Power, Paranoia, and Illusion: Revisiting Harlequin (1980)

Thank you. The Night Rider that is his name, the Knight Rider. Remember him when you look at the night sky G'day and welcome back to A Dingo Ate my Movie, the podcast where we dive into some of Australia's most memorable films, from timeless classics, cult favourites and today's hits. My name is Pete and I'm your host Today. I'm very excited to have Super Marcy from the Super Network with me as we explore the 1980 supernatural thriller or political thriller, harlequin. Hi Marcy, how are you?

Hello, thank you so much for having me back on the show and yes, it is a supernatural slash political film for a Super Marcy.

Harlequin, which is also known as dark forces in the united states, follows the influential rast family, whose terminally ill son is suddenly healed by a mysterious stranger named gregory wolf. Initially welcomed as a savior, wolf's growing influence turns relief into suspicion. Healing soon gives way to political intrigue, psychological manipulation and seemingly supernatural acts, forcing Senator Nick Rast to confront both Wolf's power and his own moral compromises. Harlequin stars Robert Powell, david Hemmings, carmen Duncan and Broderick Crawford, and was directed by Simon Wincer from a screenplay by good old Everett DeRoche, cinematography was by Gary Hansen and the music was composed by Brian May. Let's say it together Not that, brian May. I think this is one thing both our podcasts have in common.

Yeah.

Because I think you guys say it. I've been saying it pretty much from the start Every time I mention Brian May.

But anyway, it's all good.

You guys say it. I've been saying it pretty much from the start Every time I mention Brian. I could. Anyway, it's all good. The film was produced by Anthony Ginnane and had a budget of approximately $800,000. I think, if I remember, looking at my notes, it was like made like $300,000 here and a million overseas. So I don't think it really made a massive profit anyway. I don't think it really made a massive profit anyway. The director, siren Winster. He also directed Snapshot, far Lap Free, willy, harley Davidson and the Melbourne man and Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, among other things. I love that filmography. It's quite interesting, and there's other films on there. I'm trying to think of the other ones I have, but I thought I can't list them all because it would just take me too long.

I distinctly remember seeing Free Willy and I think the sequel at the movies because I was the right age, yeah, when that came out, when we were transitioning from VHS to DVD. One of my early DVDs was Harley Davidson and the Marlboro man, so I used to watch that quite a bit.

I've never seen that one. Is it a good movie?

it's been a while since I've never seen that one. Is it a good movie? It's been a while since I've seen it, but I feel like it's. I don't like saying things are a guilty pleasure, but if I were to describe that as something, it would feel like that. Yeah, it was back when Mickey Rourke was very handsome, okay. And he's not anymore. I know his face got mangled in doing boxing and I don't think the surgery quite did the job it needed to right, yeah.

Yeah, I remember far lap. That was a big deal at the time, but that's like back in the 90s or 80s or something.

Yeah, I remember it might have been 80s, but I do remember that, like having a lot of tv play in forever. Since I've seen Far Lap, I wouldn't mind revisiting just it's probably somewhere on Stan or something.

Oh, one of those maybe, but anyway. And of course, Snapshot which we did a while ago on this show, and I think you've done that.

Yes.

On the other one.

Yes, I quite liked.

Snapshot. So did I actually Never hear the Mr Whippy van the same way again? While did I actually never hear the mr whippy van the same way again? While both anthony goodane and everett derosa, mainstays in the australian film industry with films like patrick snapshot, road games, long again and razorback, to name a few. I mean these guys have been involved in nearly every auspitation films for a long time. Right, they have massively long filmographies to their name. I was going to mention anthony, you know, and he's what is a phantasm, which is probably I've never done that on. Did you do that on your show?

yes, yeah okay, it's like a softcore porn thing yeah, the early 70s was a very weird time oh yeah yeah, we've completely covered the 70s.

I think there could be like the odd movie we might have missed and we'll be doing a catch-up episode. So, oh yeah, there's a lot of movies that were from the mid to late 80s. The 80s are packed. If I look on my Letterboxd stats, I think Everett DeRouche is one of my most watched screenwriters.

Yeah, just by virtue of doing the show.

Just by doing the podcast.

The film is currently available to stream on Broly in Australia. That's the only place I could kind of find it streaming. I think it used to stream on Amazon, I'm not sure. I think it used to stream on amazon.

I'm not sure, I think it might have been on tubi as well in the past but it's on my imdb. It lists plex and tubi but I'm gonna assume it might be the us versions because, funnily enough to be us, united states has a lot of Australian content. So if there are US listeners, look at Tubi. If you want to watch Ausploitation or Australian New Wave, I believe things like MacLeod's Daughters are on Tubi US.

Are you kidding?

I am 100% serious.

Wow, all they need is Neighbours, and you'll be sweet.

Neighbours used to be on there.

I'm not sure if it still is. It was joking.

No, it was on there, like even the Australian crime show I've seen on there, like Crimes that Shook Australia and Crime Investigation Australia. There's a lot of Aussie content and there are some like more obscure Ausflotation titles that have been on or are on Tubi US. So it's definitely a good for people not in Australia it's a good place to look.

Tubi is a good place to watch all sort of genre films right, Especially the horror. So much stuff on there.

So much the Australian one is packed.

Yes, I was looking through a couple of weeks ago. I was just browsing through it and I think there was well over a couple of hundred movies in, just in the horror side of things. It's amazing. And to buy this. I've got the blu-ray from umbrella, but I have a look on their website and it's not on there anymore anymore, so I assume it's out of print.

I think it might be out of print because this was released a little bit ago yeah, I got the hospitalization one, the you know they were doing the slip cover ones.

Yeah, that's the one I got and I didn't see it anywhere.

So yeah, interesting. I'm not sure. Did they get a release anywhere else on blu-ray, or? I think there was probably an?

overseas release. Maybe one of like vinegar syndrome or something like that, maybe in the past, but I'm not 100 sure. I sure on that one?

Yeah, I'm not too sure. I've tried having a look, but it just comes up with the umbrella one.

Yeah, there's not much. It's one of those movies. I think it might be one of those ones. Unfortunately, if people hear the podcast and they go looking for the movie, it might be a bit of a job to find right. So hopefully not. And if you've got access to Broly, I think it's on Broly anyway.

And possibly Tubi or Plex United.

States. Yeah, plex is terrible with ads, though Tubi's not too rare. Plex is awful oh.

Plex is the worst. If you have an ad block, I suppose it could work. Yeah, you might, yeah, exactly, but at least Tubi and Broly are not that sort of intrusive for the ads.

No, tubi's actually quite reasonable Broly. I don't remember having many ads at all when.

I re-watched it yesterday. I only maybe had three ad breaks that was about it.

That's pretty good. Doesn't take you out of the movie too much.

No.

As far as ratings are concerned, imdb it's 6.1 out of 10, which is kind of middling. Rotten tomatoes is 40 percent critic and 50 audience, so once again it's kind of middling. Some of the reviews are pretty good. You mentioned, before we came on, the cisco and ebert review that you watched.

Very interesting yeah yeah, it just sort of maybe, because I had just watched the movie and it kind of came up on my YouTube. But Cisco and Ebert's stuff comes up on my feed. I'm like, oh okay, yeah, they didn't really like this movie Because it was only a very quick review. I don't know if they quite got it. Yeah, yeah, that was my sort of thoughts going in.

So, on that, what are your initial thoughts on the film?

sort of thoughts going in. Yeah, so on that, what are your initial thoughts on the film?

I've watched over 50 osploitation from the 80s and harlequin ranks about 15, so it's pretty high compared to um. You know some others, yeah, but I would say it's a like for me personally, I guess, yeah, those ratings are sort of middle, but I think it's a bit better than middle because I do find that it is a very strange film but the sort of mixing between, I guess, magician, magicianry, faith, healing, seems to go very hand in hand with the political side of it, because politics is very much like that, but also with its main character of the mysterious Gregory Wolfe. Gregory Wolfe, played by Robert Powell, is very clearly based on a Gregory Rasputin type character oh, 100%.

And, funnily enough, with the family that he comes across, the Rast family. Rast, spelled backwards, is Nick Nicholas. Yeah, so it's a little on the nose with where the inspiration comes from, but I do think it's an interesting look behind the curtain, so to speak, of all this political stuff that's happening, yeah, mixed with this very strange and enigmatic like character. But the things just don't seem to be foreign to each other. So it's like an interesting mix yeah, they do fit well.

That actually fits well together right, because I'm like, oh, is this movie a political thriller, or is it supernatural? What isn't? I'm like, well, it's a bit of box A and a bit of box B, right?

Yeah, it's a bit of everything.

Yeah, I also feel like for me this movie kind of has grown on me over the years. I think the first time I watched it a few years ago, I probably I wouldn't say I dismissed it, I just thought it was okay and never really thought much of it. But I never really thought much of it. But this week I've watched it. I watched it first a couple of weeks ago just to get back into it again, and then I watched it earlier this week and then again last night, and this movie kind of rewards multiple viewings in a way. I became a little bit more aware of the political machinations in the film on subsequent watches and I also think there's some good actors in this movie and the acting's actually pretty solid and it's a good cast. Some of the effects which are really obviously dated are good fun too.

They're actually, like you can see, they're dated, but they're still done pretty well for the time. Oh yeah, I would say I was going to add something and then I completely forgot what I was going to add to that. No, I remember. Yeah, it's only the second time that I've seen the film and I think I liked it more on my second viewing Because I think there were more things that I picked up on and we'll probably get to it soon.

But some of this political stuff is definitely almost referencing Harold Holt and that was something I sort of picked up more on this watch and I don't think I even like thought about it really when I first watched it, because I just I went into it without thinking or knowing like what it was about yeah and yeah, I feel like that sort of that Rasputin character came across a lot more obvious on this viewing, which I think just made it a bit more compelling.

Yeah and engaging. Yeah absolutely Well, let me give you a history lesson.

Yes.

Let's talk about Harold Holt right. Let's get this out of the way. So at the beginning of the movie they don't say he's a prime minister. I think he's like a governor or something like that. This movie kind of sits somewhere between being filmed in australia with mostly australian actors with some american ones thrown in, and the movie kind of trying to kind of say well, it's not really in any country it's almost country-less because it feels very australian, but they're obviously trying to make it more american yeah, it's quite weird and it's very weird.

But you know what? I think it fits the weirdness of the film to just be in this unknown country and political system but you don't really know who they are.

So at the beginning this guy he's like a governor or whatever he is. He's not the prime minister. He goes out snorkelling and goes missing. That's how the movie starts. So the beginning of the movie references the disappearance of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt.

It is feared that the Prime Minister has drowned. A great search is being made for Mr Holt off Portsea, victoria. However, no official announcement has been made as to the fate of the Prime Minister. Mr Holt went for a swim shortly afternoon with a friend, mr Alan Stewart, a quarantine officer from the Melbourne suburb of Armidale. They swam out into heavy surf on the ocean side of the Mornington Peninsula. Mr Stewart told police he saw the Prime Minister dive but he failed to resurface. Mr Stewart said he made a short search before sounding the alarm.

And Holt was elected Prime Minister in 1966 and served as Prime Minister until he went missing while swimming out. Now you're Victorian. You can tell me if I'm saying this right. Is it Chevoit or Cheviot Beach? It's spelled C-H-E-V-I-O-T.

As an Adelaidean originally.

Oh, living in Victorian.

Living in Victorian, I'm probably going to pronounce it wrong. To be honest, you would be hopeless, right?

You never came from other places to Victoria right, we did.

Yeah, so that's okay. Anyway, Chavoyer, I'll call it Chavoyer Beach. If you're Victorian, let me know, give me a one-star rating or something and tell me I got it wrong. Actually, don't Give me five, please. Anyway, so he went swimming at Chavoy Beach in Victoria in 1967 and went missing, and his disappearance sparked one of the largest ever search operations in Australia, though his body was never found, and there was some conspiracy theories around this. Some suggested that Harold Holt was assassinated by the CIA. Of course everyone does that. He either faked his own death and the other one, which I think is amazing, was he was collected by a submarine so that he could defect to China.

That was one of the conspiracy theories at the time. Rather ironically, in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Iris, holtz commemorated at the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre, which is rather ironic in fact, the fact that he died, but apparently this was all being. The swimming centre was under construction at the time and he was also their local member for some time, so they were always going to name it that, but I still think it was a bit awkward. They should have just maybe named a shopping centre.

Yeah, maybe they should have named like a nice park or something Like it, just because when something like that happens like he mysteriously will probably likely drowned while swimming at sea and people are going to remember that probably the most Maybe not the best idea to associate swimming centre. But it could also be like you need to learn how to swim so you don't repeat the mistake.

You don't want to drown like Prime Minister Harold Hull.

Unless it's like this film where he was killed by this like conspiracy, deep state.

Yeah.

And magicians are involved.

They obviously took something from the Harold Hull thing, right, and because apparently the story was they were, he was with some friends this is around November, December or something.

Apparently he was with some friends and they were down the coast or something and they were going to see some ship that was doing something at sea, I don't know, and when they were driving back he said, oh, let's stop off at this beach and go for a swim.

And most of the people there with him his mates or whoever were with him were like, oh, the water's a bit rough, we don't really want to go in. He was known as being a very strong swimmer and all this sort of stuff, and one friend of his went with him into the water, but he didn't go that far out, whereas Harold Holt went out and he went under the water and never came back again and they seem to think that he basically caught in some sort of undertow, that sort of took him under the water and he couldn't get out. Those sort of things always become, you know, typical Australian fashion, the vernacular you know, to do a Harold Holt is rhyming slang for like doing the bowl, and for anyone listening outside Australia it just means to disappear suddenly and without any explanation, Usually when it's your shout at the pub.

Well, I mean normally. Back, you'd say, oh, I'm just going out to get a pack of cigarettes, but in this case I'm going out for a swim.

back, he'd say, oh, I'm just going out to get a pack of cigarettes, but in this case I'm going out for a swim. And then I'll only say this because I know you're probably not a rugby league fan or you know anything about it, Marcy, because you look a bit tired.

Not much, no, unfortunately.

All AFL right, but I'll say this because it involves my team in Sydney. But legendary rugby league coach Jack Gibson once said about the Cronulla Sharks, who was my team and been my team since I was born, that waiting for Cronulla to win a premiership is like leaving the porch light on for Harold Holt. But it was amazing because in 2016, after 50 years, the Sharks finally won their first premiership. When I was at that game.

That was when they beat the Melbourne Storm to win their first premiership. When I was at that game, that was when they beat the Melbourne Storm to win their first premiership back in 2016. And the captain of the team, paul Gallen, ended his victory speech by exclaiming turn your porch lights off. We're coming home with a trophy.

Waiting for Canalla to win a grand final is like leaving the porch light on for Harold Holt. The light is still on.

So what happened was my best mate, since he's been five years old 30 years we've been mates for anyway. We're literally driving into the ANZ stadium on game day and this text comes through on my phone and as soon as I hear the ping in the thing, I'm like, oh my god, who the hell's doing this? Like who's doing this? And it was my best mate. And he said don't forget, when you win the comp, tell them. Now you can turn the porch light off. And I was so angry I've never been so. I was just filthy at him. I deleted the text straight away and I was just so angry. He's all about reverse psychology too. I'm thinking if he's like, put the jeez on me or something, I was just so angry. And to all you people back in the Shire, turn your porch lights off, because we're coming home with a trophy.

Great callback.

I'll never forget it, because I was there on the day at the Grand when he was making that speech and as soon as he said that, everyone just went nuts, it was amazing. I remember the week leading up to the grand final and the games before it. We're very confident, we're going to do well that year. And there were guys going. You know, people dress up in weird things when they go to games and some of them there were this group of guys that I saw walking around with like hats that had little porch lights on the front and they were actually powered and they actually went. Oh, isn't it bizarre. Thank you, harold Holt. Yeah, so, as you mentioned as well, the film's also a modern-day retelling of the Rasputin story.

Yeah, and because we have, like, the very mysterious character of Gregory Wool and Robert Powell. I think the trivia said he went through he had like six different like costume changes throughout the film.

Yeah, he had quite a few.

So he has very like memorable costumes, but it also has I'm trying to find the right word. So the title of the film being Harlequin is like it's a character from Italy, or as they call it in Italian, and as described in the movie, it's a character that the audience sees but none of the performers see it, and I feel like, with having that title, with the, what that character is really sums up what the film is doing.

It is like this brand thing where the audience is seeing certain things, or the characters might see certain things, but there is other stuff going around that we don't actually see it's like there's a scene later in the film where good old gus mercurio, who's got a part in this film, is sitting in the little control room and the senators, or whatever his name is view he's levitating in front of him. Power, you know, is levitating in front of him, but from the control room he can see that he's still just standing on the ground.

Yeah, and it sort of makes you question, like what you're seeing? Because the film kind of convinces you that this character of gregory wolf is legit. But then you see that which confirms what they said about him, how he's like a hypnotist and he can. You know, he's very talented at being an illusionist and everything but it never really actually lets you know, I feel like.

He can do basic magic. I can tell from that Like he does that sort of stuff, Like he starts out in the movie, we're introduced to him as a clown at a kid's party and he's doing magic tricks which apparently he had to learn to do the film, and he learned to do those magic tricks for the film.

Did he learn to levitate a pimp? Yeah, maybe I don to do the film and he liked to do those magic tricks for the film. Did he learn to levitate a piano? Yeah, maybe, I don't know. Yeah, that was. That was one of the really good ones, because they could do that without like needing special effects, so to speak. It was.

It's something they could do practically yeah, I, I still love that scene for the musician just sitting on the bench in front of it and just seeing his reaction when it starts.

I love when it stops and the book just plumps down.

It's great of the Tsar's sons of haemophilia. And he was also assassinated, apparently after he had gained, you know, too much political influence, which you'd all know if you listened to the Boney M song.

I love that song. I tried so off-topic but I have to bring it up.

Not really Nothing's off-topic here.

If anyone's familiar with the game Just Dance, one of the songs that they do have on there is the Boney M song, and it is honestly one of the most difficult fricking dances to do, because you need fricking excellent leg work and as much as I'd love to be able to do that, I cannot it's too much, you need quite a workout, but I do love that song. It's fantastic there was a cat that really was gone. Rah rah Rasputin, russia's greatest love machine. It was a shame how he carried on.

Yeah, besides that, yeah it does because, like Rasputin was, like you know, it appeared to have cured the son in here. The son Alex has leukemia and then he suddenly healed from it, and mostly we see that because he's eating food, he's talking and his hair's growing back.

Yeah, which they shot everything in reverse. So they started shooting while he had the hair. All the scenes with the hair they shot first and then cut his hair at the end. Yeah.

I actually thought the actor, Mark Smain, who plays Alex, I thought he was really solid. Like I don't like to be rough on performances that were done by children, but I really feel like he gave a very genuine performance in this film. I thought he was good. You feel sort of like the coldness that he has with his father, the warmth he has with his mother, and you can feel like because of the coldness with his father, he's reaching out for that father figure, which is why he seems to just be so linked to.

Gregory To Gregory yeah, yeah, he's definitely looking for a father figure in his life and he doesn't have one, and I think it's made clear pretty early on that the whole marriage was pretty much a marriage of convenience for him. So he could, you know I think they're saying that her father was a diplomat or something like that so it was all very sort of almost arranged to sort of have that you've even got a bit of that in there, because you've got the wife character kind of having the affair with the gregory character.

So gregory's like really woven himself into this family he certainly has.

Yeah, he sort of got right in there through alex actually and then the mother, and then I think it's near the end where you actually see the russ character right at the end of the movie. He's kind of almost I wouldn't say he's fairly sorry for him. He kind of almost sees the light. Do you know what I mean? It's very much shown to him and and I think gregory kind of shows him what's, what's up with the whole political side of things and he's actually starting to think oh, actually I have been taken for a bit of a ride and you know, this has all been arranged and just for some guy up high. And I think you really see that. And at the end of the movie he's almost well, he tries to save him right he does, yeah, yeah, because they call him up and say get him into the kitchen.

Obviously so they can shoot him, yeah, and he goes to sort of stop him from going in there. Yeah, it's interesting, like, how David Hemmings' character goes through such this big change, because he is a very cold sort of man through a lot of the film and then as more of these events happen, he starts to sort of understand that he's just a pawn in all this and it's almost like that he does believe Gregory and understands.

But then the film, I mean, I feel like, yeah, it sort of mimics a lot of Rasputin, but the ending is kind of bizarre and I don't know how to take like ending is kind of bizarre yeah. And I don't know how to take like that final shot of this film.

So, spoiler alert, We'll spoil this movie. I should say this I know you guys are very good with your podcasts. Saying it right up front, I always forget, right. But if you listen to a movie podcast, good chance that you're going to have the movie spoiled, no matter who you're listening to I think it's a safe bet.

If the podcast was released in whatever year it was released, and you're talking about movies released that year, people will either give you the spoiler warning or whatever. But if a movie was released longer than that, chances are, I think, there's going to be spoilers like 44 years ago.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, it is an interesting kind of thing at the end, because, like you get that shot where you're talking about the shot with Alex and his mother down by the river, and then Alex turns around and his face is frozen, looking a bit like Gregory, and then you see his face on the floor in the kitchen. Yeah, it's weird, isn't it? Has he just, I don't know, graduated and become the same, or has somehow Gregory's soul moved into the boy, or is it just like, oh, let's just put a shock ending on?

It could just be a shock ending, but I think it makes more sense, I guess, with the bond that Gregory and Alex have through the film.

Yeah, and Alex have through the film is like once Gregory was killed, his sort of spirit or something has moved into Alex and now I think like, at least for me, if this continued, I would think Alex would develop the same powers and I think there are bits that allude that he sort of does a little bit. But again, it does play with your head because you're never quite sure of what you're seeing is real or not no, absolutely.

You don't really understand it at all and, like you said, you just don't. You just don't know, like there's bits, you know the whole bit with alex and playing the chinese checkers things and moving those around. I'm assuming that's him. I'm assuming he's learned that from Gregory right.

Yeah, that's what I would think, but it doesn't really give you the answers, and I like that. I like that. It's sort of like you can interpret things, and I think it's purposely like that because it's based on the Rasputin story, which, again, how factual is the stories we hear and how embellished are they? And I think that actually makes perfect sense, and it's something interesting to sort of adapt into sort of a political thriller, so to speak.

Yeah.

But sort of back then. I guess modern, but does the politics really change all that much?

Not really.

You can literally imagine a Grigori Rasputin or a Gregory Wolfe doing some influencing on powerful political families.

Well, you could even see it like you could almost remake that movie today, and it would still be relevant, right? Especially when it comes to, you know, faith healers and people saying they can do all this sort of stuff. It's probably even more in the consciousness these days.

Yeah, it feels like faith healers sort of. I don't know. Maybe it was sort of like with the start of everybody getting the internet that people were less into the faith healers and it kind of went away for a while, but now it's picking up again and yeah I don't. This is it's reasons like this. I just can't do tiktok, but it feels like tiktok is starting all these weird freaking trends again.

Yeah, yeah, I think. So that's social media for you there, right? So one of the scenes I really like from this movie is the scene where Gregory takes Alex out to the cliff, out to the ocean. I was watching it last night and I turned to Mae, my wife, and I said didn't his mother just say he can't go with him? He, she says because he wants to go. He asked if he can go with him. She says no, next minute he's in a car with a driver and they're taking them out. I'm like, oh, she must have been a bit of a pushover or something, because I don't think I can't remember if, like at the end of the scene, she said yeah no, she said, she actually said no I feel like she said no yeah, she did, she did.

I mean the next thing we see in there, but that's a great scene, like when he takes. That's probably the first scene where he really starts oh, I shouldn't say getting into alex's head, but he actually does start. You know, really don't want to use the word grooming that sounds awful.

Yeah, I'm thinking the word grooming isn't.

It's not applicable.

It's been ruined in this day and age.

Yeah, it has been.

It feels like he's being the teacher to Alec.

Yeah, he's tutoring him.

Yeah, but in a non like creepy pedo way. Yeah exactly, non, like creepy pedo way. Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah. The only allusions to anything nasty that gregory wolf does is, I think, a psychic sort of I don't want to say abuse, but a psychic, non-consensual experience with the housemaid, which I think, again, is something alluded to with rasputin and his womanizing ways is what I'm trying to get with that yeah, interesting this scene with the housemaid when she's in the bath or what versus?

she's in the, just in the bathroom and she disrobes and I said to my wife I said there you go. That makes it an officially a hospitalization film and because it's probably the only boob shot in the show, I think so he kind of has this scene with alex and hangs him out over a rock over the ocean and apparently he really hung him over there yeah, he had a rig they had a rig.

They had some sort of rig set up that was kind of supporting his arm and actually was attached to the actor. What did you say? His name was Mark Spain.

Yeah, mark Spain, because when you're looking at it, you're looking at it going. This isn't like a use of green screen or overlaying or anything. He's literally there holding the kid, yeah, and then you find out like he had the safety harness and everything, but then they had stuff was underneath, like the cloak.

I think they also knew how to film it to make it look like that, but they didn't use like shitty camera angles to hide it, though no, they actually hung him over the side, it's like very clear and it's like, oh shit, but yeah, yeah, I was watching the commentary and I think simon winters said that when they set that whole thing up the actor's mother was really concerned, so they put her in the rig. Hang on, Sorry.

I was going to say I don't blame her because I would not agree to do that.

You can use some fricking body double thank you Weren't times different then, because this probably was filmed in probably 1979, right? So times are completely different and they're doing it's like all the other rehabilitation movies from the 70s 80s, right?

They're doing crazy stuff that these days, you wouldn't be doing right.

So, yeah, it's quite a good scene. But also the whole way that he kind of has that conversation with Alex about death and this sort of stuff was really interesting. And it's really bad that you can't really use the word grooming without it sounding bad, but essentially that's what he's doing, but in a different way than what people would normally think yeah, it's more like he's.

Yeah, it's more like a student or a student mentor type of thing, which you know you had a lot in films. But this is sort of not to train or do a montage or anything.

Yeah, it's like his first lesson, so to speak.

Yeah, because it's like quite confronting, because he hangs him off the cliff. But he's like what do you feel?

What do you? See Birds, the clouds, what else? Kind of, yes, kind of like the edge.

Bravo, the edge of the world, where the Earth is at war with the sea. Now listen. What can you hear?

The wind, the wind, our invisible friend. See how it holds the gulls aloft. Is that not magic, alex? Now Alex, what do you feel? Are you scared? Use your heart, not your head. What do you feel? War? There is edge. Only the wind separates you from the rocks. What do you feel? Jump Again.

But you're dead. Death sits here perched like a vulture, waiting for you to forget him.

Dead.

Always remember the feel of death, alex, and he'll never be able to take you by surprise and it's full on.

But I think a lot of like with the character of Gregory. I think that's just all down to Robert Powell having these very hypnotic eyes through the whole film.

His eyes are amazing, aren't they in this movie?

Such a fantastic performance. Through everything Like he's very charismatic, so you understand, like, why people are drawn to this guy.

Yeah, and some of the like you were saying and some of the like you're saying, some of the outfits he has in this movie are amazing so that one like harlequin outfit, like the last one he wears, I think it's my favorite yeah, it's really good. I mean this scene where he's at the cliff. It looks he's dressed like almost a priest, he looks like a wizard or something.

Yeah, yeah, yeah they all be like outfits he has yeah, all quite different. He'll often wear like some different makeup as well. And and one thing I noticed on this watch and I did not notice it on my first watch is that they distinctly, towards the end, show his painted nails and there's like symbols on each nail and then you see at the end where it's alex and his mom.

Alex has the same painted nails with the symbols yeah and you see that before you see the reveal of his face yeah so there's, a lot of little details in this film that you probably won't pick up the first time, and I think it's possibly why we both got more out of it upon re-watching it.

I think movies like this actually really do benefit from an extra view or so, and yeah, definitely you know worth doing.

Yeah, because when we covered it on the Ausvoit cast, it was one that I have been keen to watch again, and so I'm really glad I did, because I think I yeah, got more out of it.

Yeah.

I've got to say, because I've got the IMDB page open, robert Picture undercast. He actually kind of looks Rasputin-like.

He does a bit, doesn't he?

And Gus Mercurio looks very George Martin in his photo. I've got to say. I have seen quite a few things. Gus Mercurio shows up in quite a few Osploitation films, but this is the first time I'm like I can really see the resemblance between his son, paul, because Paul Mercurio now looks so much like his dad in the late 70s, early 80s yeah it's just very.

It's just so evident like I could see it a little bit, but now I'm like nah, he looks exactly like his dad at that point in time the other thing I was going to mention about this film that's disturbing in a way well, not really disturbing, but interesting is like there's all this stuff going on but really, really, we get one cat, two dogs, a bird and a dove. All give their lives for this movie.

It's quite bizarre.

It's weird.

I don't think he even realized that again on the first watch.

Neither did I.

Watching it again, I think it really hit me more, because when you've got the symbol and it literally just like guts this bird in half. Yeah, there's a lot of that going around in the film, but I don't know if it necessarily had a point or if it's more like that use of. I don't know. There's dark forces around or something. I don't know, or maybe they're just really cruel to animals and they get a slap in the face or something.

It's the first time I noticed, watching it last night, hearing a cat going off and making noise when those dogs, those guard dogs, are out, and then you see what looks like the dogs eating the cat at the side of the pool and then those dogs get shot. But the ebbies, the underworld-looking guys, which are all government guys, but they're obviously ebbies yeah. And then there's birds flying into windows.

There's a lot of like birds are because I guess, birds being more associated with magicians, I guess was a big thing as well. There's even the dove on the original poster where it's got Robert Powell with his really lovely makeup.

And the flames around him.

Yeah.

It's interesting. At first I was like, oh, is the dove and the symbol thing, just like a magic trick. But then I'm like, well, this guy got blood all over his face, so it mustn't have been. He literally decapitated him. Yeah, that scene in general, that party scene, and when he's kind of introduced to everybody by Carmen Duncan.

Who has the best hair in the movie. It's amazing, it's so permed.

It's great, sandra's, so permed.

It's great. Sandra is who she plays. Sandra, that's right, yeah.

And he has his introduction. He's kind of leaning on the door and it's like one of those movies where an old Western where someone walks in somewhere and everyone stops talking and they just look at them, or Annie walking into the diner at the beginning of Friday the 13th.

And I think it might be just because he's wearing that magnificent outfit.

And so we get this scene where it's obviously a fundraiser and he's being introduced and everyone's a bit sceptical. And then we've got this socialite. She's kind of like the main, I guess the main attraction, or whatever she is. She's the most rich person there who's giving all this money and she's got an abscess on her tooth and he's able to well, we think he's able to kind of cure that by moving it from her mouth down her shoulder, down her arm, and then a cut that looks like he's cut a finger off when the abscess is in the finger. But obviously he's cutting a piece of carrot and it's kind of weird. Do you think he's actually moved the abscess? I mean, that's what we're led to believe in the movie, right?

Yeah, it's hard to tell because, again, it plays so many tricks on you and that's why I find that whole scene at like the party, really fascinating, because it goes from one extreme to the other.

Yeah.

But you're never quite sure, like, are we actually seeing this or is everyone just under this hypnotic influence of him? It never really lets you know.

It's a bit. It's a bit strange. And then all the heavies are there and the government people that are trying to, you know, maneuver everything, and I think the whole end game is to get the senator guy as, like, the new governor or something like that. And he's the other guy. There's some guy in hospital this is the part that I didn't follow all that well Like there's a guy in the hospital who they're obviously going to kill as well because he's not well, but Gregory goes on to tell him that they're poisoning him and slowly killing him that way, and it's, you know. There's all these machinations around the government, conspiracies and what they're doing and how they're moving this person, and I think the main driver of that is what's the actor's name? Broderick crawford. He, he's like the bad guy, like he's the wheeling wheeling, trying to think of it yeah, he's the sorry, I don't

have imdb open in front of me, but uh, I should have, I forgot I did. He's kind of like the guy that's making all this stuff move the puppet master. He's the puppet master. Yeah, absolutely. I think I've even put that in one of my notes. And at that point, that's when they decide he's becoming too much.

And I think it's the scene after the party, when he's cured the woman of her abscess or supposedly, and they kick him out and they take him and they put him into jail. And then they have that meeting the next day where they show, show him all the, the photos of him sleeping with all these different people and and and also sorry, I'm getting off track here there's that scene that's a little bit out of place, where we assume that he is kind of like with Carmen Duncan's character. There's these shots, these photos of them doing stuff and going out and all this sort of stuff, and it's like he's now living in the house right and having a relationship with her right in front of him, in front of the governor guy. And yeah, it's really interesting how that all happens. They lock him up and he has the guard there and he gets himself out of jail and that's when we get into like the end piece, but it's super interesting how they try and set everything up. I thought Broderick Crawford was really good actually.

Yeah, he was very convincing, like really good actually. Yeah, he was very convincing like I could buy that he was this puppet master kind of guy. Yeah, um, definitely. But yeah, it's like sets up a lot of things, like how you mentioned where they've got the photos of gregory and stuff and then I can't remember the character it could have been Was it the guy's secretary or something? And when he speaks to her on the phone and she's like, but I've never, even met him.

And then you're like so the guys that are trying to convince David Hemming's character are just shady as shit and will say and do whatever it takes, and it's not really any different than some guy just performing illusion.

Illusionary it takes, and yeah, it's not really any different than some guy just performing illusion, illusionary, yeah, and that's kind of. I feel like that's the point of like, yeah, it's the point of the film, but it definitely it's one of those ones where you're never going to be sure, like what you're seeing what's true and what's not. Yeah, and I find that really interesting because I don't trust what I'm seeing, but I also don't trust politicians.

Yeah, everyone's an unreliable narrator, sort of thing. Yeah.

So it's quite an interesting film because it is like all these different genres, but it's very clear in sort of where it takes its inspirations from.

Yeah.

And how it tells that story. So yeah, like I think it's kind of fascinating and I do think it's probably one of the more underappreciated exploitation films, especially after, like, having that second viewing, and I'll probably get more out of it on another viewing as well when you have to sit on someone else's podcast yes, I'll keep talking about this on podcasts. I mean, I will say Robert Powell is in. Well, I said Harlequin is number 15 on my in-progress ranking of Ausploitation from the 80s, but another Robert Powell film is there at number five.

Is that the Survivor?

That is the Survivor.

Yeah, it's a great film.

I absolutely loved that. One and again, just another powerful performance, and it's such a different performance.

He's a very good actor, wasn't he?

Yeah, it just makes me glad that they did get him out to do some films.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Just touching on the music by Not that, brian May. Not that, brian May. Yeah, I was listening to the music pretty intently last night and I know on the Blu-ray I didn't have a chance to do it, but they do have an isolated score you can actually listen to the score isolated while you're watching the movie.

It's interesting, this one, because when I was thinking of the soundtrack to this I was thinking, well, the score works really well, kind of supports the scenes well, and then I noticed these little musical motifs, more of the romantic-y kind of piano pieces, that almost sounded like they could be lifted straight from patrick into this movie. If you watch it again, have a listen. There's a little I don't know how long since you've watched patrick, but there's these little bits of music in the film and I'm like, oh, that sounds so close to one of the themes he uses in patrick and it's like, oh, I wonder if that was like a leftover from patrick, because he did patrick in 78 potentially could have been, yeah yeah, I definitely took notice of the score a bit more, and it is interesting how it does strangely kind of complement the scenes.

Yeah, yeah.

It's pretty good. I mean, I don't think it's one of his best works. It's definitely not up there with Mad Max and a few other things, but it's not a bad work, it's good. I just found it interesting. There was a few motives. I was like, oh, is he reusing a bit of music? He wasn't reusing it as in taking music from Patrick and putting it in there. It was. Maybe this was a musical idea he had when he was writing that and he said, oh well, I'll put that away, it'll come in handy somewhere else. I don't know. I don't know how his mind worked, but still a good score an interesting score and very much a Brian May score.

Yes.

You can tell, so yeah, anything else you wanted to cover before we sort of give our final thoughts, I feel like we've probably covered, probably, yeah, as much as we can on the film.

I just if people haven't seen it. Yeah, we've spoiled it completely. Absolutely, but I still think it's worth checking out.

Or does he die?

Yeah, I mean, we don't know really the kids find his body.

At the end it floats up and you don't know. Or has his soul been moved to Alex.

I think his soul moved to Alex. That's what I take from that ending. That's what I took from it as well, but I do think it's a worthy film and, yeah, I think it's one of those more underappreciated exploitation films, because it does give you something quite different, and you've got some very good performances, especially Robert Powell.

Yeah, I think so. It's a enjoyable, well-made piece of Australian film. It's hard for me. I almost don't really feel like this movie is an Ausploitation film. I actually think it rises a little bit above that. Not that I'm putting Ozploitation films down, I'm just saying it seems it doesn't have a lot of the things you would expect typically from an Ozploitation film. Yes, there is a boob shot, but there's not a lot of graphic violence or anything like that in it. There's not a lot of that over-the-top sort of thing. Yes, there is over-the-top because he's levitating or whatever, but it just a lot of that over the top sort of thing. Yes, there is over the top because he's levitating, all that sort of stuff, but just seems to have a different tone.

I think it's the tone more than that?

Yeah, I think the tone.

Yeah, I think it falls into it with a bit of the sort of government conspiracy, yeah, wildness of it a bit and yeah.

Yeah, I think that and I think it's got a good cast. The premise is interesting, the story is interesting. I think robert powell, david hemmings are really good and the scenes when they're together work really well I really like the way they play very well, especially towards the end. Yeah, yeah, it just works so well because it's built up so much. Yeah.

To like that moment, yeah, and also I think Carmen Duncan, broderick, crawford sort of support that really well. And you know, duncan, she was like the trophy wife and she's magnetically attracted to Powell's character and Crawford's like this dark puppeteer and he's pulling all the strings to serve whatever master he's you know, answering to and I think it's just really a good movie and worth re-watching.

I think it kind of, even though I did rate it. I think you and I rated the same because I was rating it on letterbox and I noticed you had it on your recently watched, as I think you did. You rate it the same as me. I won't give it away. I I gave it three and a half symbols sliced doves out of five.

Yeah, I gave it three and a half. Robert Powell in his Harlequin outfit, out of five. Yeah, so.

I almost gave it a four and I think, oh, I don't know if it earns a four for me, but I think it's very solid, that's for sure.

It is. I think it's a really. It's a really interesting and something quite different, you know, at least not even just for exploitation, but just Australian cinema in the late seventies to early eighties.

Yeah, yeah Well, it feels like a seventies movie almost, because it was right on the cusp and it still feels to me like a 70s movie but it feels very australian, even if it has this I don't know where it's meant to be set sort of feeling to it and I meant to say the house in the movie, which is fantastic, belonged to alan bond oh, really, I did not know that? Yeah, it was his house in perth, because they filmed it in Perth.

Yes, so the house, the exteriors of his house. The interiors were built were from a studio set, except for one room. There's like one room which had the water views. It might have been the bedroom or something they shot inside the house, but everything else inside the house was shot somewhere else Interesting.

I did not know that Everything else inside the house was shot somewhere else.

Interesting. I did not know that. Yeah, so it was interesting that it was shot there. So, yeah, so that's Harlequin Really good, enjoyable, fun movie and definitely worth watching. So that's great. So, marcy, what's happening with you? I'm sure there's heaps. There's always a lot with you.

I wish there was. Oh, you're in a bit of a quiet time. I don't know if it's that it's Christmas, I think this year has just been all over the place. But yeah, as the year's winding down, I mean all the podcasts, even if I haven't done them for months, all the backlog is all there Supermarcycom is the best place to go, best place to go. Or, alternatively, there is a link tree and I'll spell it l-i-n-k-t-r. Dot, e-e, flash, the super network, and that lists all the different podcasts and places to find them. And yeah, I guess, just keep an eye out, there should be a new exploitation episode in january. So, fingers crossed, we can schedule all that and make it work. But yeah, that's about it really.

Excellent, excellent, and your socials. So you've already put the link tree and yeah on socials.

I am super Marcie. I'm super underscore Marcie on Letterboxd and you can see all my Ausploitation lists on there. Great.

So did you move to Blue Sky? Like everyone else?

you do yes, I am available there, and it is under super marcy as well well.

Thank you so much for being with me today.

It's been fantastic had an absolute blast discussing this film and talking a bit about australian political history and russian history a little bit and bony m and a bit of Boney M as well. Going to go like put that on now. I wish I had the vinyl. I'd love to just spin that right now.

I don't have that. I know I've got a Boney M vinyl album somewhere, but it's like the very first one, I think.

Oh See, I got that from my mum because my mum used to listen to it a lot when I was growing up. And I'm like there is like a place not too far from where I live that buys and sells like vinyl, VHS, Blu-ray CDs, so I should actually go there.

You should.

You should. I've got to go back there. It's been a while I went there to sell like my excess, like DVDs and stuff and haven't been back. But it's like they have so much stuff, great Cool.

All right, we're going to take a short break and we'll be back with what's coming next.

And now preview time. When it comes to entertainment, you can't beat a good film, so let's take a look at what's coming your way.

It began as a class project.

We have to do a graduation film right, what better project than to finish that film?

To resurrect an old film from oblivion.

That movie was a nightmare.

So what you're saying is there's some sort of a curse on this. Now they've made an unexpected discovery of a mysterious legend creepier than friday the 13th more blood and guts than texas that should never.

Who wants to make a?

mainstream slasher move see the light of day.

Don't go playing with nightmares and action Cause I'm the one with the black doll and I want what's wrong.

No, no, no. If I take my life, I'm not the same thing now. No, no, no.

I never said this before, but I've always found you very attractive.

In our next episode I'm joined again by Matt Fulton from the Champagne Comedy Podcast to chat about the Australian slasher film Cut from 2000, starring Molly Ringwald and Kylie Minogue. Of all people, this should be a fun one. I look forward to you joining us. Thanks so much for tuning in to A Dingo Ate my Movie. Your time means the world to me and I hope you're loving the show. Want to stay connected with A Dingo Ate my Movie? You can find us on social media. Look for us over on Blue Sky at Dingo Movie Pod, on Facebook and Instagram at Dingo Movie Pod, and our website is dingomoviepodcom. If you'd like to support the show, you can help in a few ways. You can leave a rating over on Apple Podcasts, share the show with your friends, or you can buy me a coffee over at buymeacoffeecom slash dingo movie pod. Thank you again for listening. Stay safe and I'll catch you on the next episode of A Dingo Ate my Movie.