Based on the book of the same name, a school teacher named
John Grant (Gary Bond (Zulu)) goes to
take a holiday in Sydney but one of the stops along the way is Bundanyabba, a
small town in the middle of nowhere Australia.
He only plans to stay one night and catch a flight to Sydney the next
morning but he loses all of his money gambling on a game of heads or
tails. That’s right, two coins are
flipped and you bet on how they’re gonna land.
So not only does John lose his cash but he loses his mind as well and slips
into an alcoholic abyss. Crazy shit
ensues.
I had never heard of this movie until about a month
ago. I was watching the much maligned Weekend at Bernie’s (which, sure isn’t
great and kind of annoying but I fully appreciate that they took this
couple-of-guys-hanging-out-with-a-corpse concept to pretty extreme lengths) and
I wanted to see what else the director, Ted Kotcheff, had done. To my total surprise I saw that he directed First Blood. When that disbelief wore off I checked out
the rest of his shit. Wake in Fright had a cool sounding plot
so I thought I’d give the Bernie’s
director a look but didn’t expect a whole lot.
Well, uhh, guys…holy shit did I fall in love with this
movie. One of the most interesting (or
maybe the most interesting) aspects
of Wake in Fright is how the
townspeople of Bundanyabba kill you with kindness. Every single person that John comes across is
the friendliest motherfucker in history.
When John arrives in town he goes to a bar and gets chatted up by a cop
who at first you might think wants to run him out. That’s the typical way these encounters go
but not here. The cop instead asks John
if he needs another drink even though John’s glass is almost full. The cop stares at John until he gives in and
chugs his beer. This happens a couple of
more times and John finally loosens up while the two carry on some small
talk. The cop then takes John to get
something to eat and introduces him to the coin flip game going on in the back. It’s all perfectly hospitable. The cop just wants John to have a good time
and show him around town a bit. There isn’t
a malicious agenda anywhere in sight.
The next day when John is flat broke he befriends another
guy at a bar who ends up buying John all of his drinks and then invites him
back to his house for even more drinks.
John didn’t seek this guy out. In
fact John lashes out at him because he was pissed about having no money. The guy got pissed back and gave John a
drink. And this keeps happening over and
over. John eventually makes yet more
friends including Doc Tydon (Donald Pleasence (Escape From New York, Dracula (1979))) who puts him up in his shack
and gives him food (kangaroo) and drink (more alcohol). At one point John even insists on buying a
round of drinks for his new found friends but they will hear none of it and
tell him that he can pay for a round when he actually has some money. I mean some random dude gets genuinely pissed
when John refuses to have a drink with him.
The thing is John is fully aware of this unparalleled
kindness and generosity which causes him to be conflicted about it. On one hand it allows him to live completely
free of inhibition and he doesn’t have to worry about money or virtually all
material things. But of course, this is
a double edged sword and the problem with a truly care-free life is that John
overindulges in booze and reckless behavior which damages his body and mind.
He tries to leave town a couple of times but can’t pull
away. There’s a fantastic moment when
it’s been a couple of days since John arrived in Bundanyabba and he runs into
the cop that he met the first night.
John looks like he’s been through the fucking wringer and the cop is
shocked and worried. It makes you wonder
if the cop was thinking this was his fault by starting John on a path of self-destruction. It’s brilliant how innocent the whole journey
starts and then you get to see, through the cop’s concerned reaction, how much
has changed. You’re brought back to
reality for a second to put the events you went through with John into
perspective. It’s beautiful and
effective storytelling.
All of the characters are so well drawn and executed too. It’s strange because we never learn too much
about anyone in particular, including John.
But somehow I cared for every one of them. They’re all so full of life and endless
energy that it’s infectious. Doc Tydon
is especially great because he’s the most pathetic figure in the movie. He really was a doctor once but he’s an unabashed
alcoholic that seems to revel in his situation and how he feels about himself
to a certain extent. And Donald
Pleasance is so fucking good as Doc.
This is the best I’ve ever seen him.
Gary Bond in the lead is absolutely incredible. As good as everyone else is Bond pulls out
all the stops to make you feel cheerful, disheartened, confused (in the best
possible way), frightened, anxious, hopeful and a bunch of other emotions. John goes on such a wild ride that I would
imagine this would be a pretty difficult character to play for most actors. I think part of the reason why this character
works so well is because he’s relatable. We all have a little John Grant in us. We have that curiosity of what it would be
like to go off in a direction and survive on pure instinct for a while. But shit, you know that won’t actually happen
so here you get to live vicariously for a bit.
Moving on to the cinematography, it’s gorgeous. The movie has a tan/yellow-ish tint to it
that perfectly fits with the Australian outback. I love the way this was shot with some kind
of extraordinary camera work showing up every so often. The focus is the story and John so I really
dig that they sprinkled in these interesting angles and crazy editing only to
accent certain scenes. This is
definitely a film you should try to watch in HD if you can.
Now what this picture is probably most famous for is the
kangaroo hunting scene. John and his
buddies go on a drunken kangaroo hunt in the middle of the night shooting them
and collecting the carcasses. And the
thing about it is that it’s pretty much all real. Kangaroos weren’t specifically killed for
this movie though. The filmmakers tagged
along on a kangaroo hunt and that’s the footage that was used. So yea, they’re really killing ‘roos here but
it wasn’t something the filmmakers staged for the sole purpose of getting the
shots. Regardless it’s ghastly to sit
through and definitely the darkest part of the film. This scene shows how far John has sunk and that
point gets driven home in an extremely brutal way. This makes the scene and the film as a whole
more impactful. But could they have
found another way to make that point? Or
shoot this scene in a way that didn’t involve killing defenseless animals? Would an alternative solution have had the
same effect? I dunno. The kangaroo hunting scene is unforgettable
and, fuck me, I think it does help to make the movie as remarkable as it is. But it’s so fucking horrific. I wish they had found a workaround.
If you think you can put up with that particular scene then
you have to check this out. The fall of
this simple school teacher (interestingly this isn’t a rise and fall, just a fall) is so fascinating
because he’s surrounded by these unbelievably kind yet totally destructive
people. He gets caught up in their world
and doesn’t know how to escape it. It’s
like John stepped into The Twilight Zone. And the drinking, Jesus the drinking. Few movies have this much boozing. I don’t think I’ve seen this much excessive
drinking since Spring Breakers. Ok, well that a recent picture but before
that maybe Leaving Las Vegas?
This is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, plain and
simple.
