Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!

Fantastic! A great documentary focusing on a long unsung faction of cult cinema known as Ozploitation. Tarantino features heavily as an expert of the genre. As an Australian, it's scary watching how a foreigner could have so much knowledge and enthusiasm for films that have been almost purposely forgotten in their own homeland.

Like any good documentary, it's a real eye opening experience to get an insight into the lost world of blood, bikers and boobs. The directors, actors and those influenced (Greg McLean (Wolf Creek/Rouge), James Wan and Leigh Whannell (Saw)) share the stories of a fledgling film industry that embraced a Guerrilla style of film-making that stuck it to the stuffy cinema elite that wished they would disappear.

An absolute must watch for anybody who thinks they're an expert on cult/trash cinema.

as a lover of 'Ozploitation" films from way back, (hell im a card carrying member of the Turkey Shoot fanclub hahha) to say that Not Quite Hollywood was going to be essential viewing is quite an understatement. And so i finally made the 3 hour trek to Melbourne to see this thing and all i can say is WOW! Mark Hartley has done good with what was available to him, however there were a few other films that never got a mention that are quite vital to the "ozploitation" story.

To my knowledge COSY COOL was the first independent Aussie exploitation film, and it never even got a mention! (admitedly its not a really great "film", but is still an interesting watch).

1979 slasher flick ALISON'S BIRTHDAY never received a mention either, and quite crucially RUNNING ON EMPTY is only shown in a collage of car crashes, but nothing is said about it at all. And don't even get me started on the absence of genuine classics like STIR, THE MONEY MOVERS, LAST OF THE KNUCKLEMEN.

However it all really comes down to time. 2 hours is only really long enough to just skim the surface, which is what NQH does, and does a commendable job of it.

In my eyes there are only 2 problems with NQH, one which is inevitable.. it has to end sometime. The second is why does everyone hate Turkey Shoot so bloody much? It is a genuine classic and is definitely one of the most entertaining films to come out of Australia! In summary a commendable effort and hopefully we will get all of these films appearing on DVD (and yes i already know that most of them are)

Best documentary I've seen this year. It feels as if these films have been swept under the carpet by a film industry which is overprotective of its image. The Australian film industry is so very narrow-minded and so it is great to see a documentary which has been so brilliantly edited but also used along with the great characters of the industry through the 70's and 80's who make this possible multiple movie preview so entertaining. There is a good mix of local and international actors/producers/directors and there is also contradictory comments and varying disagreements which merely adds to the movie myths. This film is also refreshing as it harks back to a time when the business was far from a business and less stringent with the absence of governing bodies which equates to many broken bodies and lots of bodies on show in terms of nudity. These films make me proud to be Australian. Thank you Mark Hartley. Now will someone just release them on DVD!!

Thoroughly enjoyable - a few notes I made afterwards follow, including quotes from my wife First section of the movie covered how the new R-rating allowed an explosion in the Australian film industry. Specifically, as much nudity ( boobs, pubes, and tubes ) as the filmmakers could squeeze in...

"And here was me thinking Australian film in the 70s was prudish." On John Holmes rather, ah, prominent role in the doco - Australia's first exposure to him ( or possibly the other way around )

"Wouldn't his head implode when he got an erection?" and about paying to see the movies covered

"We're supporting the Australian film industry!"

"Given that quite a few of those movie were made to *lose* money...." The stories about the incredibly lax safety procedures at these flicks were pretty alarming. Take just one example from Mad Max ( where the head stuntman arrived on his first day with one limb already broken! ).

Do you recall the shot in that movie, from the motorcyclist's POV, where the bike is screaming along the highway and the odometer is hitting 180? The director got that shot by leaning over the motorcyclist's shoulder with a camera. Helmet? Hell no - protective equipment is for sane people.

Tarantino's excited fan-boy bouncing was amusing.

Regarding one of the very few movies they covered that I actually recall seeing ( I may well have seen more but have protected myself by blanking the memory ) - Razorback. I wonder if this movie is the reason my old D&D group would blithely deal with a pack of animated skeletons, but leg it for the nearest tree when an ordinary wild boar showed up? Also - The Return of Captain Invincible? Australia made a superhero musical? All I can say is that Australia made some amazingly bad movies, *that actually managed to get theatrical release*. Still, it made me miss the old days of drive-in cinema, even if the only one I recall seeing at such a cinema was Death Race 2000 ( the exploding baby scene - which I still find hugely funny).

If you have any interest in Australia's contribution to cinematic immortality, you have to see this documentary :D

This is an excellent documentary on the "Oz-ploitation" films of the 1970's and 80's. It covers a number of genres from sexploitation comedies ("Alvin Purple") to horror ("Patrick", "Long Weekend") to Down-Under Westerns ("Mad Dog Morgan") to auto-obsessed action flicks ("Mad Max"). They interview many of the directors/producers of these films including Brian Trenchant-Smith, Richard Franklin, Tony Ginane, and John Le Monde. They also interview a number of the English and American "name" actors (Jamie Lee Curtis, Stacy Keach, Dennis Hopper, Steve Railsback, George Lazenby) that came to work in Australian exploitation during this time. They all have some funny stories to tell (a drug-addled Dennis Hopper managed to wreak havoc even in the hard-drinking Australian outback). They even interview many of the local Aussie stuntmen and T-and-A queens, who certainly made their own daring contributions to these films. Moreover though, there are A LOT of clips from these films, and they serve to make this documentary more fast-moving and entertaining than most of the movies it covers.

It's unfortunate that many of the important figures from that era have died, like actor/director David Hemmings, but even they show up in archival footage. It also might have been nice to hear from people like Jenny Agutter and Olivia Hussey, who both made some memorable films Down Under. The omnipresent Quentin Tarantino, on the hand, had nothing to do with Australian films, but he certainly is VERY knowledgeable about them.

The only disappointing thing about this is the short shrift it gives to the more arty Australian films of this era--"Walkabout" is represented only by a single full-frontal still of Jenny Agutter, and some of the interviewees refer disparagingly to films like "Picnic at Hanging Rock". It's understandable that some of these "exploitation hacks" would resent the more arty, "culturally important" Australian films that received most of the international recognition (and government support), but the line between exploitation and art is a lot less clear than it's made out to be sometimes. Peter Weir who directed art films like "Picnic" and "The Last Wave" also directed much more straight-forward 70's genre films like "The Cars that Ate Paris" and "The Plumber". And if you look at the career of someone like Canadian David Cronenberg, it's certainly possible in many countries to start out as a genre/exploitation director and become an arty, more mainstream one. These resentments were more the result perhaps of the Australian film financing policies of the era than of any real differences between the two kinds of film. Whatever the case, this definitely an entertaining documentary. Don't miss it.