“The Adventures of Barry McKenzie”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Barry Humphries appears in several roles, including: a hippie, Barry McKenzie's psychiatrist Doctor de Lamphrey, and as Aunt Edna Everage (later Dame Edna Everage). Humphries would later achieve fame with the character of Dame Edna in the UK and USA.

The film was produced by Phillip Adams, who became a prominent op-ed journalist and broadcaster, and directed by Bruce Beresford.

Plot summary

Barry 'Bazza' McKenzie (Barry Crocker) travels to England with his aunt Edna Everage (Barry Humphries) to advance his cultural education. Bazza is a young Aussie fond of beer, Bondi and beautiful 'sheilas'. He settles in Earls Court, where his old friend Curly (Paul Bertram) has a flat. He gets drunk, is ripped off, insulted by pretentious Englishmen and exploited by record producers, religious charlatans and a BBC television producer (Peter Cook). He reluctantly leaves England under the orders of his aunt, after exposing himself on television. His final words on the plane home are, "I was just starting to like the Poms!"

Cast

Production

Bruce Beresford was living in London and knew Barry Humphries socially when he heard about government funding being given to Australian films.

The film was entirely funded by the Australian Film Development Corporation. Shooting started in London in January 1972, with the unit moving to Australia in February. Local unions complained about the presence of British technicians in the crew, but a compromise was reached where Australian technicians joined the crew. Filming ended in March.^[1]

Phillip Adams wanted to cast Paul Hogan as Curly but he turned down the role. "I suspect he was concerned over his ability to work with professional actors," says Adams.^[5]

Release

Phillip Adams insisted on distributing the film himself initially.^[6] The film was very popular at the box office in Australia and London, and the production company repaid the government most of its money within three months of release.^[1] Bruce Beresford said in a 1999 interview:

Beresford went on to direct "Barry McKenzie Holds His Own" {{endash}} again to great commercial success {{endash}} in 1974, and then "Breaker Morant" starring Edward Woodward in 1980. However, in the 1999 interview Beresford said that both Barry McKenzie films had been "mistakes":

Box office

This was the first Australian film to surpass $1 million at the national box office,^[2] and it led the Australian box office in 1972.^[7] The film recovered its $250,000 budget within a few months of release.^[3]^[8]

Themes

The film explores the cultural distance between Australian popular culture and the manners and mores of England, both nations presented in hyperbolically satirical manner. Barry is the extreme embodiment of "Ockerism" of the late fifties and mid-sixties Australia. Swearing, excessive drinking, vomiting, rowdiness and other crassness is glorified. The film also plays with the ideas of the era where the sixties cultural revolution had swept aside the "certainties" of classical education.{{cn|date=August 2015}}

References

1. ^¹²Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p265
2. ^¹Don Groves, "Beresford reflects on his 'colossal mistake': A TV screening of an iconic Australian comedy brings back mixed memories for the filmmaker." SBS, 23 March 2010.
3. ^¹{{cite web|title = Australianscreen.com.au – The Adventures of Barry McKenzie |url =http://aso.gov.au/titles/features/adventures-barry-mckenzie/ |accessdate=22 December 2008|work= |publisher=National Film and Sound Archive}}
4. ^¹²"Interview with Bruce Beresford", Signet, 15 May 1999 {{webarchive|url=https://archive.is/20121220180451/http://www.signis.net/malone/tiki-index.php?page=Bruce+Beresford&bl |date=20 December 2012 }} accessed 17 November 2012
5. ^Gordon Glenn & Scott Murray, "Phil Adams: Producer", Cinema Papers, March–April 1976 p340
6. ^David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p44
7. ^Ben Davies, "Our lost Golden Age", The Spectator, 2 June 2010.
8. ^A Film Victoria report on box office results states that The Adventures of Barry McKenzie took $47,000 at the box office in Australia, which is equivalent to $399,500 in 2009 dollars. Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office, archive copy [https://web.archive.org/web/20110218045303/http://film.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/AA4_Aust_Box_office_report.pdf here]. However, this figure may be an error, since it is inconsistent with the many other sources that describe the film as a major box office success that recouped its $250,000 budget in a few months. See also the notes at the entry for The Adventures of Barry McKenzie at Oz Movies, raising similar doubts about the Film Victoria box office figures.