Australian movies: 1975

As I mentioned at the end of the previous update, there's an explosion of Australian movies with money from the government funding now becoming widely available. There's also a good mix of movies over a wide range of genres and some high (and low) quality movies amongst them. Some influential filmmakers also made their debut features in this year like Brian Trenchard-Smith, Richard Franklin and John Duigan plus a probable masterpiece from Peter Weir.

1975

The Box

Feature-length movie spin-off of the hit TV soap and if it is good enough for Number 96, why not? I haven't watched any of the show but what I can gather from watching the movie is that's it's about the goings on at TV station Channel 12 and is every bit as sexy as Number 96. They recruited network (Channel 9) star Graham Kennedy to play a pivotal role in the movie and a lot of the plot is about filming stuff for his show.

Like Number 96, the show was famous for it's nude scenes so there's a few in the movie. There's three nude scenes from Marilyn Vernon including an extended full frontal nude scene, a dream sequence featuring Belinda Giblin naked which seems incredibly superfluous and contractually obliged but at least it isn't rape scene like in Number 96. There's also an embarrassing nude scene from Leonie Bradley who has her clothes ripped off by a car.

As you'll see below the videos are from a VHS rip with a dirty great timecode across it, so that sucks. But as of last month, Crawfords have finally released a DVD of the movie which they had neglected after releasing every episode on DVD (I think, I've never seen it and it's too rich for my blood). Sadly, it's $40 and I ain't paying that much for something I'll only ever watch once so this'll have to do for now.

Belinda Giblin in The Box

11414kb 38sec 696x536 (breasts)

 

Marilyn Vernon in The Box

15926kb 53sec 696x536 (breasts with pasties over nipples, panties)

28291kb 1min 36sec 696x536 (in towel)

22819kb 1min 17sec 696x536 (full frontal and rear nudity)

2819kb 8sec 696x536 (full frontal nudity)

 

Leonie Bradley in The Box

3776kb 11sec 696x536 (clothes ripped up to reveal breasts, breasts and bush covered by hands)

 

Unknown in The Box

1785kb 5sec 696x536 (bikini)

 

 

The Firm Man

John Duigan's (Sirens, The Year My Voice Broke, Winter Of Our Dreams and many more) debut feature after flirting around the seams of the industry for the previous few years (he was the lead actor of 1971's Bonjour Balwyn). Messy almost incomprehensible satire about a man (Peter Cummins) who gets a dream job at a 'firm' that he has no idea what it is or what he's supposed to do. All he does is follow cryptic instructions as groups of weird people like messengers (including Bruce Spence) and a group of three women help him understand what his job is. Or something. An interesting idea but it's hard to decipher.

There's some brief full frontal nudity in the movie from Eileen Chapman (also nude in 1969's 2000 Weeks) plus nudity from a bunch of unknown actresses in a party scene despite one of the characters having a name.

Eileen Chapman in The Firm Man

6154kb 20sec 720x544 (full frontal nudity)

 

Dianne Preston in The Firm Man

21556kb 1min 07sec 720x544 (bikini)

 

Kris McQuade in The Firm Man

17442kb 56sec 720x544 (plenty of cleavage in nice dress, panties taken off, sex scene)

 

Various Unknowns in The Firm Man

21542kb 1min 08sec 720x544 (various women showing breasts)

 

 

The Great Macarthy

Incredibly misconceived Australian Rules movie about a country footballer (John Jarratt) who is seduced into town to play in the big league but city life doesn't suit him and when he's told to dump his cultured girlfriend (Judy Morris), he mulls over doing so and his game suffers. Somehow seems to have been made by people who know little about the game despite having some well-known faces in it. The Club from 1980 is the far better Aussie Rules movie.

Judy Morris shows her bottom and the side of her right breast as she plays up for her boyfriend.

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

Judy Morris in The Great MacArthy

   
   
   

 

 

Inn of the Damned

A rare attempt at an Australian horror western from Terry Bourke (1972's Night of Fear) that's a strange mix of genres but isn't a complete wash considering Bourke's other output (see Plugg below). Surprisingly nasty and violent with plenty of nudity including a lengthy lesbian tease between Carla Hoogeveen (far more naked here than in Night of Fear) and Diana Dangerfield. Let's face it, Bourke was good for one thing: sleaze.

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

Carla Hoogeveen in Inn of the Damned

   
   
   
   
   

 

Diana Dangerfield in Inn of the Damned

   
   
   

 

Linda Brown in Inn of the Damned

   
   
   

 

Josie Mackay in Inn of the Damned

   
   

 

 

The Man From Hong Kong

Epic action thriller mixing Hong Kong kung-fu with Australian sensibilities that's an incredibly fun ride despite been incredibly dated in many ways. Brian Trenchard-Smith's debut movie which he'll try to emulate but never top. Surprised it's never been remade as far lesser known 'Ozploitation' movies have been. Some brief nudity from Rebecca Gilling is a rather thankless role plus some side-boob action from Ros Spiers.

You can find a synopsis and the collages and HD videos from The Man From Hong Kong here. A preview is below.

Rebecca Gilling in The Man From Hong Kong

   
   

 

Ros Spiers in The Man From Hong Kong

   

 

 

Paradise

Telemovie pilot that was made in Surfer's Paradise. No nudity but Ingrid Mason from Picnic at Hanging Rock is pretty sexy throughout. Can't remember anything else from it and I only just watched it.

Ingrid Mason in Paradise

3704kb 21sec 616x480 (plenty of cleavage in gown)

 

 

Picnic at Hanging Rock

Classic Australian ethereal mystery from Peter Weir that's hard-to-forget. Some unexpected brief nudity from Jacki Weaver who shows her bottom as she quickly gets dressed. Also in the documentary for the making-of the movie, there's a brief moment we Anne-Louise Lambert is naked with her hair over her breasts while covering one of her breasts with her hand. In the movie, the same scene appears but she is clothed.

You can find a synopsis and HD videos from Picnic at Hanging Rock here. A preview is below.

Jacki Weaver in Picnic at Hanging Rock

   

 

Anne-Louise Lambert in Picnic at Hanging Rock: A Dream Within a Dream

 

 

Plugg

Appalling sex comedy made in Perth about a private detective who tries to gather information to shut down an escort agency but the movie is so inept the lead male spends more time naked than Penthouse Playmate Cheryl Rixon and that's something because she's plenty naked. Another Terry Bourke dud who had a busy 1975 (see Inn of the Damned above). There also a bunch of unknowns naked throughout the movie too.

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

Cheryl Rixon in Plugg

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

Stormy Summers in Plugg

   
   
   
   

 

 

The Removalists

Basically a filmed adaptation of a David Williamson play about a woman who decides to go to the police about the abuse she's receiving from her husband and finding the police are out of their depth in handling it. Good cast but doesn't break out from it's stage roots. Some very brief nudity from Jacki Weaver as she quickly covers up while showing her bruises to a policeman.

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

Jacki Weaver in The Removalists

   

 

 

Scobie Malone

Sexy mystery movie based on the Scobie Malone books by Jon Cleary (who incidentally wrote Sidecar Racers - see below) where Jack Thompson lazily goes around and tries to solve the murder of his former lover (Judy Morris) in between bedding a number of women. Fairly slack going that is clearly a vehicle for Thompson. Was the debut feature for Bryan Brown.

A fair bit of nudity in this movie, Victoria Anoux again plus Thompson's live-in lover Bunkie King (he famously lived with sisters for well over a decade). Also there's an explicit insert scene that's supposed to be of Judy Morris but is obviously not her.

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

Victoria Anoux in Scobie Malone

   
   
   
   

 

Bunkie King in Scobie Malone

   
   
   

 

Zoe Salmon in Scobie Malone

 

Peta Peters in Scobie Malone

   

 

Inserts in Scobie Malone

   
   

 

 

Sidecar Racers

Not bad racing movie about the rarely shown form of sidecar motorway racing with a fairly rote plot but some quite exciting races including a crash in the final race which I was shocked at how well it was done. Man, I miss actually doing stunts... Just a quick bikini scene from Wendy Hughes, so more than she usually wore in the 70s movies.

This movie is on DVD but I don't have a copy so the video below is from a fairly decent VHS rip.

Wendy Hughes in Sidecar Racers

8715kb 28sec 704x536 (bikini)

 

 

The True Story of Eskimo Nell

Strangely faithful adaptation of the song about the prostitute Eskimo Nell who drives every man wild, even down to setting it Alaska. Tries to be jokey but struggles with laughs. Debut feature for Richard Franklin (Patrick, Roadgames, Psycho 2) who would go onto better things. Interestingly, there was a British adaptation of the song titled Eskimo Nell that was released in the same year directed by another pretty solid director Martin Campbell (GoldenEye, Casino Royale, Edge of Darkness - both versions).

There's plenty of flashes of nudity including from Abigail again (promoted as her first full frontal nudity scene), Victoria Anoux again as the idealised Eskimo Nell, Elke Neidhart and Kris McQuade adding to their collection and some brief full frontal nudity from Elli Maclure who would have even better nudity in the 1976 Spanish mystery El Calor de la Llama.

You can find a synopsis and the collages and videos from The True Story of Eskimo Nell here. A preview is below.

Abigail in The True Story of Eskimo Nell 

   
   

 

Victoria Anoux in The True Story of Eskimo Nell 

   

 

Elke Neidhart in The True Story of Eskimo Nell 

   

 

Elli Maclure in The True Story of Eskimo Nell 

   
   
   

 

Kris McQuade in The True Story of Eskimo Nell 

   
   
   

 

Paddy Madden in The True Story of Eskimo Nell

   
   

 

As always there's a bunch of movies released that had no nudity including the kids movies The Lost Islands and Disney's Ride a Wild Pony, the very good shearing drama Sunday Too Far Away also starring Jack Thompson, the quite full-on drug drama Pure Shit, the immigrant dramas The Golden Cage and Promised Woman and the telemovie Polly Me Love. There's also a bunch of movies that I'm not sure whether there's nudity in them but they're fairly unknown so I won't name them.

I had to take a few shortcuts to get this update done and left out some sex-related docu-dramas including Australia After Dark and the Brian Trenchard-Smith directed The Love Epidemic which is a 'cheery' look at gonorrhea. There's quite a bit of nudity in both but they were more documentaries with unknown actors than feature movies so I'll look at them in another update maybe with some other docu-dramas.

 

The next year continues the explosion of Australian movies so look out for another long update.

 

Tags: Belinda Giblin, Marilyn Vernon, Leonie Bradley, Eileen Chapman, Dianne Preston, Kris McQuade, Ingrid Mason, Wendy Hughes