The Adventures of Barry McKenzie

I'm trying to - and failing spectacularly - to think of a British - or U.S. - equivalent of the titular Barry MacKenzie and his so-called 'adventures'. After being 'required' to leave his native Down Under, young Barry Crocker (MacKenzie), with his Aunt Dame Edna Everage, jet to a fog-bound and freezing Britain (via Hong Kong, where he stocks up on high import duty luxury goods).

Nicely ripping off our UK stereotypes, we see their black cab motor past Stonehenge and then up the M3, to London. Not sure, geographically where the airport was, but as Bruce Beresford's popular filmed version of the comic-strip character that ran in Private Eye never seems to follow logic or reason, this doesn't matter an iota.

From the above over-charging cabbie, who cites windscreen-wiper depreciation and conversation as chargeable extras, the 'hotel' is no better. More sketch-lead than story, it's sporadic, in turns the best, grubbiest Aussie slang and humour but also tedious, lame and stupid.

It's still quite a tonic though, in these days of political correctness, reminding us of our faults as a nation, even if they're obvious targets and during probably our least salubrious decade. Dame Edna, oddly, looks much less feminine than 'she' does now, her voice still not having found its niche and wavers between warbling, mannish falsetto and a sore- throat sufferer. Barry Humphries (Dame Edna, of course) does better as the creepy psychiatrist who interviews Barry, after he suffers a bump on the head and ends up in hospital, but soon discharges him due to being just too much troublesome!

Peter Cook is a wasted opportunity, only appearing as an unfunny TV exec ten minutes before the end and a young Joan Bakewell as the resulting late night's arts programme interviewer/presenter, who gets the blunt end of MacKenzie's subtleties....

Meanwhile, the constantly running joke about 'tubes' (tinnies) of Fosters is a refreshing one, too.

It ranges between 7/10 to two, so five overall is a fair compromise, though on a good day, it could reach 6.

My DVD was part of the 12 disc boxed set, Australian Cinema Collection, to which I gently refer to with my review title.

It's a crying shame that this film is unavailable on video.

It really is a great film, crude yes, broad yes, but really very funny. There's a whole new generation of film goers (admittedly British and Australian, I can't see this garnering a wide US audience) who think Bad taste comedy started with 'There's something about Mary' and it's ilk. This is so much better yet it's being hidden. *sigh*

Fans will be delighted to learned that 'The Adventures of Barry McKenzie' is now available on DVD. I bought my copy at JB HiFi at the bargain price of $11. It is a PAL Region 4 disk. However, like the VHS version, the print quality is appalling. It must have been taken from a well-worn cinema release. It is dark, horrendously scratchy at the reel changes and has frames missing. The source must have been broken and repaired. Oh for a digitally remastered version of an unreleased print. Still, it's a heck of a lot better than nothing. One delightful small part is the first appearance on film of John Clarke. He is an effete ex-patriate Australian, wearing a tight paisley shirt and in a wig (or at least a hilarious comb-over), podgily overweight, and speaking in a pseud's accent. Delightful.

A hit at the time but now better categorised as an Australian cult film. The humour is broad, unsubtle and, in the final scene where a BBC studio fire is extinguished by urinating on it, crude. Contains just about every cliche about the traditional Australian pilgrimage to 'the old country', and every cliche about those rapacious, stuck up, whinging, Tory Brits. Would be acceptable to the British because of its strong cast of well known actors, and to Australians of that generation, who can 'get' the humour. Americans -- forget it. The language and jokes are in the Australian dialect of English and as such will be unintelligible.

I have fond memories of this gloriously non-PC comedy from my teenage years and while its power to shock has long since diminished, it's still an enjoyable fish out of water romp. As long as sexual and national stereotypes don't upset you! Some beautiful turns of phrase from the pen of Barry Humphries still bring a smile - "dry as a dead dingo's donger" is a particular favourite. Now streaming for UK viewers on Amazon Prime in a clean, if soft SD 1.166:1 transfer.