The Adventures of Barry McKenzie

This film was a stylistic, cultural and commercial breakthrough, the first hugely profitable Australian film in decades, and the start of the revival of the Australian film industry. The humour was utterly non-PC and outrageously crude for its day. At last the hideous ocker in England was portrayed on film in all his drunken ribald glory.

However time has not been kind to it. Some of the individual jokes are still hysterically funny, such as Spike Milligan's introduction to the hotel, the Indian aphrodisiacs, and Delamphrey's attempts at psychoanalysis. Other jokes have worn thin though having been adopted by the culture at large (e.g. the largely invented Australian slang) or use of similar jokes by other comedians. Much of the humour doesn't go beyond simply using the crude invented slang in conversation. Today it isn't particularly outrageous or funny. The purportedly stereotypical depictions of English snobbery and Australian crudity are too extreme and grotesque even for a comedy, and further detract from the effectiveness of the comedy.

Another major flaw is structural. "The Adventures of Barry Mackenzie" and its main character is based on a series of self-contained comic strips. A movie on the other hand is built around scenes of protracted dialogue, development within a scene, and development of the narrative across scenes. Indeed Humphries himself has stated he didn't believe his comic strips could be adapted for film for this very reason. As a result the film is highly episodic, with some very tendentious, unfunny and laboured links written to string the episodes together. This isn't helped by the fact that Humphries is essentially a solo performer whose stock-in-trade is the self-contained one-liner. He usually has a relatively brief setup (if any) leading to his jokes in stage performances. In consequence the dialogue is often stilted and unnatural, clumsily and unfunnily targetted towards the recitation of slang expressions or the delivery of some other self-contained comic idea. I don't normally criticise comedies for flaws in structure or logic because they are essentially vehicles for jokes, but in this case these flaws are distractingly obvious and jarring, and the jokes aren't funny enough to prevent the viewer noticing.

Still, the funniest of the jokes are classics, and overall it remains enjoyable. The sequel is funnier though, perhaps because it resolves (but only partially) some of the original's flaws.

On a historical note, the opening shot shows the Hegarty's private mini-ferry approaching the Luna Park pontoon wharf, which many Sydneysiders would fondly remember but neither of which now exist.

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 saw this at the flicks when it was first shown in the UK. I think I was about 16 - I recall thinking that it was totally hilarious, but seeing it recently on TV just made me squirm with embarrassment. I suppose seeing people "chunder" and hearing adults swear a bit must have seemed a bit special. Spike Milligan was funny as the landlord and Dennis Price was a good sport to send his "class" up. Dumb, devoid of any real intelligence and juvenile. That goes for me and the film ;-) I will now waffle a bit to fill up the required 10 lines of review. What happened to the Aussie film scene ? You guys threatened to take over the world at one point.

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.

I worked with MCA Australia as the Assistant Film Promotions Manager on The Adventures of Barry McKenzie. MCA was the film distributer throughout the major cities in Australia of this film. At that time, it was rated the most popular Australian film in their history. I worked directly with Barry Humphries who not only starred in the movie as four different characters, but was instrumental in introducing Foster's Lager, the Bazza McKenzie Hat and the Aunt Edna character (who manifested herself into Dame Edna, who is widely recognized world-wide). Not to forget Bruce Beresford and Barry McKenzie! I still have a copy of the comic strip "Bazza Pulls it Off" and "The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie" (which the movie script was derived from). Sadly, I lost the Barry McKenzie Soundtrack.

I'll never forget the Grand Opening Premiere at The Ascot Theatre in Sydney with all the cast, producers, directors, etc. The after party was held at The St. George's Club where Foster's Lager was consumed in abundance.

If anyone knows how to obtain a copy of this film in a video format, I'd love to purchase it. It would bring back so many of my memories of the wonderful experiences I had during the four and half years I lived in Australia.

Please feel free to e-mail me at if you have any idea how to access a copy of the movie.

Deborah Faurot, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada