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CibbuanoMad Dog Morgan
September 28th 2006 09:59
Mad Dog Morgan (1976)
I bought this on DVD for $2 or something. It's an Australian 70s b-grade movie about Mad Dog Morgan and stars Dennis Hopper as the eponymous bushranger. We follow his story as he becomes a bushranger and folk-legend, spurred on by injustice, sometimes robbing people and just generally hanging about in the bush. For most of the film he is on the run from the cops, who are presented as a crooked and villainous bunch headed up by the cold-blooded Frank Thring (of Ben Hur and El Cid fame!)
The back of the DVD says that this film represents a time where Hopper was all but blacklisted by Hollywood and did 'some of his most interesting' work in independent and foreign films... I reckon that's just hip selling-slang for 'alcoholic out-of-work big-name actor', and no matter how good the DVD cover is be assured that this is 100% b-grade schlock.
Having said that, Dennis Hopper is actually pretty good in this as the raging criminal Morgan. The film allso stars David Gulpilil, Jack Thompson (who has a shitty Irish accent in it), Bill Hunter and the big guy out of the Beurepaires ad (as a 19th-century prison rapist!) The acting is pretty good overall and there's a few cool set pieces and snaps of dialogue, but the film is let down overall by shoddy editing and it's general b-gradeness. The direction, supplied by would-be Ed Wood, Philippe Mora (also resposible for such esteemed fare as 'Pterodactyl Woman From Beverly Hills') is really piss poor at times too.
But! If you have a hankering to see Dennis Hopper attempt an Irish accent (or get bumraped by the guy from the Beaurepaire Ads) then this is the movie for you. The 70s were Australia's wilderness years when it came to filmmaking, so it's always good to check out one of the more 'high-profile' movies that came out of the era.
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