Mad Dog Morgan

This Australian film is based on a true story of an outlaw in the rough and ready world of the 1800's Way Down Under. It's a very rough world indeed. There are no jokes, no hijinks, no pretty lady loves. Morgan is brutalized by his environment of gold camps, opium dens, and a hellish period in prison. His one love, his one true friend, is a male aborigine who acts as both his savior and his servant.

This is, indeed, an ugly film. Yet Dennis Hopper manages to find a note of grace, and gives the film it's heart. The last portion of the film seems deeper and truer than the scenes that went before, allowing the viewer to understand more fully the complexity of a man such as Morgan.

The movie is low-budget and a bit disjointed. It is also often compelling.....and unsettling. I can't give it a high grade, due to it's poor producton values. But I'm glad it's in my collection.

Unusual biopic of notorious Australian bush-ranger Daniel "Mad Dog" Morgan (played with animation by crazy-eyed Hopper), of Irish extraction who after witnessing a bloody massacre at a gold diggers site, flees into the Victorian countryside where he attempts a robbery, is captured, incarcerated and makes a lifelong enemy of sadistic trooper Bill Hunter. Following an early release for good behaviour, he's soon mistaken for a thief, shot at and left for dead. Aboriginal tracker (Gulpilil) finds, mends and befriends the affable if at times hot-headed Irishman and the pair go on to become the quintessential criminal duo, pillaging the countryside where Morgan becomes a champion for the battler, the bane of the establishment's fragile class structure.

Meandering tale is full of memorable scenes, picturesque landscape and quirky dialogue, but never quite gels the components homogeneously. The cast is superb with Hopper's erratic and at times dramatic characterisation nicely balanced by Gulpilil as his smiling, more at ease companion, Jack Thompson as a very serious-looking trooper, and Frank Thring as a brutal superintendent with a macabre legacy in mind. Graeme Blundell has a frivolous cameo as an Italian settler, while Liza-Lee Atkinson is sure to float your boat as a horny bar-maid starstruck by Morgan's wild-boy reputation.

Violent and sadistic (e.g. Morgan's sodomy in gaol), there's a Sam Peckinpah quality to the bloody executions, where the blood pumps and spurts out of gaping wounds like sauce from a squeezy bottle. Gory elements aside, there's also plenty of humour, particularly Morgan's delight when he hears of his 'up the establishment' reputation from people he encounters while on the lam. It's a bit amateurish in parts, though it's difficult not to like and the ending's implied gruesome epitaph is both shocking and memorable.

Despite some technical shortcomings and rather loose presentation, Mad Dog Morgan is an entertaining showcase of the Ozploitation genre. Dennis Hopper gives a strong performance, firing away as Irish prospector turned bushwhacker Daniel Morgan and there's rarely a dull moment. The pacing is quick and punchy, but not without it's more subtle dramatic moments.

Though what's most fascinating is that it's no more about crime than how easily a life can be corrupted, turning an individual into a criminal. Daniel Morgan is a confused, violent character but we sympathize with him nonetheless

All in all it's an interesting, near forgotten piece of film-making. You'd be hard pressed to find a proper version, but it's a must see for anyone interested in the sub-genre.

Australia, in the 1850s. An Irish man Daniel Morgan starts off as gold-seeking immigrant who turns to robbery and gets sentenced to 12 years prison time. This is where the going gets truly tough and scars his mind. After a couple years he gets released. After befriending an aboriginal named Billy, he becomes a bushranger with an ever-growing bounty looming over his head. The two go out of their way to seek those prominent figures for turning him into what he is and for pushing him to the brink of self-destruction. On his trail is the determined Detective Mainwaring, which puts even more pressure on the cracking mind of Daniel "Mad Dog" Morgan.

I heard of the film before, but never had the chance to see it until just recently when I managed to pick myself up a copy of the film. Those who believe this to be a sorely forgotten Australian gem, do make a valid point and I'll be jumping onto the bandwagon too. Cult Aussie director Philippe Mora makes his directorial debut with an interestingly odd, exploratory and rampant curio piece of an Australian bushranger folk legend. It doesn't feel like your basic outlaw movie, as hounding the picture is a socially minded lashing of corrupt power taking away the respectability of a lone and misunderstood figure (Daniel Morgan). We watch the spiralling depiction of a fazed man fighting a society who thinks they are better accustomed and more civilized than him because of his actions against them (but that's far from the case). I didn't think it was going to be as harrowing and potently involving as it was, but this is very much largely thanks to spellbinding method actor Dennis Hopper's (who fell out favour with Hollywood at the time) multi-layered performance as Mad Dog Morgan. His erratic changes in mood (from being placidly polite to passionately quick tempered) are very successfully timed and indeed convincing. One of his best.

Leading the way is a strong Australian support cast with their characters getting enough time to shine. David Gulpilil is a good choice as Billy and has a budding rapport that works along with Hopper's character. Frank Thring stands out as the aggressively bull-headed Superintendent Cobham and a poignantly stern Jack Thompson makes the most of his small role as Detective Mainwaring. Also lurking on screen with tip-top (and some quirky) performances are John Hargreaves, Wallace Eaton, Bill Hunter (who chews up the scenery) and Bruce Spence ticks in with a blink and you'll miss it spot. These are very human characters and cast do a fine job in bringing that to the screen. Mora has crafted a roughly violent tale that skews between cheekiness and a spiritual foray in a well up drawn period. The story jauntily breezes by to begin with then falls into some patchy holes when it can drag, but never gets dull or loses its bitingly ironic edge. It seems to be more complex in its character's reactions than the basic narrative lets on. Mora smoothly plays along with his stylish filming techniques and has a gifted eye for short spurts of flair and (at time surreal) images. No more than some of the well mounted photography by Mike Molloy focuses on the vastly stunning backdrop of the untamed Australian wilderness and accompanying the action is an diversely roaring music score that fits right in with the style Mora's going for.

"Mad Dog Morgan" is an overlooked Australian rarity of the 70s, which is hard not to be highly fascinated by its boldly rough and evocatively baseless treatment of the stirring material.

Firstly, my DVD version is the final disc (of 12) in the Australian Cinema Collection and is in good, clear 'tall' widescreen. Therefore I do not need to cover ground about the quality issues surrounding the transfer that other Amazon reviewers have, apart from that it's fine.

Irish Daniel Morgan (a suitably way-out casting choice and performance from American acting legend Dennis Hopper) goes a bit awry and is subsequently incarcerated into a penal regime that demands 12 years hard labour from him. Here, he is raped, tortured and generally abused by officers and inmates who find pleasure in such things.

Calling himself 'Smith', he is freed on parole after serving half his sentence, but Morgan is emotionally damaged and wild with anger and revenge. The film, directed by Philippe Mora, is certificate "M", for 'Mature', as it's an Australian release, is probably between a 15 and 18, over here in the U.K. Thus, it shows the natural side to bush life, as Morgan starts out a free man as a horse thief. Therefore, if such things as aboriginal methods of pulling off a snake's head to extract a 'medicine' are going to spoil your viewing pleasure, then do, look elsewhere, such as the first disc in the boxed -set, the cert U 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'.

When Morgan is left for dead after a skirmish with those he was trying to steal from, the aboriginal youth mentioned above nurses him back to health and teaches him methods of survival. This is at times illuminating but also clumsy - such as Hopper's bushy, shiny false beards that can be spotted a mile off and gun wounds to a head that's obviously made of something very synthetic.

These anomalies aside, this is a pretty good yarn, with Hopper well able to carry the central character. The locational scenery is often splendid and the supporting cast well able, too. Excesses in violence do occasionally mar, as they do look gratuitous, but not, say in the almost stately manner that Sam Peckinpah managed and seem almost jokey.

All in all, this is a pretty good film and actually one of the best in my boxed set, which was slightly surprising.