Andrew Mercado! (It was great catching up again today, and also meeting Mitchell Butel and the gang!) Almost sixteen hours worth of episodes, most of which I haven't seen since they first aired in the 70s! Maybe you won't hear much from me this week either...

Sunday's magic number: 94.1 - Hey, I tried to order a light beer in a Bavarian restaurant today. The waiter just glared at me. Do Bavarians not get fat?