Light-hearted look at Aust. legend

Press, 20 October 1986, Page 4

Light-hearted look at Aust. legend

hanspetrovk

ROBBERY UNDER ARMS Directed by Ken Hannam and Donald Crombie Screenplay by Graeme Koestveld and Tony Morphett “Robbery Under Arms” (Academy) takes a lighthearted look at the adventures of Australia’s leg-

endary Captain Starlight, and his gang of cattle duffers and bushrangers. This is the sixth film version of the exploits of this romantic outlaw, this time with Sam Neill giving a plummy Englishaccented portrayal of the hero. Peter Finch played the part in the 1957 production, but it was never considered one of his better performances. Where this latest version also probably differs most from the others is in the accent on comedy, thus giving us a confusing mixture of straight drama; romance, and knock-about sight-gags. Over all, the film gives the impression of being spliced together from the left-overs of some of Hollywood’s western classics. The boisterous fight sequences could be straight out of John Wayne’s “North to Alaska,” while the gold mining town scenes seem to be from “McCabe and Mrs Miller.” Mungo, the cook, looks like and has the same name as the fellow who knocked over the horse in “Blazing

Saddles.” What they say about too many cooks seems to apply here, in that this is a film with two directors and two screenwriters. Two directors were also used in last year’s Australian film, “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome,” and it was immediately .obvi-

ous that the first part of that film, at the Thunderdome, had a different directorial touch to the last section, about the children lost in the desert. In “Robbery Under Arms,” however, it is never clear who was responsible for what, although one can assume that one director handled the outdoor, cattle-droving sequences, while city shots were handled by another man at another location. Having two writers may also explain the film’s disjointedness, and, particularly in the first half, its jumping from place to place without any discernible rhyme or reason. Everything, of course, fits together by the end, but Captain Starlight is not even on hand for more than half of the action, leaving his two young gang members, the Marston Brothers (Christopher Cummins and Steven Vidler), as the film’s central characters, through whose eyes we see the story develop. Possibly it is a result of having two creative

writers like Tony Morphett and Graeme Koetsveld on the job that we get such added hilarity as elephants to help pull down a bank building, and a hot-air balloon for Captain Starlight’s prison escape bid. As it turns out, however, the latest version of “Robbery Under Arms” is rollicking good fun for the whole family, as long as you are not expecting a serious slice of Australian history. THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY Directed and written by Jamie Uys Another film in town which must be recommended as great family entertainment is “The Gods Must Be Crazy” (Savoy). This South African film is now in its fourth week, having gained its popularity mainly by word of mouth, considering how little pre-publicity it received. Many people have asked me why I have not

reviewed this thoroughly enjoyable film, which certainly deserves a good write-up. The answer is that I did favourably review it on its first screening at the Carlton about six years ago, and the film has been back to Christchurch since then. This, however, seems to be the first time that “The Gods" has really caught the public’s imagination. It has been showing in Auckland on-and-off, mainly at week-ends, for about a year; it ran for nine months continuously in Melbourne and Sydney; and has grossed about $5O million in the United States since its release there about two years ago. many people do not know that it has been shown here before, or what it is actually about, many thinking it is a documentary about African wildlife or the natives.

In fact, it is a hilarious, heart-warming comedy about the adventures of a primitive Bushman as he comes in contact with civilisation for the first time. This also allows for. many satirical comparisons of the different lifestyles of the two peoples. Starting as a semi-docu-mentary about the way of life of the gentle Kalahari bushmen, we see everything turned upside down when an empty Coca-Cola bottle is dropped from a passing plane. The bottle, a strange sight in a society which knows no material harder than wood, becomes a source of friction and grief in the peaceful tribe. They discover a lot of practical use for it, such as grinding grain, kneading bread, even as a musical instrument; but soon the gift from the gods becomes a weapon, an

enviable possession that all want to keep for themselves.

After several frustrating attempts to get rid of it, the tribe’s leader decides to take “the evil thing” to the end of the world and throw it off. His many adventures make up the fun for most of the film. He meets strange noisy animals with round legs, a group of bumbling communist guerrillas, and his fate is eventually tied up with that of a biologist and a missionary schoolteacher. The film unfolds as an endearing and thoughtprovoking look at the "benefits” of civilisation combined with elements of pure slapstick comedy. An innocent film, possibly its greatest charm is that it is so different to the plastic, teen-age comedies which have been inundating our cinemas in recent years.