Wild Man

Dagg Day Afternoon

Notice of two NZ films opening

soon at the Plaza

The Arts Council grant may have topped the $2 million mark but it's still $100,000 short or the absolute minimum requested. Chops will come in the performing arts, probably no new undertakings will be govt, financed: film stays right on the bottom.

You will probably agree that something in the multi-venturous career of Blerta et al holds promise. And whether you think Fred Dagg is an archetype or an outrageous stereotype, you must concede he is a New Zealand type.

That's what NZ films are all about. Some of us looking at some more of us, setting us face to face with our own creative strength. You might hate it or you might love it, but it's worth the hating, worth the loving. Worth the argument.

Undoubtedly John Clarke's wit has suffered gross commercial exploitation. The frantic four and a half days in which "Dagg Day Afternoon" was shot, the relative freedom of independent film-making, the combined talents of the others working with him, may have provided the dose of imaginative medicine he has long needed.

Blerta, in conjunction with The Acme Sausage Company (themselves, mostly) have opted for the historical approach. "Wild Man" is loosely based on a true story about this bloke in a circus act who was exhibited around the South Island, biting the heads off live chickens, etc. "The rugged beauty of the West Coast Scenery", says the Press Release, "contrasts dramatically with the atmosphere of the wild days of the Rush".

Geoff Murphy, already ensconsed in our film history with "Tank busters", directed both these films. The combined budget was $150,000, which is almost up to the shoe-string mark. Films like these must succeed or there will never be enough money around to continue. They point the way to what can be done, and need our support.

Fred Dagg in search of the Bionic Ram; Bruno Lawrence grovelling in a pit..... don't miss them.

Simon Wilson

The Voyage of the Dammed

Director Stuart Rosenberg Plaza Theatre

Plaza Theatre

Maybe my never having known of an exception to the 'big stars in peril together means bad cinema' rule constitutes a prejudice, but sometimes I do hope.

Take "The Voyage of the Damned". That the ship is sinking under the weight of a moral/political Dilemma (where rocks, fires and engine trouble are all but irrelevant) could mean a provocative couple of hours. What did the world do when in 1939 the Nazis sent a boatload of Jews to Cuba and wouldn't let them land? What did the Captain do? What did the passengers do? This particular master plan was supposed to prove what a problem the Jews were. Roosevelt, for one, with an election coming up, had to agree, and sent them away.

However, true story though it is, director Stuart Rosenberg does not ask us to think. The sentimentalised package involving children separated from their parents and hopeless young lovers may just help us remember, but neither subject or theme is ever really at stake.

Rosenberg's concern is basically with one more disaster movie; consequently the focus remains very tidily on the individuals concerned. Will the steward get it together with the pretty little rich girl? is more in the spirit of things. Or rather, will the actor playing the steward...?

The interesting thing about this film is the number of big stars with non-commercial-Hollywood credentials it boasts. The atrocious script almost puts paid to any potential they have. Nevertheless, if you cherish some little private fantasy revolving around any of Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Malcolm McDowell. Katherine Ross. Helmut Griem. Orson Welles Max von Sydow, Lee Grant, James Mason, Jose Ferrer, Ben Gazzara and very probably that other fellow as well, you will find some satisfaction here. They all play themselves with just the right touch of professional angst.

— Simon Wilson