Sunday, April 27, 2014

1971 - WAKE IN FRIGHT, macho stuff in the Australian outback.


Wake in Fright is probably not a film that was ever endorsed by the Australian tourist commission.  This study of macho bullshit is a fairly terrifying film.

A teacher trying to get to Sydney for the Christmas holiday break ends up in some town called "The Yabba."  For him it's all downhill from here as he sinks into a personal moral hell of gambling, drinking and hunting with some of the "good old boys" who live and drink out in the Australian outback.


Besides watching this teacher descend into degradation the film has a hunting scene involving the killing of kangaroos that was apparently filmed instead of faked for the film.  This is probably one of the most horrific scenes ever put on film as the hunters flash the kangaroos with spotlights and gun them down.

The film was directed by the very underated Ted Kotcheff.

108 minutes

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