Russell Boyd
Short documentary about making of "Picnic at Hanging Rock" (1975) including interviews with actors, crew and Peter Weir himself.
At the dawn of WWII, several men escape from a Russian gulag—to take a perilous and uncertain journey to freedom as they cross deserts, mountains and several nations.
As Australian cinema broke through to international audiences in the 1970s through respected art house films like Peter Weir's "Picnic At Hanging Rock," a new underground of low-budget exploitation filmmakers were turning out considerably less highbrow fare. Documentary filmmaker Mark Hartley explores this unbridled era of sex and violence, complete with clips from some of the scene's most outrageous flicks and interviews with the renegade filmmakers themselves.
This is a three-part documentary (i.e. Spirit of Vengeance, Spirit of Adventure and Spirit of Execution) which mixes behind the scenes materials and interviews. The program opens with info about bringing Ghost Rider to the big screen, the script and story, cast and Nicolas Cage's interest in the project, the flick's tone and its motorcycles. From there it digs into sets, characters, costumes and makeup, music, shooting in Australia, cinematography, and stunts. In addition, it looks at visual effects, editing, score, and other aspects of post-production. Part Three of the program mostly drops the interviews to completely follow the "fly on the wall" approach.
In order to save his dying father, young stunt cyclist Johnny Blaze sells his soul to Mephistopheles and sadly parts from the pure-hearted Roxanne Simpson, the love of his life. Years later, Johnny's path crosses again with Roxanne, now a go-getting reporter, and also with Mephistopheles, who offers to release Johnny's soul if Johnny becomes the fabled, fiery 'Ghost Rider'.
A documentary about the making of Gillian Armstrong's 1982 film STARSTRUCK.
After an abrupt and violent encounter with a French warship inflicts severe damage upon his ship, a captain of the British Royal Navy begins a chase over two oceans to capture or destroy the enemy, though he must weigh his commitment to duty and ferocious pursuit of glory against the safety of his devoted crew, including the ship's thoughtful surgeon, his best friend.
When a Midwest town learns that a corrupt railroad baron has captured the deeds to their homesteads without their knowledge, a group of young ranchers join forces to take back what is rightfully theirs. They will become the object of the biggest manhunt in the history of the Old West and, as their fame grows, so will the legend of their leader, a young outlaw by the name of Jessie James.
Set in the 1960's, a school teacher pretends to be a CIA spy to get his nagging wife off his back. He helps a Russian ballet dancer defect and is then sent to Cuba to locate "Agent X" for the CIA.
A successful physician and devoted family man, John Dolittle seems to have the world by the tail, until a long suppressed talent he possessed as a child, the ability to communicate with animals is suddenly reawakened with a vengeance! Now every creature within squawking distance wants the good doctor's advice, unleashing an outrageous chain of events that turns his world upside down!
Fletcher Reede is a fast-talking attorney and habitual liar. When his son Max blows out the candles on his fifth birthday he has just one wish - that his dad will stop lying for 24 hours. When Max's wish comes true, Fletcher discovers that his mouth has suddenly become his biggest liability.
A 1939 test pilot asks his best friend to use him as a guinea pig for a cryogenics experiment. Daniel McCormick wants to be frozen for a year so that he doesn't have to watch his love lying in a coma. The next thing Daniel knows is that he's been awoken in 1992.
Billy Hoyle and Sidney Deane are an unlikely pair of basketball hustlers. They team up to con their way across the courts of Los Angeles, playing a game that's fast dangerous - and funny.
Reporter Judith Wilkes leaves her husband and two sons in Sydney and goes to Malaysia to cover the story of the Vietnamese boat people. She becomes romantically involved with Kanan, and strikes up a friendship with Lady Minou Hobday, who keeps a regular vigil at "Turtle Beach" where the refugees try to land secretly in the hope that one day her own children will arrive. Accompanying Minou one night, Judith witnesses a brutal massacre by the Malaysians which spurs her on to expose the horrors of the internment camps at Bidong.
Terry Dean is an electronics wizard and thief. After he is released from jail, he is hit by a car while saving a little girl's life. While in the hospital, he dreams that God visits him and tells him he's an Angel, and must start doing good things to make up for his past life. Not believing it at first, he soon becomes convinced he must be an Angel. Not having any Angel powers yet, he must use his own experiences and talents to make good things happen.
On an obscure Pacific Island just north of Australia, the Japanese Empire has operated a prisoner of war camp for Australian soldiers. At the close of World War II, the liberated POWs tell a gruesome tale of mass executions of over eight hundred persons as well as torture style killings of downed Australian airmen. In an attempt to bring those responsible to justice, the Australian Army establishes a War Crimes Tribunal to pass judgement on the Japanese men and officers who ran the Ambon camp. In an added twist, a high ranking Japanese admiral is implicated, and politics become involoved with justice as American authorities in Japan lobby for the Admiral's release. Written by Anthony Hughes
Australian outback expert protects his New York love from gangsters who've followed her down under.
The story of the 1983 America's Cup challenge, where the Australian team financed by business tycoon Alan Bond, finally wrests the cup from the New York Yacht Club, after an unbroken 132 year winning streak.
When a New York reporter plucks crocodile hunter Dundee from the Australian Outback for a visit to the Big Apple, it's a clash of cultures and a recipe for good-natured comedy as naïve Dundee negotiates the concrete jungle. Dundee proves that his instincts are quite useful in the city and adeptly handles everything from wily muggers to high-society snoots without breaking a sweat.
A story based on true events about two explorers on a doomed journey trying to cross Australia on foot in the 19 century.
In a rural town in Louisiana, a black Master Sergeant is found shot to death just outside the local Army Base. Military lawyer, Captain Davenport—also a black man—is sent from Washington to conduct an investigation. Facing an uncooperative chain of command and fearful black troops, Davenport must battle with deceit and prejudice in order to find out exactly who really did kill the Master Sergeant.
Alchoholic former country singer Mac Sledge makes friends with a young widow and her son. The friendship enables him to find inspiration to resume his career.
Australian journalist Guy Hamilton travels to Indonesia to cover civil strife in 1965. There—on the eve of an attempted coup—he befriends a Chinese Australian photographer with a deep connection to and vast knowledge of the Indonesian people, and also falls in love with a British national.
A new-wave extravaganza in which a young woman wants to become the next big singer with the help of her friends and despite the wishes of her working class family.
As World War I rages, brave and youthful Australians Archy and Frank—both agile runners—become friends and enlist in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps together. They later find themselves part of the Dardanelles Campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula, a brutal eight-month conflict which pit the British and their allies against the Ottoman Empire and left over 500,000 men dead.
Contaminated by a nuclear-plant spill, an Australian worker hides with a woman and tries to warn the public.
A 1979 documentary on Java and Bali, written and directed by Phillip Noyce. The end credits say this film was produced for QANTAS Airways, which suggests it was used as some sort of promotional piece for travel to these particular locations.
A man is brutally beaten so he and 4 others head to the beach for refuge and relaxation. It soon becomes clear that they've been imprisoned by person or persons unknown. Then an unknown mad killer begins picking off the vacationers, one by one.
Australian lawyer David Burton agrees with reluctance to defend a group of aborigines charged with murdering one of their own. He suspects the victim was targeted for violating a tribal taboo, but the defendants deny any tribal association. Burton, plagued by apocalyptic visions of water, slowly realizes danger may come from his own involvement with the aborigines and their prophecies.
A beautiful and talented editor of a successful women's magazine discovers that she is pregnant. She decides to have the baby and raise it as a single parent.
Two strangers - one white, one black - steal a car in western NSW and head for the coast. Jack is abrasive, cunning and disparaging about Aborigines. Gary doesn’t really care – he just wants to escape. En route, they pick up Gary’s Uncle Joe, a French hitchhiker and a young woman who’s running away. Their petty crimes escalate as they go, heading towards disaster.
A beautiful woman, Kate (Tina Grenville), is released from a sanatorium unaware that while she was away her husband John (George Lazenby) has begun an affair with her sister Marianne (Wendy Hughes). The two sisters live together in a creepy apartment block while John is away, and find themselves stalked by some mysterious strangers.
In the early 1900s, Miranda attends a girls boarding school in Australia. One Valentine's Day, the school's typically strict headmistress treats the girls to a picnic field trip to an unusual but scenic volcanic formation called Hanging Rock. Despite rules against it, Miranda and several other girls venture off. It's not until the end of the day that the faculty realizes the girls and one of the teachers have disappeared mysteriously.
Australian authorities arrest a man believed to be connected to the Sydney criminal underworld and send for Inspector Fang Sing Leng (Jimmy Wang Yu) from Hong Kong to question him. After the alleged criminal is assassinated, Inspector Leng and the Sydney police try to hunt down those responsible and hope to solve their case along the way.
