Australian movies: 1974

Bigger movies including a couple of sequels for the year of 1974 and quite a few hits among them.

1974

Alvin Rides Again

The previous year's Alvin Purple was a big hit, a sexy comedy with plenty of nudity and the makers decided to cash in as quickly as possible and it shows, big time. This movie suffers from a severe case of sequel-itis, a movie that runs out of ideas in the first 10 minutes and inexplicably turns into a gangster movie where Alvin crosses path with a notorious gangster who miraculously looks exactly like him. The gangster drops dead so a ruse is put in place to fool his enemies by having Alvin imitate him. Hilarity ensues, well it would have if there were any jokes. Embarrassingly bad follow-up at least has plenty of nudity including Abigail's first nude scene plus Kris McQuade coming back for more.

You can find a synopsis and the collages and videos from Alvin Rides Again here. A preview is below.

Abigail in Alvin Rides Again

   
   

 

Briony Behets in Alvin Rides Again

   

 

Chantal Contouri in Alvin Rides Again

   
   

 

Kris McQuade in Alvin Rides Again

   
   
   
   

 

Joy Thompson in Alvin Rides Again

   
   
   

 

Candy Raymond in Alvin Rides Again

   

 

Judy Stevenson in Alvin Rides Again

   

 

 

Barry McKenzie Holds His Own

Another sequel, this time to the 1972 The Adventures of Barry McKenzie where Bazza (Barry Crocker) travels Europe looking for a good time while being Australian. Then a Transylvanian vampire count (Donald Pleasence) kidnaps his aunt Edna Everage (Barry Humphries) because he thinks she's the Queen so Barry has to save her. Hmm, another sequel that runs out of ideas and conjures up a ridiculous mistaken identity plot to fill the time. Barely funny but it's way better than Alvin Rides Again plus it has Clive James as the most drinking-est Aussie ever which is far and away the funniest thing in the movie.

A little bit of nudity from the movie. Aussie actress Nell Campbell shows her breasts in a striptease scene with stripper/model sensation Fiona Richmond. Katya Wyeth also shows her breasts and has done nudity in other movies including A Clockwork Orange. Plus Margo Reid shows a bit of bum crack in small underwear. Fun fact about Fiona Richmond, she was portrayed by Tamsin Egerton in the 2013 biopic The Look of Love with plenty of nudity from Tamsin.

You can find a synopsis and the collages and videos from Barry McKenzie Holds His Own here. A preview is below.

Nell Campbell in Barry McKenzie Holds His Own

   
   

 

Fiona Richmond in Barry McKenzie Holds His Own

   
   

 

Katya Wyeth in Barry McKenzie Holds His Own

   
   

 

Margo Reid in Barry McKenzie Holds His Own

   

 

 

Number 96: The Movie

Movie version of the massive TV hit that was also a big hit in cinemas. Basically more the same but a bit darker with the movie opening with a rape scene (don't worry, it was all a dream...). A couple of nude scenes from fan favourite Elaine Lee who also did a bit of nudity in the TV series (some of which can be seen here) plus stacks of nudity from Rebecca Gilling in an early role.

You can find a synopsis and the collages and videos from Number 96: The Movie here. A preview is below.

Elaine Lee in Number 96: The Movie

   
   
   

 

Rebecca Gilling in Number 96: The Movie

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

 

Petersen

Sophisticated adult drama from the director of Alvin Purple who (wisely) skipped being heavily involved with that movie (he is a credited writer so maybe he's behind that terrible plot). Actually feels a lot closer to his first movie 2000 Weeks but is much better realised than that movie plus has some pretty good performances from Jack Thompson as the brawler turned university student plus Wendy Hughes and Jacki Weaver as the women in his life. It also has a lot of Jack Thompson acting drunk which is never not the funniest thing ever.

A lot of nudity in this movie from Wendy Hughes, full frontal nudity from Jacki Weaver plus a public nudity scene from Belinda Giblin who's much better known for her sexy TV roles.

You can find a synopsis and the collages and videos from Petersen here. A preview is below.

Wendy Hughes in Petersen

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

Jacki Weaver in Petersen

   
   

 

Belinda Giblin in Petersen

   

 

 

Stone

Cult motorcycle movie that is incredibly grimy and tries to be realistic and turns out to be a lot of fun to watch. The plot is silly: a cultured undercover cop (Ken Shorter) attempts to join a gang whose members are being assassinated to work out who is doing it. Turns out it's the 'suits'. But it works and everyone looks like they enjoyed making it. Well, the men do...

Further nudity from Rebecca Gilling (see Number 96: The Movie above) including the famous mass skinnydipping scene plus a few nude scenes from the incredibly grungy Victoria Anoux. Other actresses are nude throughout the movie but I have no idea who any of them are (might need to have a closer look).

You can find a synopsis and the collages and HD videos from Stone here. A preview is below.

Rebecca Gilling in Stone

   
   
   

 

Victoria Anoux in Stone

   
   
   

 

Yackety Yack

Very experimental satire about a bunch of Latrobe University film lecturers attempting to make movie on limited resources with a massive narcissist as a director who is not above editing the movie to remove any dissent and when that's not enough, he starts with the killing. Utterly ridiculous movie and at times way too talky but it's not without it's moments plus one of the film lecturers is John Flaus who would go on to be one of Australia's great character actors with a rather distinctive voice (and still acting today).

There's two actresses in the entire movie, one that turns up for a few seconds in the beginning and promptly disappears. Then Peggy Cole turns up, is stripped of her clothes and is mostly debased by the director despite her undying loyalty to him. Peggy was one of the lecturer's students and spends all bar the first twenty minutes of the movie completely naked hence the 18 minute video below. You'll also get a good guide of what the movie is like from the video and how it drags quite a bit.

Peggy Cole in Yackety Yack

355882kb 18min 10sec 768x576 (full frontal and occasional rear nudity, extremely lengthy)

 

Between Wars

Drama starring British actor Corin Redgrave as a world renowned psychiatrist who comes to Sydney after World War I and manages to change the way psychiatry is performed despite seemingly having a dislike of the science. Haven't seen this movie since I capped it but I remember being puzzled by it. There's no nudity in the movie but it does have sexy scenes from Pat Leehy.

You can find a synopsis and the videos from Between Wars here.

 

There's no nudity in the movies 27A (there is male nudity also has an all-male cast) and Peter Weir's debut feature The Cars That Ate Paris. I was unable to find a copy of the movie Matchless.

There's an explosion of movies in 1975 plus quite a few I haven't seen yet so I may need two updates to go through it.

 

Tags: Peggy Cole