Tim Burstall (1927-2004) was a savior of a director who would reinvigorate Australia's floundering film industry, virtually ransoming it from obscurity and he proved to be the only one of the continent's new directors of the Seventies to have made a feature film the preceding decade - the elaborate drama 2000 Weeks (1969). This was a quasi-autobiographical plea to the people of artistic note to remain working Down Under, rather than abscond to Britain which at the time was believed a better option for its wealth of cultural attractions. Although somewhat panned at the time, the film represented a worthwhile, if marginally self-conscious attempt to extend the frontiers of the Antipodean cinema.
In the 1970's, Burstall concentrated on producing commercial entertainment. In 1971 came Stork, a screen adaptation of David Williamson's The Coming of the Stork that centered on a near seven foot tall hypochondriac who is unlucky in love (Bruce Spence). Stork, a guilty pleasurefest chock filled of teenage japes, impish quips and other varied misdemeanors - in what could only be precursory to Bob Clark's 1982 testosterone topped Porky's, Stork, achieved cult status at best, and today remains all but forgotten. Alvin Purple (1973), which has an alternative title; The Sex Therapist merged soft-core porn with ocker comedy - the term ocker, a phonetic variation of the term 'Oscar' was introduced on television by the comedian Ron Frazer (1928-1983) from one of the sketch series in which he was a cast member; The Mavis Bramston Show that aired in the year 1964.
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| Hey this isn't a bluey - It's Alvin Purple though, from 1973 (Graeme Blundell and dolly bird) |
Burstall's subsequent release Petersen (1974) was a dramatic comedy that focused on a laborer (Jack Thompson) who tries to no avail to improve his prospects with a belated education yet finds himself in a precarious and torrid affair with his professor's missus, portrayed by one of Australia's most acclaimed actresses, Wendy Hughes whose role here was slightly more ribald than her usual fare .
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| Belinda Giblin and Jack Thompson putting his best face forward in Petersen (1974) |
A less successful effort was the ironically titled End Play in 1975, a seemingly predictable whodunit scripted by Burnstall himself, but the director would at last redeem himself with the inspired The Last of the Knucklemen (1979), based on the John Power play, The Last of the Knucklemen was a gripping character study, with an intense lead performance by Gerard Kennedy, that centered on a group of wildcat miners, underpaid, over-stressed and mad as hell in the outback and didn't want to take it anymore. Burnstall's style is punchy and at times none too subtle, brusque and blunt, which led to frequent critical accusations of misogyny and chauvinism However he is generally respected as a battler who, after a serious early reverse, has shown that he has his finger on the Australian public's pulse.
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| Tim Burstall in need of a new transmission circa 1979 in Andamooka, South Australia. |