Money Movers

Money Movers is another highlight of Australian cinema of the 1970s. It is overshadowed by the more successful Mad Max and failed at the Australian box office when released.

This heist thriller is more inspired by British movies such as Get Carter or television shows of that era such as The Sweeney.

Brothers Eric Jackson (Terence Donovan) and Brian Jackson (Bryan Brown) work as security guards for Darcy's Security Services.

They plan to rob their own firm but crime boss Jack Henderson finds out about their plan and wants a big cut. He also plans to have them killed once the job is done.

Leo Bassett is an insurance agent who has gone undercover as a security guard suspecting something bad is about to take place. Dick Martin is a disgraced ex cop who gets a second chance at Darcy's.

Director Bruce Beresford has made a tough thriller adapted from a novel. You can sense there is a complex plot here as the disparate elements of the story start to converge.

The movie also explores police corruption. With all the subterfuge and double crosses, it has a ferocious bloodsoaked finale.

In between wowing international audiences with 'The Getting of Wisdom' (1977) and 'Breaker Morant' (1980) Bruce Beresford shot this raw, extremely violent little crime drama with a high body count shot mainly in Adeleide. At the time it swiftly vanished without recovering even it's tiny budget, but deserves to be much better known.

It has a much bloodier climax than 'Reservoir Dogs' and laced with that dry humour one associates with even the grimmest Australian movie; as when crime boss Bud Tingwell wearily tells a henchman to "bring in the nail clippers" when simple persuasion isn't working.

(When I originally saw it I loved the music. So I should. It turned out to be the Adagio movement from Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.)

One of the most under-rated Oz films of all time!, Brilliantly directed by Beresford it was superbly cast and scripted.

Ray Marshall appeared in every scene with a cigarette, and lucky Grills appeared in his normal quota of beer drinking scenes. Not to mention the use of profanity which is normally associated in the workplace which gave the natural realism. Also the plot which assumed that OZ coppers are completely bent really added to the authenticity.

And not to mention half the cast of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo being involved in a climatic shootout, BRILLIANT!!!!

This excellent Aussie crime flick centers on the workers at Darcy, a money courier service. Things get tense when an anonymous note arrives stating that their counting room - which sometimes houses as much as $20 million - is going to get hit soon and a cargo van is robbed the same day. This speeds up the plans of Darcy workers and brothers Eric (Terence Donovan) and Brian Jackson (Bryan Brown) as they have been planning to rob the place for 5 years. To make matters more complicated, Eric is senior security told to look into this matter and he tries to move the suspicion onto newcomer Leo Bassett (Tony Bonner), who has just gotten partnered with honest ex-cop and old timer Dick Martin (Ed Devereaux). To say any more would reveal too much.

Where have you been all my life, MONEY MOVERS? I've never been a huge Bruce Beresford fan, knowing him mostly for BREAKER MORANT, DRIVING MISS DAISY and HER ALIBI (the latter two released the same year in a great example of cinematic diversity). So seeing this hard-hitting and violent crime flick from him was quite a shock. Not only is it quite different in subject, but this sucker moves thanks to some fantastic editing and a tight script (also by Beresford) with plenty of twists. Everyone in the cast is excellent with Devereaux being my favorite character as seemingly the world's last honest man. Definitely worth seeking out.

You can almost smell the sweat and testosterone !

This is a movie for the blokes. It's full of tough blokes, violent blokes, bossy blokes, union blokes, angry blokes and blokes who tell the sheilas to go away and let the blokes get on with important blokey business.

Hugely talented Australian cast with an equally talented director. This is what Aussie society was like before we all became middle-class and comfortable.

Oh, the plot? Crooked blokes are practically lining up to rob an armoured-car security firm. The siege mentality builds as the story progresses, as the company tries to work out where the next hit is coming from.

If I had to pick a fault, it was sometimes hard working out who was double-crossing who, some of the dialogue was up to "Law and Order" fast snappy talking standard, but it mostly all makes sense towards the end.

Three stand-out treats - 1. Jeanie Drynan (the mum from Muriel's Wedding) looking very trim & terrific, not at all like the side of a house.

2. The Beaurepaires Tyre man playing a sadistic henchman. (He played a similar scary character in Mad Max).

3. Lucky Grils being excellent light relief as a "Bluey" character.

It was also interesting seeing a young Bryan Brown (un-imaginatively cast as "Brian" !) playing against (later) type ie having a lack of confidence and really feeling the pressure, almost the opposite of his roles in "Cocktail" and "Risk".

So crack open a beer, send the wife out of the room, turn up the volume and enjoy this under-rated Aussie movie.