Like what you're hearing? Let us know!
Strap in for a journey down memory lane as we're joined by the ever-insightful Matt Fulton to revisit the rollicking world of '70s Australian sex comedies. Together, we traverse the risqué landscape of "Alvin Purple" and its sequel "Alvin Rides Again," dissecting how these flicks navigated the era's sexual liberation while tickling the nation's funny bone. From the critical lashings to the box office success, we dissect the allure of Alvin's mishaps, examining the films’ cultural impact and their unique position in Aussie cinematic lore.
With a mischievous chuckle, Matt and I explore the first film's clever blend of humor and eroticism, orchestrated by the sharp-witted Tim Burstall. We ponder the satirical role reversal of the sexual chase and how it mirrored the period's changing attitudes towards women's liberation and sex therapy. As we crack open the darker tones of the sequel, we delve into the complex narrative choices that stirred both entertainment and reflection during the transformative '70s.
Lastly, we can't help but let out a hearty laugh as we discuss the unexpected narrative acrobatics of "Alvin Rides Again." From sex comedy to action-packed pastiche, we marvel at the sequel's leap into Bond-esque territory, complete with rocket launchers and speedboat chases. It's a wild ride through some of the most iconic, albeit occasionally cringe-worthy, moments in Australian film history that will leave you both nostalgic and critically engaged. Join us for this cheeky trip down memory lane, where Aussie cinema once dared to bare with a confident swagger.
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Please note that this podcast often explores topics and uses language from past eras. This means that some of the discussions may include attitudes, expressions, and viewpoints that were common in those times but may not align with the standards and expectations of our society today. We'd like to ask for your understanding as we navigate these historical contexts, which are important to appreciate the era we're discussing fully.
Matt Fulton: You're listening to Monster Kid Podcast.
00:01:06
Pete Iacono: Welcome to A Dingo \Ate My Movie, a podcast about
00:01:09
the weird and wonderful Australian movies from the 70's,
00:01:11
80's and beyond.
00:01:13
I'm your host, Pete, and today I'm joined by Matt Fulton as we
00:01:16
leap headfirst into Alvin Purple from 1973 and Alvin rides,
00:01:21
again from 1974.
00:01:23
Good morning, matt.
00:01:25
How are you, mate?
00:01:26
Matt Fulton: Peter, I'm good.
00:01:28
I'm still recovering from my previous experience of Houseboat
00:01:31
horror.
00:01:32
Pete Iacono: All right, so a few quick thoughts, opening
00:01:36
thoughts on these two movies, like what a strange double this
00:01:40
is, and I know I was just looking this morning at a
00:01:44
trailer for Melvin's Son of Alvin and I was like oh, should
00:01:49
we have done that one.
00:01:50
And when I looked at the trailer I was like no.
00:01:53
Matt Fulton: Oh, the fact that you watched the trailer.
00:01:55
I'm not even brave enough, especially after watching the
00:02:01
second film in this trilogy.
00:02:03
I guess you would call it.
00:02:06
Pete Iacono: Did you know there was also a TV series.
00:02:08
Matt Fulton: Yes, there is one episode floating around on
00:02:11
YouTube.
00:02:12
Pete Iacono: Yeah, yeah, it's amazing, the series I saw some
00:02:16
video of I'm trying to remember who it was on ABC.
00:02:19
It was like on one of those ABC comedy shows or something like
00:02:23
that.
00:02:23
Talking about the episode, all I can remember seeing with the
00:02:27
clips of the episode this show was Alvin Purple in a bath with
00:02:31
a woman in the bath was full of spaghetti.
00:02:33
Oh and yeah, it was quite gross .
00:02:38
Matt Fulton: What a waste of spaghetti.
00:02:40
Pete Iacono: He was being pursued by some criminals or
00:02:42
something, I think.
00:02:42
If I remember, the main criminal guy was I forgot the
00:02:46
actor's name, but he was the boyfriend of the daughter of Ted
00:02:51
Bullpit in Kingswood Country.
00:02:53
I'm trying to remember the actor's name now.
00:02:55
Matt Fulton: Not Lex Marenos, that's it.
00:02:57
That's it.
00:02:58
Why is it?
00:02:59
Pete Iacono: That's what I think it was.
00:03:00
Yeah Well, that's who it looked like to me, so where did you
00:03:03
watch it?
00:03:04
Just talking about where people can watch these movies.
00:03:08
Matt Fulton: Broly, which is part of the Umbrella's streaming
00:03:11
service, and also on DVD, which is through Umbrella
00:03:15
Entertainment.
00:03:16
Pete Iacono: So we watched it on Netflix, funnily enough and
00:03:19
yeah, I've got both the DVDs as well I watched Alvin Purple on
00:03:24
Netflix.
00:03:25
I don't think Alvin Rides again is streaming anywhere, or is it
00:03:28
?
00:03:29
Matt Fulton: on.
00:03:29
Pete Iacono: Broly?
00:03:29
It's not, is it?
00:03:30
I had a bit of a look and I was surprised that the Broly don't
00:03:34
have it with Alvin Purple, which is quite odd If people don't
00:03:38
know about Broly.
00:03:39
I know I've spoken about it a little bit on the last couple of
00:03:42
episodes.
00:03:43
It's a streaming service from Umbrella which is really great
00:03:47
if you want to catch up on Australian film and TV shows.
00:03:50
They have all sorts of stuff on there.
00:03:51
It's a really good streaming service.
00:03:53
I've got to stop talking about it because they're not paying me
00:03:55
, but I just like it anyway.
00:03:56
I like it anyway and if you're watching a lot of Australian
00:04:02
films, it's a great place to watch it.
00:04:03
I think it's only available in Australia, right, but a VPN is
00:04:08
your best friend if you're living overseas.
00:04:10
Alvin making me fly by Alvin making me lay by Alvin making me
00:04:23
fly, all right.
00:04:25
So we'll start by talking about Alvin Purple.
00:04:29
So Alvin Purple is a classic Australian sex comedy that
00:04:32
became a cult favorite from the 1970s.
00:04:35
Film centers around Alvin Purple, played by Graham
00:04:37
Blundell, a young man whose irresistible appeal to women
00:04:41
seems more a curse than a blessing.
00:04:43
Indeed, despite his own indifference towards sex which
00:04:46
sounds weird Alvin finds himself relentlessly pursued by women,
00:04:50
leading to a series of comedic and often awkward encounters.
00:04:53
The movie humorously explores themes of sexual liberation and
00:04:58
societal norms through Alvin's escapades and misadventures.
00:05:01
Supporting Blundell is a cast that includes Abigail very, very
00:05:06
short appearance Lynette Curran and Jackie Weaver, which is
00:05:10
she's got an interesting little part under the direction of Tim
00:05:12
Burstle.
00:05:13
The film satirizes the sexual revolution of the era, poking
00:05:17
fun at attitudes towards masculinity and femininity.
00:05:20
Its candid portrayal of sex and humor ensured its place as a
00:05:25
memorable piece of Australian cinema history.
00:05:28
The film had a budget of $200.
00:05:31
It was absolutely panned by critics but it actually went on
00:05:35
to earn $4.7 million in 1973, which is equivalent to I think
00:05:40
they were saying, about $46, $47 million these days.
00:05:43
So it's actually it's really amazing and obviously the public
00:05:48
didn't listen to the critics very much and I think at that
00:05:50
time it would have been one of those movies in 73 that you
00:05:54
could see a lot of couples in there, from, like you know, 19
00:05:58
to their mid 20s, maybe under 30 , having a night out seeing that
00:06:02
movie.
00:06:02
It would have been pretty popular, I think, and I think it
00:06:05
would have been those one of those movies that would have
00:06:06
been talked about.
00:06:08
Tried to find some original kind of you know reviews and that,
00:06:11
and every time I typed in, like you know, into Google, original
00:06:13
1973 reviews, alvin Purple, we just give me Alvin Purple
00:06:18
reviews.
00:06:19
So I probably should have dug harder into like Sydney Morning
00:06:23
Herald archives or something like that.
00:06:25
But I can tell you now the critics hated the movie and a
00:06:29
lot of people just reading through some of the IMDB reviews
00:06:33
etc.
00:06:33
They a lot of people don't like this movie as well.
00:06:36
Yeah, what were your thoughts initially?
00:06:39
Matt Fulton: Well, in my notes here and I'm going to say this
00:06:41
right up and that is my first note is NorgFest 55 seconds into
00:06:46
the movie.
00:06:47
True, so when you set off within the first minute of the
00:06:55
film, you, that sets the premise really.
00:06:58
Yeah, absolutely Just like a starts off as a bit of a fantasy
00:07:04
, like he's mind drifting.
00:07:06
I think he's a well, no, I was going to say a ladies man.
00:07:12
And then the reality.
00:07:14
So when that kicks in, it's just like, oh, what are we in
00:07:19
for for this?
00:07:19
It's just in his own world.
00:07:21
Some of it didn't really make sense to me, like I know it's
00:07:24
not meant to make sense.
00:07:25
It's not the best movie script or what it or the story like in
00:07:30
the world.
00:07:30
And wasn't this the film that kind of started the whole
00:07:37
revolution of Australian film in regards to, you know, when the
00:07:43
government decided to invest into the Australian film
00:07:46
industry?
00:07:47
Pete Iacono: This was one of the .
00:07:48
I don't think this one got the funding.
00:07:49
But so the thing about this film is one of the first R-rated
00:07:53
films released.
00:07:54
Once they bought in the R certificate in 1970, one of the
00:07:57
first but definitely took advantage of that, like so when
00:08:01
you think about it, we had I think Tim Burstle's stalk was in
00:08:04
71,.
00:08:05
I think we had Avengers of Barry Mackenzie in 72, and then
00:08:09
this film in 73.
00:08:10
So I think it was.
00:08:12
It was kind of around that era and we had a lot of these
00:08:15
sexploitation sort of Australian movies and we had.
00:08:18
What else did we had?
00:08:19
We had Lobito, which I think was another Tim Burstle film, or
00:08:22
Tim Burstle it was.
00:08:24
I don't know if you've ever seen Lobito, I only remember the
00:08:26
ads.
00:08:27
I've never seen it and I don't think it's available anywhere.
00:08:29
It's basically just like a four part, like you know, four
00:08:34
separate stories, the anthology thing, but it's all based around
00:08:38
sex and stuff like that.
00:08:41
Matt Fulton: Was that the?
00:08:41
Is that the ABC of?
00:08:43
Pete Iacono: No, that's different again.
00:08:44
That's different again.
00:08:46
So that's, that's completely different again.
00:08:50
Abc of love and sex, or whatever it's called.
00:08:52
Matt Fulton: And Australia, and also Australia After Dark.
00:08:55
Pete Iacono: Yeah, yeah, so they were.
00:08:57
What's a guy's name that made those John Lamond?
00:09:02
That's who it was.
00:09:04
Matt Fulton: John Lamond.
00:09:05
Pete Iacono: that's it, yeah yeah, yeah, he did.
00:09:07
He did quite a few of these Like he did this one.
00:09:09
He did Australia After Dark.
00:09:10
Felicity was one of his.
00:09:14
He did Nightmares, which we did previously, and Nightmares is
00:09:19
kind of like a Jialo Australian Jialo movie with lots of sex and
00:09:24
nudity.
00:09:24
So, yeah, so there was definitely, it was definitely a
00:09:30
time for this.
00:09:30
And then, I think, another one they talk about, I don't know,
00:09:34
on the DVD, on the Alvin DVD there's like a 43 minute or 45
00:09:37
minute promotional documentary called Inside Alvin Purple,
00:09:42
which, incidentally, was directed by Brian Trenshard
00:09:45
Smith, and they were saying that it was kind of like they were
00:09:49
talking.
00:09:49
When they were talking about this movie, though, they were
00:09:51
inspired by things like libido but also things like there was
00:09:56
this movie called Bedroom Mizzurka, which was massive in
00:09:59
the 70s, early 70s, which was a foreign sex film, and it had the
00:10:05
same sort of thing.
00:10:05
It was like three or four different stories, like an
00:10:08
anthology thing, and that was kind of a big thing as well and
00:10:12
they kind of, you know, sort of went off the back of that.
00:10:14
So I think in the early 70s, going back to what you were
00:10:18
saying, I think we're in this whole period of not just the R
00:10:21
certificate we were about to go into the whole.
00:10:24
You know government grants for films, things like that.
00:10:27
But we also had this kind of like this sexual awakening in
00:10:31
Australia.
00:10:32
I think the subject became less taboo and ended up on the
00:10:35
screen a lot more.
00:10:37
And none of these movies are really.
00:10:38
You definitely wouldn't consider them porn, and you're
00:10:41
probably.
00:10:41
They're probably not even.
00:10:43
You wouldn't even really think they're soft-core porn.
00:10:46
Right, and it's not.
00:10:48
It's not case of the smiling stiffs kind of stuff you know
00:10:51
and it's, yeah, it is gratuitous , no doubt.
00:10:55
Yeah, absolutely.
00:10:56
Matt Fulton: But yeah, it is that borderline of it's
00:11:00
soft-core porn.
00:11:02
But then as soon as they add like a little comedic reference
00:11:06
or something, that a song that kind of resembles Benny Hill,
00:11:11
and it's like, oh no, it's not a soft-core porn, it's a comedy,
00:11:15
and I feel like that that kind of breaks the scene when you
00:11:19
just hear this.
00:11:23
Pete Iacono: I think Tim Burstle said in this little documentary
00:11:25
that, or in one of the interviews there's also some
00:11:28
interviews on the disc as well and I think he was saying that
00:11:30
he tried to put some sort of humour about every minute or so
00:11:36
into the movie just to remind people that it's a comedy.
00:11:38
So I think he kind of thought, okay, if we just have all the
00:11:42
sex stuff and not many laughs, people are just going to think
00:11:45
it's a sex movie.
00:11:48
That, or if I put in like boing type Especially in the second
00:11:52
movie which we'll get when they're getting that chase on
00:11:56
the ferry, which is really strange sound effects.
00:11:58
It's a funny movie, like there's a few things right.
00:12:01
Like the movie is apparently, if you listen to Tim Burstle, a
00:12:07
kind of like a play on the whole early seventies sex therapy
00:12:12
thing which was apparently a big deal.
00:12:15
I don't remember, I was only 11 .
00:12:16
He sort of said well, are sex clinics a new form of sex
00:12:20
therapy or are they just an old business of prostitution, like
00:12:24
the old reasons of prostitution?
00:12:25
And that I think that comes out in the movie right when you've
00:12:28
got this psychiatrist guy who is effectively making stag movies
00:12:34
using Alvin Circle yeah, and it's like okay, so are you being
00:12:40
a pornographer or are you just being an absolute sleazebag?
00:12:47
I think the other thing about this movie that's interesting is
00:12:49
like it's almost like Alvin Purple is abused in a way, if
00:12:53
you look at it with a modern lens.
00:12:55
He's being abused like sexually abused by some women, like his
00:12:59
teacher's wife sexually abuses him.
00:13:02
He's always been chased by women and it's really
00:13:07
interesting.
00:13:07
He kind of has this thing where if you take the movie, I know
00:13:12
it's only a comedy and I know it's just a junkie comedy, but
00:13:15
if you kind of put a kind of a serious edge on the movie it's
00:13:18
only when he starts talking or having a relationship with I've
00:13:23
forgotten the character's name, but the one he ends up with near
00:13:26
the end, tina, that's it when she is more about personality
00:13:31
and more about real life connection rather than just a
00:13:34
sexual connection.
00:13:34
He obviously kind of can't help himself with all the other
00:13:37
stuff coming on around him.
00:13:39
Matt Fulton: No, it is.
00:13:40
He reeks of.
00:13:42
Well, his libido is just oozes and Alvin's just completely.
00:13:48
He is aware but unaware, like it doesn't affect him, he just
00:13:52
thinks that's part of everyday life.
00:13:54
And then when he's being approached by the sexual desires
00:14:02
really, and they do exploit him in a way or sexploit him.
00:14:09
Pete Iacono: He's definitely exploited, and I'm probably not
00:14:11
in a position to talk about this .
00:14:12
It's a very fine line.
00:14:14
I'm not sure, though, that whether this movie is also a
00:14:17
reflection of the women's liberation movement of the time
00:14:22
as well, where women are more empowered, seem more empowered.
00:14:26
So in this movie they seem quite empowered and they're kind
00:14:31
of almost the what's the word?
00:14:33
I don't want to say stalkers, that's the wrong word, but
00:14:37
they're kind of like they're the ones that are actually making
00:14:40
the moves on him, rather than the other way around.
00:14:45
Matt Fulton: It's interesting to kind of look at it, If the
00:14:47
tables were turned and it's like this is what women have to deal
00:14:52
with on a day to day basis.
00:14:55
Pete Iacono: Yes, probably it's a bit like that.
00:14:57
Maybe it's a bit of a take on that as well.
00:14:59
I'm getting ready for all the hate mail I'm going to get from
00:15:03
women that listen to this time.
00:15:05
Let me just start by saying I'm not qualified to talk about a
00:15:08
lot of this stuff, so it's just off the top of my head, and if
00:15:14
you don't agree, let me know.
00:15:15
I'm happy to have the conversation.
00:15:17
There's something about this movie somewhere.
00:15:19
I think it actually has a little bit more depth than it
00:15:22
kind of appears to have, and I think when you look at it that
00:15:28
way, it's quite an interesting film.
00:15:30
Matt Fulton: As the movie goes on, there are moments where it
00:15:33
starts feeling a bit where they're going with this and not
00:15:37
trying to ruin or spoil anything .
00:15:39
It gets really dramatic dark.
00:15:43
Yeah, like it gets really heavy towards the main part, like, oh
00:15:47
yeah, fair enough, it goes from that big laughing, laughing ha,
00:15:52
ha, and next thing you know, oh , we shouldn't be laughing at
00:15:54
that.
00:15:54
Pete Iacono: Yeah, but anyway it's a funny movie.
00:15:57
I mean I like the way early on in the movie he's trying all
00:16:01
these different jobs, trying to get a job.
00:16:04
Matt Fulton: It seems to continue on in the second movie
00:16:05
a bit as well and the one where he's the waterbed salesman is
00:16:10
pretty hilarious, yeah, and I just like the opening credits
00:16:17
where you got the bed mattress bouncing up and down and you
00:16:22
know, the first thing that I thought of was there is zero
00:16:26
lumbar support.
00:16:27
I'm going wow, where's the mirror coil in that?
00:16:32
Pete Iacono: Yeah, it's really.
00:16:33
It's quite funny watching him all slosh around in the scene
00:16:36
where he's got the cowboy boots or whatever it is and he pierces
00:16:41
and he spurs and he pierces the waterbed.
00:16:43
I said to me, we're watching.
00:16:45
I was like hang on, there's more water there than would have
00:16:48
been contained in that waterbed as well.
00:16:50
Matt Fulton: I think that might have been, for a bit of a fact,
00:16:52
a comedic effect.
00:16:54
Pete Iacono: I think so.
00:16:55
Yeah, the car chases are good.
00:16:57
It's got some interesting car chases.
00:16:59
Like you said, it's very Benny Hill.
00:17:01
I was like, is it the maze If they played Yackity Sax in this?
00:17:05
It would be, and just sped it up a little bit.
00:17:09
Matt Fulton: Yeah, that's all it needs, and they've already
00:17:12
applied the wacky sound effects with some parts as well, but
00:17:16
it's just pure sex slapstick.
00:17:18
Pete Iacono: The other thing that was interesting to me is
00:17:20
like I was looking at how the movie progressed right and I had
00:17:24
this thought we get to the scene where so Alvin Purple gets
00:17:27
basically used by his psychologist to make blue movies
00:17:31
and then they get caught out by this other psychologist he was
00:17:35
originally seeing who eventually wanted to sleep with him she
00:17:39
looked like she was fairly straight laced and he kind of
00:17:43
refuses her advances and then she decides to basically
00:17:47
blackmail him because she knows, she knows what's going on, and
00:17:51
they end up in this court scene.
00:17:54
And the court scene is quite funny and we go through this
00:17:56
whole piece and when he comes out of court, when he's on the
00:18:00
shoulders of these people because they've won the court
00:18:02
case, et cetera, et cetera, I was like, oh okay, the movie's
00:18:04
going to end and then we've got another 20 minutes to go and I
00:18:08
thought it was.
00:18:08
It felt really strange having, like the I guess I'd call it the
00:18:13
husband chase tagged onto the end where all the husbands get
00:18:16
together and chase him.
00:18:17
I was like I think this would have been better in the film
00:18:22
itself and the end of the film would have been him being
00:18:25
chaired out of court winning.
00:18:27
Matt Fulton: I mean that would have been a logical and the
00:18:31
escapades they get up to.
00:18:32
Afterwards it's like that they've gone.
00:18:34
Oh, we didn't spend all our budget, how do we?
00:18:37
How do we get rid of it, or how do we burn the cash off?
00:18:41
Pete Iacono: And then next thing you know is they do what they
00:18:44
do, that whole piece with the chase and him being chased
00:18:48
through Melbourne streets half naked or naked, and then the sky
00:18:52
.
00:18:52
All that was after the skydiving, the skydiving bit and
00:18:55
all this sort of stuff and the skydiving bit when he was coming
00:18:58
down on the parachute.
00:18:59
I swear there was somebody that the sound effect was somebody
00:19:03
in a microphone going yeah, well , I blew that budget nuts scene,
00:19:08
didn't they?
00:19:11
So they have that whole scene and they could have quite easily
00:19:15
have moved that whole piece somewhere else in the movie and
00:19:20
then ended with the with the court scene.
00:19:22
I don't know why they did that.
00:19:24
Unfortunately, Tim Bursell is not here anymore.
00:19:26
Matt Fulton: I'd love to know Another thing.
00:19:28
It could be when they were putting it all together and then
00:19:30
they realized there was still a certain like short from
00:19:35
completed film, because it might have come in at the the just an
00:19:39
hour long.
00:19:40
Pete Iacono: Yeah, maybe, but still, even when you film that
00:19:43
part, doesn't someone like you go out and film all that?
00:19:46
Doesn't someone look at it and go?
00:19:48
It's not really a logical ending.
00:19:50
I can't remember what was the ending.
00:19:51
Again, how did it end?
00:19:52
He got so he gets chased, he has the, he lands in the Yarra
00:19:57
River, which must have been lovely for his health.
00:19:59
And then, oh my God, I kind of remember what happens at the end
00:20:02
.
00:20:02
Oh, he ends up, he does.
00:20:04
He go off with Tina.
00:20:06
Matt Fulton: He ends up finding Tina, who ends up had a sister.
00:20:09
Pete Iacono: Oh, my God, yes.
00:20:11
Matt Fulton: He ends up getting a job there.
00:20:13
Pete Iacono: And we're implying that the, the nuns or whoever
00:20:17
they are, are going to feast on him as well.
00:20:21
Matt Fulton: Right.
00:20:21
Well, I've got the impression that, because he ended up, he
00:20:25
ended up getting what he wanted to have at the start and that
00:20:28
was a job, and he ends up being a groundskeeper or the the lands
00:20:35
of the nunnery and the convent.
00:20:39
And so it's all about celibacy.
00:20:42
So, it's because Tina wasn't attracted to Alvin in that way.
00:20:50
Pete Iacono: Yeah.
00:20:51
Matt Fulton: Because she resisted Alvin's sexual I guess
00:20:57
aura.
00:20:57
So that's why he's going.
00:20:59
No, I think that this place is good for me, like the job,
00:21:02
because he can build everything, but then again I never thought
00:21:05
about the other way.
00:21:06
Pete Iacono: Well, my mind's in the gutter straight away, and
00:21:10
yeah.
00:21:11
Matt Fulton: So here I am thinking, oh, he's found some
00:21:12
peace.
00:21:13
Pete Iacono: Yeah, well, he maybe has maybe that.
00:21:15
I'm sure that was probably the idea that you know.
00:21:18
I looked at it and I was like, oh, is this really the right
00:21:20
place for him to be?
00:21:21
Both are plausible.
00:21:23
Yeah, both are plausible.
00:21:24
Yeah, in a way, it's kind of it's not a bad ending.
00:21:27
To be truthful, I just thought the coming out of court thing
00:21:30
was maybe I was to.
00:21:31
Maybe the coming out of court thing on the shoulders of people
00:21:34
is to cliche to end on, because that's happened in thousands of
00:21:37
movies, right.
00:21:38
Matt Fulton: Yeah, exactly, it'll be that victory thing.
00:21:40
Oh yeah, fair enough, because it wasn't quite a dramatic
00:21:43
moment in the court, and especially when they're playing
00:21:47
the clips back in the game, wow, like I actually felt very
00:21:50
awkward.
00:21:50
Sorry, the clips as in the evidence and gone.
00:21:54
Yeah, this is pretty rough.
00:21:55
He had the judge played by Norfaria.
00:21:59
Yeah, he was good as a free between the lines, sleazy judge
00:22:03
he was.
00:22:06
Pete Iacono: And yeah, I think it was those scenes.
00:22:08
I actually think when I was showing the stag me I call them
00:22:12
stag musics I'm sure they were talking about they would be
00:22:15
renting them out for $100 or $200 a time.
00:22:18
You could see them being played at the stag parties and if you
00:22:22
don't know what a stag party is, it's kind of just like a men's
00:22:24
party somewhere with lots of booze and you know those sort of
00:22:28
movies or it like a bucks night , that sort of thing.
00:22:32
You know, when I was watching that I was kind of like I
00:22:37
actually did feel really sorry for for the Alvin Pergola
00:22:40
character.
00:22:40
I was like, yeah, he's really been exploited and used in a way
00:22:46
that he wasn't expecting to.
00:22:48
Matt Fulton: Well, that's why he went when the evidence came out
00:22:50
and he's going oh what They'll feel like he was completely
00:22:53
unaware and he was concerned over the feelings that Tina was
00:22:57
having, and also the doctor, the psychiatrist, the I can't
00:23:05
remember a name either.
00:23:05
My apologies, but yeah.
00:23:07
So it was like trying to balance it out and just previous
00:23:12
innocence, like he did this stuff but he was under the
00:23:17
ruling of the perverted doctor.
00:23:20
Pete Iacono: The other thing that's interesting about this
00:23:21
film is when they cast the movie there was a lot of pressure to
00:23:26
cast somebody like I think they talked about Jack Thompson quite
00:23:29
a bit for the lead in this film , and Tim Burstle apparently
00:23:34
pushed back quite hard on the whole thing.
00:23:36
He was like, well, if we have somebody like Jack Thompson or a
00:23:40
Jack Thompson kind of guy in this movie, men are going to
00:23:43
hate him because he's just like you know, over the top, you know
00:23:47
masculine, et cetera.
00:23:48
So that's why he was always pushing to get a really average
00:23:52
looking guy and Graham Blundell was that guy, I guess.
00:23:56
Matt Fulton: Yeah, well, because Jack Thompson was of the time,
00:24:02
the Gary sweet.
00:24:03
Pete Iacono: He was.
00:24:03
He was in Peterson, wasn't he around that same time?
00:24:06
Matt Fulton: Yeah, and so Peterson came out a year later.
00:24:09
So maybe when Alan Purple was being made he was prepping Jack
00:24:15
Thompson to be Peterson, because it's by the same director.
00:24:19
Pete Iacono: Jack Thompson was also a Cleo pin-up, I think.
00:24:22
Matt Fulton: Yes, I believe so Was any one of the first ones.
00:24:25
Pete Iacono: I think so.
00:24:25
One of the first ones.
00:24:26
Yeah, like a yeah, a naked pin-up for Cleo magazine or
00:24:31
something.
00:24:31
Yeah, the music was good.
00:24:33
I mean I love the Alvin Purple theme, my little bit about Brian
00:24:36
Cadd.
00:24:36
I always like talking about music where I can on these
00:24:39
podcasts, maybe because I just like music and yeah, you got a
00:24:42
rich history of music.
00:24:43
I do, and that's always good.
00:24:45
Brian Cadd was basically a pretty significant figure in the
00:24:50
Australian music industry for well over 50 years now.
00:24:53
He's a singer-songwriter, producer, plays keyboard, record
00:24:58
label founder.
00:24:59
So he founded Bootleg Records, I think they were called.
00:25:03
He was involved in bands like the Group and Axiom and the
00:25:06
Bootleg Family Band and then he went solo in 72, all that sort
00:25:11
of stuff.
00:25:11
He even did a stint with the Flying Burrito Brothers in the
00:25:15
US.
00:25:15
So he's quite well known Probably best known in Australia
00:25:19
for songs like Ginger man, let it Go, show Me the Way, and then
00:25:25
of course Alvin Purple.
00:25:27
And then I guess a lot of older Australians like myself remember
00:25:31
his song for the TV series Class of 74, which was a big
00:25:34
deal in the 70s.
00:25:35
And then I also noticed when I was having a look at his profile
00:25:40
that he actually only just like as in like two or three weeks
00:25:43
ago released a new single called you Know what to Say and had a
00:25:49
listen to it.
00:25:49
It's pretty good as well.
00:25:50
So he's kind of like a rocky, bluesy kind of guy.
00:25:53
Now I think he goes more towards country sort of stuff.
00:25:58
I saw him, oh, last time.
00:26:00
I saw him doing it live.
00:26:01
I'm sure it was back in about 2013, 2012.
00:26:06
I was with my late wife.
00:26:07
We were at a country music festival because she was loved
00:26:09
country music up in the Hunter and I'm pretty sure he was
00:26:14
playing like a duo thing with Russell Morris at the time and
00:26:18
it was quite.
00:26:19
They were on very early in the day, it was quite good, so he's
00:26:22
kind of like been around for a long time.
00:26:25
I listened to him a bit yesterday, pretty good.
00:26:27
Do you know much about him, or have you been exposed to him
00:26:29
very much?
00:26:30
I know you're a bit younger.
00:26:32
Matt Fulton: Well, I did work at .
00:26:34
One of my previous jobs was working at a classic KS radio
00:26:37
station.
00:26:38
Pete Iacono: Oh, you would have known for sure.
00:26:41
Matt Fulton: His appearances on Rock Quiz and Spicks and Specs
00:26:46
and also still tours a lot.
00:26:49
So yeah, it is that whole generation of my generation, I
00:26:56
should say, that are kind of tapping into the previous
00:27:00
generations and Brian Caddy is part of that music generation.
00:27:05
Yeah, no, he's doing the round still, he still is, and that's
00:27:10
great.
00:27:10
Pete Iacono: I love it.
00:27:10
Like he must be.
00:27:11
Well, he was born in 1946.
00:27:14
What does that make him?
00:27:15
Oh, my maths is terrible.
00:27:18
Matt Fulton: Quite young.
00:27:19
Pete Iacono: Quite young.
00:27:20
Well, he's 20, almost 20 years 70, 78.
00:27:25
Matt Fulton: Yeah, He'll be 78.
00:27:28
Pete Iacono: But you know nothing like a good old music at
00:27:30
still doing it, which is great.
00:27:32
Plenty of us still out there doing stuff, so it's great.
00:27:36
Of course he's as young, I reckon keeps you young playing
00:27:40
music as you get older.
00:27:42
Matt Fulton: Especially when you switch from beer to soda water.
00:27:44
Definitely that's that stage where you start.
00:27:50
Better, start looking after myself a little bit.
00:27:52
Pete Iacono: And you go from marijuana to multivitamins.
00:27:57
Matt Fulton: Yeah.
00:27:58
Pete Iacono: Yeah, definitely changes anyway.
00:28:00
So, yeah, so this movie, I don't know.
00:28:02
In closing, I just think this movie is a bit of fun.
00:28:05
It's certainly not earth shattering, but it is kind of
00:28:11
like if you go a dig a bit deeper into it, it actually has,
00:28:15
says some interesting things and on the surface it's just sex
00:28:19
exploitation comedy, which is probably the best way to take it
00:28:22
.
00:28:22
There's a bit of meat there.
00:28:23
Sounds like a double on tonda, If you want.
00:28:28
If you want to have a look, as there's a bit there.
00:28:31
So was it good for you?
00:28:33
Matt Fulton: Yeah, like I was, leave the brain at the door, I
00:28:37
cracked it.
00:28:38
How did?
00:28:38
I had a beer while watching this and, yeah, I, since we last
00:28:45
spoke, I've now since registered with letterboxed and
00:28:50
I gave it three stars.
00:28:52
Pete Iacono: Okay, I think I gave it.
00:28:53
Yeah, I think I gave it about the same.
00:28:54
Matt Fulton: Yeah, and I called it a pure shameless Osploitation
00:28:58
.
00:28:58
Nog fest.
00:28:59
Pete Iacono: There you go.
00:29:00
That's beautifully.
00:29:00
Yeah it's all about the booze baby you did see.
00:29:06
There's like one scene in the movie, I think, where you get to
00:29:10
see his old fella for like a split second, I think.
00:29:15
I don't remember seeing it a lot.
00:29:18
Matt Fulton: It was there, I think he was wrestling with
00:29:21
Chris McQuade in the waterbed, the.
00:29:24
I don't know how to wait, but Chris, she was the artist, the
00:29:28
painting artist, but also the dominatrix, I think, or maybe it
00:29:31
was her.
00:29:32
Pete Iacono: Yeah, it was one of them and I think that's the
00:29:34
only time that I remember seeing it in the movie in any in any
00:29:38
sort of thing.
00:29:39
There's a few, there's a bit of full frontal stuff from the,
00:29:42
from the ladies in the film, but it's nothing gratuitous really
00:29:46
in this movie, it's just a bit of nudity.
00:29:50
Matt Fulton: But then again it's like the first minute or so
00:29:52
when they had Abigail, who at the time was the draw card to a
00:30:00
lot of TV and film in Australia, Pretty much the Pamela Anderson
00:30:04
of the 70s.
00:30:05
Pete Iacono: Oh, she was yeah.
00:30:07
Matt Fulton: Yeah, so, and then when you've got her wearing a
00:30:12
revealing top on the tram in public, yeah, you knew that
00:30:16
you're in for a or a.
00:30:18
Males of a certain age were in for a bit of a I wouldn't say
00:30:23
treat, but as in, yeah, this is what you're going to be in.
00:30:27
Pete Iacono: This is what you're going to be in for, like she
00:30:29
was a massive draw card for these movies.
00:30:32
She was like she was in this movie, she was in the next movie
00:30:35
.
00:30:35
She shows a bit more in the next movie than she showed in
00:30:39
this movie.
00:30:39
She's also massive starring number 96, right, was this about
00:30:43
the same time as?
00:30:44
Oh, here we go.
00:30:45
He's reaching for his.
00:30:47
Matt Fulton: I've got all three volumes of number 96.
00:30:50
Pete Iacono: Yeah, oh, wow.
00:30:51
Matt Fulton: Yeah, which I know.
00:30:52
These are rare.
00:30:53
See, I'm too young for the stuff that I'm interested in, so
00:30:59
I've missed the generation.
00:31:01
Pete Iacono: He missed all that.
00:31:01
I remember seeing that on TV.
00:31:03
I will I think.
00:31:04
What year was number 96?
00:31:06
Was that 70s?
00:31:07
Matt Fulton: 1974.
00:31:08
Pete Iacono: There you go.
00:31:09
Matt Fulton: Sorry, no, no, I do apologize.
00:31:10
1972.
00:31:12
Pete Iacono: Okay.
00:31:12
So yeah, I'm 10,.
00:31:13
I'm 10 years old, so I'm probably not allowed to watch it
00:31:17
1972.
00:31:19
Matt Fulton: And yeah, it's a yeah, abigail's front and center
00:31:24
up in.
00:31:25
Pete Iacono: That was pretty groundbreaking series actually,
00:31:27
wasn't it?
00:31:28
Matt Fulton: It was yeah.
00:31:30
Pete Iacono: It was everything from homosexuality.
00:31:33
Matt Fulton: And then there was um in regards to sexual abuse
00:31:37
and, yeah, just was very, very risky yeah it was, wasn't it.
00:31:40
Yeah, yeah, like it broke a lot of taboos.
00:31:43
Pete Iacono: It did.
00:31:43
Yeah, it was pretty big.
00:31:44
I just remember the most.
00:31:48
The thing I most remember is, uh, the explosion in the is it
00:31:49
the corner store?
00:31:51
Matt Fulton: Well, the, the explosion in the corner store,
00:31:53
yeah, downstairs, where there was the, the bomb, yeah, which
00:31:57
is in volume three.
00:31:59
Pete Iacono: All right.
00:31:59
So that was Alvin purple.
00:32:02
Now we're going to dive into Alvin Marys, again from 1974,
00:32:08
which is of course the 1974 sequel that dives back into the
00:32:12
misadventures of Alvin purple, played again by Graham Blundell.
00:32:15
This time he finds himself entangled in what even more
00:32:19
absurd situations as he accidentally becomes involved
00:32:22
with gangsters.
00:32:23
This is really over the top, um , uh, while still being
00:32:26
irresistibly attractive to women everywhere.
00:32:29
So he encounters his double in this film played by himself, and
00:32:34
it leads to some serious mistaken identities and you know
00:32:38
chaos, right?
00:32:39
Um, we have Alan Finney as Spike, abigail as the seductive
00:32:44
May, noel Ferrier, again as fingers, um, the gangster.
00:32:49
So the movie kind of capitalizes on the sex comedy
00:32:53
formula, but it also has, like the dual role gimmick and I
00:32:59
think makes it a little bit more of a standard comedy.
00:33:03
Matt Fulton: You know what it kind of reminded me of, like it
00:33:06
was lamp hooting, say the James Bond type baddies, yeah With
00:33:10
fingers, or think of was goldfinger.
00:33:13
Pete Iacono: And what was the Nelfaria guy called?
00:33:15
Oh, the hatchet, or something like that, yeah, yeah.
00:33:20
Matt Fulton: Yeah, so you had those returning actors from the
00:33:24
first film playing completely different characters.
00:33:26
Pete Iacono: I was going to say this is my first point what the
00:33:29
heck Anulferia and Penny Hackforth Jones doing in this
00:33:34
movie, playing completely different roles in the first
00:33:36
film.
00:33:37
I'm watching this scene where Penny Hackforth Jones is the
00:33:42
like in the cricket team.
00:33:43
She's in the women's cricket team.
00:33:44
She's like the dead mother I guess one of a bit of a term and
00:33:48
he's sitting right next to him Like don't you realize?
00:33:51
You're sitting next to your psychiatrist from the first
00:33:53
movie.
00:33:53
You tried to ruin your life.
00:33:56
What's going?
00:33:58
Matt Fulton: on.
00:33:58
Pete Iacono: I'm like, why did we end up with these people back
00:34:01
in the movie?
00:34:01
And then Anulferia he was the judge in the first movie and now
00:34:05
he's hatchet in this movie.
00:34:07
Matt Fulton: Yeah, well, it's bizarre.
00:34:09
And the fact that Abigail is in it by playing a different role,
00:34:13
from tram passenger to the assistant, or the wife or the
00:34:19
shop assistant to at the petrol station that Maury Fields runs.
00:34:25
The mechanic is the mechanic.
00:34:27
So yeah, so bizarre.
00:34:30
Pete Iacono: I didn't quite get it.
00:34:31
I was not confused, but it's like I just don't understand how
00:34:37
they, what they're reasoning.
00:34:39
There's no on the DVD.
00:34:41
I don't think there was any.
00:34:42
There was a couple of interviews, I think, but there
00:34:45
was no.
00:34:45
Like there's no commentary on these every bear.
00:34:48
But I just I'm not sure why, why they ended up in here.
00:34:52
I'm just thinking, was there any more that are in here in
00:34:55
this, in this film, that were in the first film?
00:34:57
There's probably a couple.
00:34:58
Matt Fulton: Well, there was actually.
00:35:02
No, I don't think there was, but I just that might have been
00:35:05
people in the background or anything like that.
00:35:07
In fact, I was going to mention too from first movie of Alvin
00:35:13
Purple.
00:35:13
I did notice and I got it confirmed by committee in Tony
00:35:16
Martin.
00:35:16
Sorry to go back to this, but Shane Bourne was in it.
00:35:22
Pete Iacono: He was yeah.
00:35:24
Matt Fulton: Yeah, when the waterbed sales inside the
00:35:26
shopping centre.
00:35:27
Yeah, so is there having a smoke and smoking.
00:35:32
And I was looking for him in Alvin rides again, just in case,
00:35:35
since people were reoccurring in the thing.
00:35:38
Pete Iacono: if he was in it, yeah, but no he wasn't, so OK
00:35:41
yeah.
00:35:42
It's interesting film because we had, like we had a cameo from
00:35:45
pre long weekend, breone Behetz playing a taxi passenger early
00:35:50
in the movie and she was just there to do the usual Alvin
00:35:52
Purple stuff.
00:35:53
Matt Fulton: Yeah, the Nymphomaniac.
00:35:55
Pete Iacono: Yeah, exactly yeah.
00:35:56
And then we had in her second film Chantelle Cantori, who was
00:36:02
in the last movie we did on his snapshot, and then she went on
00:36:05
to do thirst and lots of other things as well, and she's name
00:36:11
in this movie is crazy it's boobs, litchou, shea or
00:36:15
something like that I know right .
00:36:18
Matt Fulton: It's such so Austin Powers.
00:36:20
Before it was Austin Powers.
00:36:22
Pete Iacono: Well, do you know what?
00:36:23
That's the vibe I got from her.
00:36:25
Matt Fulton: Yeah.
00:36:25
I really enjoyed watching Graham Blundell play two
00:36:28
characters, which was kind of fun that was his doing, because
00:36:32
he, I believe that they didn't want to make a sequel, so this
00:36:37
was kind of forced them by the studios and I believe that
00:36:42
Graham had actually said that if you're going to do it, you need
00:36:47
to do this and give me some more range just to show that I
00:36:50
can do it.
00:36:50
And that's why he ended up doing those two roles.
00:36:54
Pete Iacono: Some parts of it.
00:36:55
There's a bit of a Weekend of Bernie's vibe.
00:36:57
Yes.
00:37:01
Matt Fulton: I do have that in my notes too.
00:37:01
The magician's scene won't go.
00:37:03
Yeah, that is very Weekend of Bernie's, and in the hotel room,
00:37:07
yeah.
00:37:08
Pete Iacono: So it's basically the story is he kind of meets up
00:37:12
.
00:37:12
For some reason he and his friend forgotten his name, spike
00:37:16
decide to head north.
00:37:19
I thought they're heading to Queensland, but then I just
00:37:21
assume everyone's in New South Wales, within Victoria.
00:37:23
So they're heading to New South Wales and they decide to go on
00:37:28
the road.
00:37:28
They take off in this really crappy little car which breaks
00:37:32
down, and then that's where we find see Abigail for the first
00:37:35
time and he has dalliance with her while his car is being fixed
00:37:41
at the back, and they end up at this casino.
00:37:44
I don't know where this casino is.
00:37:46
It's just like some casino in the middle of nowhere.
00:37:50
Matt Fulton: Oh, my monobene in Canberra casino, maybe all the
00:37:52
game halfway yeah.
00:37:54
Pete Iacono: And they end up with this character from the US
00:37:58
who's scoping out.
00:38:00
He's named Balsmagi Another Alvin Purple kind of name for it
00:38:06
.
00:38:06
Matt Fulton: Yeah, with the exact same going in and out of
00:38:10
Australia and America, and the only thing difference was like
00:38:14
wearing the suit suit and there's scarring on his face and
00:38:19
something to kind of represent how gangster he was, how
00:38:22
gangster, he is.
00:38:23
Yeah, with his flu is easier.
00:38:25
Pete Iacono: And Gus McCurrier is in this as well.
00:38:27
He was like he's off-sider, balsmagi is off-sider.
00:38:31
It's quite funny.
00:38:32
Yeah, there's a little bit of the usual sort of slapstick
00:38:35
stuff in here.
00:38:35
There's the whole scene where the casino detective, or
00:38:39
whatever they call him, the casino police officer, the house
00:38:42
detective played by Frank Wilson.
00:38:46
Matt Fulton: Yeah, he is just like he could read between the
00:38:52
lines, and that's when it goes all weak in that Bernie style.
00:38:58
Pete Iacono: It's so gross with.
00:39:01
He wants to see them together and they've got Balsmagi's body
00:39:05
in the bath with one of his girls and she actually kisses
00:39:09
him.
00:39:10
I mean, obviously he's alive in the real thing, but we're
00:39:13
supposed to know that he's dead and it's like oh, yeah, goodness
00:39:16
, yeah, that's all quite.
00:39:18
Matt Fulton: And he's like, oh hello.
00:39:20
Pete Iacono: Yeah, exactly.
00:39:21
Matt Fulton: Yeah.
00:39:21
Pete Iacono: So yeah, it's quite funny.
00:39:23
There's that that's very much a weekend at Bernie's thing, and
00:39:26
then you mentioned the magician as well.
00:39:29
That's a funny scene actually.
00:39:30
Matt Fulton: Yeah, can I mention that towards the opening
00:39:33
credits of the film?
00:39:35
I've noticed that when they had when it came up with Frank
00:39:39
Thuring who plays Fingers, but it says courtesy of the
00:39:45
Melbourne Theatre Company, I noticed that as well.
00:39:48
Yeah, wow, such prestige.
00:39:51
Pete Iacono: Yeah, and then, of course and another point I need
00:39:55
to make, where I guess things are a bit different in those
00:39:58
days is a.
00:39:59
Ross Bover plays this dwarf in the movie.
00:40:03
Matt Fulton: Oh, yeah, he's not.
00:40:05
He's not playing and we're only going by what it's been labeled
00:40:08
.
00:40:08
In the movie of its time His character was in the.
00:40:13
In the looked up in the credits , he was called the dwarf.
00:40:17
Pete Iacono: Yeah, he was.
00:40:18
Matt Fulton: Sorry, we're not labelling in that.
00:40:22
Pete Iacono: That is what he was called.
00:40:23
Matt Fulton: Yeah, that's what he was called.
00:40:25
Pete Iacono: Seeing this as a movie of its time.
00:40:27
There are short people jokes, mostly from Frank Thuring, and
00:40:33
once again, these days you wouldn't do it right.
00:40:35
But but the 70s, it was just a thing.
00:40:39
I think he's pretty funny, though Am I wrong to say that?
00:40:42
I think he's really funny the way, especially when.
00:40:46
Matt Fulton: I manipulate his voice.
00:40:47
Yeah Well, that's manipulated, like.
00:40:49
I'm pretty sure it's dubbed, or they got his voice and then
00:40:53
they sped it up.
00:40:54
Pete Iacono: He's got some funny scenes, like when he's you know
00:40:57
, when they double crosses Frank Thuring in the in the safe and
00:41:00
he's in the safe at the end.
00:41:02
Matt Fulton: And that was totally random.
00:41:03
I was oh, you got me.
00:41:10
Pete Iacono: Then we get the little.
00:41:11
You get the tag at the end where he's flying the plane that
00:41:13
they're flying off in as well.
00:41:15
Matt Fulton: Oh yeah, it's so weird.
00:41:18
Pete Iacono: It is a weird movie .
00:41:19
Matt Fulton: When Alvin decided to escape up north there was the
00:41:24
moment where it caused Alvin.
00:41:25
The whole premise with Alvin rides again is that he's looking
00:41:28
for a new job, so apparently the one at the groundskeeper.
00:41:31
He kind of went through that.
00:41:32
But when he gets the window washer, roll at the two story
00:41:39
home and falls off after Lady is just studying their starkers
00:41:43
but it's the new job as the office cleaner and the office
00:41:46
lady seduces him, I just could not stop looking at the office
00:41:49
Boston next day when he walks in the mutton chops on his face.
00:41:53
Oh my God.
00:41:54
Pete Iacono: Yes, and the comb over yes.
00:41:57
Yeah, I was like.
00:41:59
Matt Fulton: I just could not.
00:42:00
I felt like I was nearly yelled at TV game Come your face or
00:42:05
shave it.
00:42:05
It was just.
00:42:06
I've never seen so much mutton chop on his face.
00:42:10
Pete Iacono: I know he walks in.
00:42:10
I said to me he said look at the chops on this guy.
00:42:13
And then, and then I'm like, oh my God, he's got a really bad
00:42:16
comb over as well and I'm like I can't remember the last time.
00:42:22
It must be so out of fashion these days, thankfully, like
00:42:25
combovers must be totally out of fashion these days.
00:42:27
It's like Florida.
00:42:29
Matt Fulton: to kind of date it.
00:42:30
It's like you know a whole thing at the time of this
00:42:32
recording when Godfrey's had gone into voluntary, the
00:42:36
administration thing.
00:42:37
And then you got the Mr Hardy who was the sales rep for
00:42:42
Godfrey's with the comb over, looked him up and he's still got
00:42:46
his 80 and he's still got the comb over, oh God.
00:42:48
Only because we're talking about combovers.
00:42:51
Pete Iacono: Yeah, no, that's all right.
00:42:52
Well, it's obviously from a different generation, right?
00:42:54
And I'm getting a bit bald at the back and I'm like I'm just
00:42:58
going to let it go.
00:42:59
Yeah.
00:43:01
Matt Fulton: I'm in my early 40s and I've just I've lost it all.
00:43:04
Pete Iacono: So yeah, I'm like this.
00:43:07
I think eventually I'll end up shaving it all off, but you know
00:43:11
, it's all grown back since Makiima, which is kind of nice,
00:43:13
but not not all of it, but yeah it's.
00:43:15
It was an interesting film, like well, one of the things was
00:43:18
only rated M at the movies as well.
00:43:21
Well they, which was quite controversial.
00:43:23
Matt Fulton: Well, I think it was because they wanted to
00:43:25
appeal to a younger audience.
00:43:26
So, while Alvin Purple was like , it made its motto for an R
00:43:34
rated film, which is pretty impressive, but I think when
00:43:37
they tried to make the sequel to the studios, again we want to
00:43:41
be like.
00:43:41
Alvin Purple obviously would have been following in.
00:43:44
A whole bunch of younger kids were wanting to watch it, but
00:43:48
they couldn't.
00:43:49
So they got all right, there's an audience there, let's tap
00:43:51
into that, and that's why they went that way.
00:43:54
But it just felt like the movie was being made up as it went.
00:43:58
Pete Iacono: Yeah, it was.
00:43:58
So it was had a $300, I think $300 budget.
00:44:04
It only made about $1.8 million at the box office.
00:44:09
So, it, regards the other one, didn't even do half of what the
00:44:13
other one did and you know, it just didn't perform as well.
00:44:17
I think there's a quote here I'm reading from John Lamond,
00:44:20
who actually worked on the film's release, saying he
00:44:24
thought the filmmakers made a mistake making it less sexy
00:44:27
because they didn't want to lose any potential audience.
00:44:29
So the second one wasn't rated R and it flopped, fell on its
00:44:33
ass after the first month.
00:44:34
Matt Fulton: He said Well, if they do want to lose any of the
00:44:36
potential audience, they should have just kept it as an R rating
00:44:38
.
00:44:38
Pete Iacono: Yeah, exactly Because I think half the
00:44:40
attraction of an R rating is the fact that it's R right.
00:44:44
And you know you've got the usual problem with kids trying
00:44:48
to get in, trying to sneak in and stuff like that, which is a
00:44:51
whole part of the fun.
00:44:52
We all did it and you know it's .
00:44:56
Yeah, it probably would have done just as well.
00:44:58
Matt Fulton: That's the thrill of the chase of sneaking to a
00:45:03
movie which you don't have, that these days anymore.
00:45:06
Pete Iacono: I was reading yesterday, when they first
00:45:08
proposed the R rating in Australia in 71 or 70 or
00:45:13
whatever it was, that there was a heap of pushback from the
00:45:17
cinemas themselves because they didn't want to be the ones that
00:45:20
would have to enforce it.
00:45:23
Yeah, in regards to having to go through all the trouble of
00:45:25
making sure that they were checking ages and all this sort
00:45:28
of stuff.
00:45:29
Matt Fulton: Because they'd lose revenue.
00:45:30
Pete Iacono: Oh, that's exactly right.
00:45:31
Yeah, hey, what did you think of the cricket scene?
00:45:35
So?
00:45:36
Matt Fulton: random.
00:45:36
Yeah, this is where it feels like they're just making it up.
00:45:40
Yeah, bringing the group to write in the women into the
00:45:45
movie to have a sexual escapade.
00:45:48
But the fact that the team was losing.
00:45:52
And then so Alvin and Spike dressed up in drag to do their
00:45:57
thing, to play as the women and start winning the game.
00:46:02
And also the Very dated sludges from all the hecklers yeah,
00:46:10
terry Gill playing one of them, especially when the players are
00:46:13
slapping the women on the butt.
00:46:15
Pete Iacono: So yeah, it was like very uncomfortable.
00:46:19
Yeah, I thought that as well.
00:46:20
It was a bit uncomfortable and I thought for a minute.
00:46:23
I thought, oh, all the girls are going to come out and
00:46:25
they're going to surprise them by being good at cricket, right,
00:46:28
they obviously weren't, but it was a little bit mean spirited
00:46:32
actually and I'm like, why would a women's cricket team play a
00:46:36
men's cricket team?
00:46:37
And for starters, because my thinking was okay, one of these
00:46:41
women is going to hit the ball out, you know, towards that
00:46:46
group of men on the sideline, heckling, and hit one of them in
00:46:49
the nuts, or something like that.
00:46:50
That sort of thing will happen, right.
00:46:52
And the fact that that Alvin and his mate is it Spike Is his
00:46:57
name, spike Spike had to kind of dress up in drag to kind of
00:47:01
save them because they put a bet on them.
00:47:03
It was a bit rough, it was a bit demeaning, but that was the
00:47:07
70s.
00:47:08
Matt Fulton: Yeah, and I love the fact that the oh sorry, I
00:47:12
shouldn't say that I don't love the fact that I found it amusing
00:47:15
that the male cricket team were from Buffington RSL.
00:47:20
Pete Iacono: Yeah, we noticed that as well.
00:47:22
It's like oh, okay.
00:47:24
Matt Fulton: Oh, actually did you notice, though, when they,
00:47:27
when Spike and Alvin were in the hotel and Alvin was, you know,
00:47:33
getting it on with one player at a time, and then it's like
00:47:37
Spike's like send some my way, and all the different door
00:47:41
knocks that would just turn up where, especially with a cleaner
00:47:46
and ladies of all different ages and sizes, especially with
00:47:51
Esme Melville as well, the older lady, and then John Michael
00:47:56
Halzen as the bellboy.
00:47:57
So there's your cameo from John Michael Halzen.
00:48:01
It's outrageous.
00:48:05
Pete Iacono: Yeah, that was a bit rough too, like I was like
00:48:07
oh okay, so we're sending him through.
00:48:10
No fault of Alvin's, apparently , but just the way the film's
00:48:13
written.
00:48:13
They're sending him like the gay guy, the old lady and the
00:48:19
overweight woman.
00:48:20
Once again, doubt you'd see it today, but you know it's, it's
00:48:24
of its time, right.
00:48:25
The other thing that's really interesting in this movie is
00:48:29
right at the very end, is like a little bit of gore, right at
00:48:33
the very end with hatchet.
00:48:34
Matt Fulton: Oh yeah, that did.
00:48:35
Starts movie ends up being like a bit of a action thriller type
00:48:40
thing on a on Sydney Harbor.
00:48:42
Yeah, because it's so weird.
00:48:46
It's like that they gave up on the boobs all.
00:48:48
They ran out of money for the budget.
00:48:50
It's like we've seen everyone's boobs and so let's make boobs
00:48:54
of ourselves and just run a market.
00:48:57
It's like they got a creative license to hey, we can film in
00:49:02
circular key.
00:49:02
What the hell do we do?
00:49:05
Pete Iacono: Yeah, let's get on a ferry.
00:49:06
Matt Fulton: Wow, it was just so weird.
00:49:08
But then again I'm all speechless during that movie.
00:49:12
So I'm going.
00:49:13
Am I watching a really budgeted James Bond movie now?
00:49:17
Pete Iacono: Yeah, it was quite funny like that it's.
00:49:19
But like I said, I think it's less, even though there was
00:49:22
still the sex stuff in there.
00:49:24
It was less of a sex romper, more of a classic sort of comedy
00:49:29
kind of thing, you know, but they still, because it was an
00:49:34
Alvin purple movie like if you've made this with some other
00:49:36
character, they could have cut out all the sex stuff, added
00:49:39
some extra scenes.
00:49:39
It just would have been a comedy.
00:49:41
Matt Fulton: Yeah Well, when Alvin Spike and boobs, the
00:49:47
character not on, just saying boobs.
00:49:50
Let's just yes, when they escape.
00:49:53
And then Alvin and boobs are taken, romantic stroll then
00:49:56
suddenly ends up with balls as funeral Right.
00:50:01
And then next thing, you know the hearse with the machine gun
00:50:07
and then they give chase and going well, where is this going?
00:50:11
It just suddenly ends up being like a full on car chase.
00:50:15
Pete Iacono: It was so weird.
00:50:15
I was like what the fuck is going on, and the guy who was
00:50:20
chasing him in the car hardly understood the word he said when
00:50:24
.
00:50:24
Anyway, when he was talking to them, there's no subtitles on
00:50:28
the DVDs, so you couldn't really get into it that way.
00:50:30
He had this car that had like machine gun at the front and
00:50:34
then these two rocket launches and, like you said, it's almost
00:50:37
like a James Bond film.
00:50:39
Matt Fulton: Yeah, just shooting anything and everything with
00:50:42
one eye patch, and so his death perception is completely off.
00:50:46
No wonder why he was missing him.
00:50:48
Pete Iacono: That's right and killed a guy in a crane which
00:50:51
ends up killing him.
00:50:52
He kills.
00:50:54
I don't know if he kills him.
00:50:56
There was that rental truck that he blew up when he shot it
00:51:01
and it's like OK, this is interesting.
00:51:04
This isn't Alvin Pervill, but anyway.
00:51:06
Matt Fulton: So if you're after nakedness and sex scenes, pretty
00:51:11
much the last one that you see is just before the big shoot
00:51:15
them up.
00:51:16
Pete Iacono: Yeah, because he's in with Boobs Latouche I love
00:51:19
saying that name.
00:51:20
Matt Fulton: Yeah, the Boobs Latouche.
00:51:23
Pete Iacono: Boobs Latouche is a tush because the way it's
00:51:25
written it's T O U C H E, which I thought was too shady.
00:51:29
Matt Fulton: Yeah, it's written like that, but they pronounce it
00:51:31
as Boobs Latouche.
00:51:32
Pete Iacono: Boobs Latouche.
00:51:33
Yeah, and it is.
00:51:35
It's very Austin Powers.
00:51:36
Yeah, a lot of vagina.
00:51:40
Matt Fulton: Yeah, it's just yeah, it's just so weird.
00:51:47
And then when those action scenes are happening, I'm
00:51:49
thinking it's like Cassina Royale and the David Nevin
00:51:52
version and Peter Sellers and with that going on and then when
00:51:58
they end up on the ferry, in the end escaping to the airport
00:52:03
and flying the Sydney, which magically they just end up at
00:52:06
circular key, and the fact that Boobs ends up killing all the
00:52:13
baddies with you know, with whatever, and then they're all
00:52:19
going.
00:52:19
Oh well done, you have learned.
00:52:22
It's like why did?
00:52:24
Why did Demean you?
00:52:27
You have, I see, you have learned.
00:52:31
You know you're Judo well type.
00:52:33
Oh my God.
00:52:33
Pete Iacono: Yeah, it's so strange Like she.
00:52:35
She shoots the first guy and he says something like I wasn't
00:52:40
expecting that or something like that, or whatever it was.
00:52:42
Well done.
00:52:43
Well, she stabs the second guy and he says a few things the
00:52:49
same way, and then she puts a hatchet in Null Ferry's head,
00:52:55
which is like where I said the gore comes.
00:52:56
That's like that's pre-Friday the 13th even.
00:53:00
Matt Fulton: Yeah.
00:53:01
Pete Iacono: So you know it's groundbreaking right.
00:53:04
Matt Fulton: And it does like a Shakespeare-esque type of line
00:53:08
at the end.
00:53:08
I love the the special effects with it, where it's literally
00:53:13
red paint, because that blood is just way too thick and bright.
00:53:19
Pete Iacono: Yeah, it's.
00:53:20
Yeah it's very red, but yeah, so it's.
00:53:23
It's an interesting movie.
00:53:24
We get another.
00:53:25
We get another little bit from Brian Cadd.
00:53:28
In this movie he sings.
00:53:29
There's a like just before the scene with the magician.
00:53:32
There's a scene with his band I think it's a bootleg family
00:53:36
band at the time doing his gig and I was like geez, they
00:53:40
cleared that stage so quick because they finished playing it
00:53:43
and the magician's on stage right where the drummer was set
00:53:46
up.
00:53:46
Matt Fulton: But that's the you know, because you're you're
00:53:50
playing the odd band and it's like you click your fingers.
00:53:55
Pete Iacono: Just click your fingers, it's all gone.
00:53:56
That's it.
00:53:57
It's very quick and that stage is so small.
00:54:00
That poor drummer and he was, I think he's a real drummer.
00:54:05
He was kind of overplaying his sort of hand movements.
00:54:09
He was probably told by the director to make it look more
00:54:13
like he was doing something.
00:54:14
But it was quite funny.
00:54:16
But you know it was, it was a good movie.
00:54:19
It was funny and I don't know I was kind of thinking out of the
00:54:23
two movies did you have a preference for one over the
00:54:25
other?
00:54:26
Matt Fulton: Yeah, well, I would say that with Alvin Rise again
00:54:29
and I put this on my letterbox as well I gave it one and a half
00:54:33
Like I tried my absolute best.
00:54:36
I only pushed through it because we had to.
00:54:39
I had to review it for the podcast and I my comment for it
00:54:45
was Jesus, this sequel made no sense and I'm I'm really open to
00:54:52
accepting that.
00:54:53
It's like with Barry Mackenzie, all design type where it goes
00:54:58
into like a whole vampire type thing.
00:55:00
I'm always open for a completely different direction
00:55:04
or anything like this.
00:55:05
But I really struggled with Alvin Rise again.
00:55:08
Pete Iacono: I kind of didn't mind it.
00:55:09
I was.
00:55:10
When I first finished watching it I was like, did I actually
00:55:14
enjoy that?
00:55:14
And then I was like, when I was reflecting on, I was like I
00:55:19
enjoyed it, but I enjoyed it like I would enjoy, I don't know
00:55:23
, a piece of chocolate.
00:55:24
Matt Fulton: And then it's gone and you forget all about it.
00:55:26
Whereas.
00:55:29
Pete Iacono: Alvin Purple's probably a little bit more.
00:55:32
God can you even say Alvin Purple's thought provoking.
00:55:36
I guess it is in a way.
00:55:37
I know it sounds like I'm building these two up too much,
00:55:41
but the main reason and I'll tell you the truth, the other
00:55:43
reason we decided to do both of these was because I'm like I
00:55:47
can't fill up an hour talking about Alvin Purple.
00:55:51
Matt Fulton: I don't blame you.
00:55:53
Pete Iacono: All right.
00:55:54
So, matt, let me know where people can find you and let
00:55:58
listeners know where people can find you, what you're up to and
00:56:01
all your socials, if you want.
00:56:03
Matt Fulton: Sure, well, my stuff is my Geek Culture, the
00:56:08
Australian type pop culture website.
00:56:12
So if you look up MyGeekCulturecomau and also it's
00:56:18
available on YouTube.
00:56:20
So I've got some stuff which I'm filming and I've got another
00:56:24
podcast coming up based on that , which is not boring.
00:56:28
It has elements of this podcast in it, so it's like an extended
00:56:33
universe, I should say.
00:56:34
So it's something which you may be interested in as well.
00:56:37
Pete Iacono: Not like a multiverse.
00:56:38
Matt Fulton: Yeah, multiverse, yeah, an Aussieverse.
00:56:41
Pete Iacono: An Aussieverse.
00:56:42
There you go, there's a new one .
00:56:43
It's a exploityverse.
00:56:46
Matt Fulton: So that's coming soon and, as well as I do the
00:56:50
Champagne Comedy podcast, which is myself and my co-hosts,
00:56:57
review the catalogue of the Working Dog Comedy team.
00:57:02
Yeah, and look at that up on any podcast platform Champagne
00:57:06
Comedy podcast.
00:57:07
And yeah, I'm just floating around on socials as well.
00:57:11
I'm very active on Twitter at MattFoltoncomau and my website
00:57:20
is mattfoltoncomau.
00:57:23
Pete Iacono: Excellent, excellent.
00:57:23
So you're one of the people like me still calls it Twitter?
00:57:27
Yeah, I'm pretty much the call it, but I'm also on Blue Sky.
00:57:35
Matt Fulton: Yeah, I'm on Letterbox as well.
00:57:37
So ever since you mentioned that, I want you to better make
00:57:40
the effort, so I'm on Letterbox is so good.
00:57:42
Mattfoltoncomau on Letterbox.
00:57:44
Goodness gracious, what are the socials?
00:57:46
Instagram, Mastodon Threads.
00:57:49
Pete Iacono: Excellent, all right.
00:57:50
Well, thank you so much for coming on.
00:57:51
It's always a pleasure having you on and having a good chat
00:57:55
with you about all these weird Australian films, and these two
00:57:58
were definitely definitely that.
00:57:59
When we come back, we'll talk about what's coming up next.
00:58:03
And now preview time.
00:58:09
When it comes to entertainment, you can't beat a good film, so
00:58:19
let's take a look at what's coming your way.
00:58:21
The following is based on true events.
00:58:24
Can you interpret dreams?
00:58:29
Sometimes, how do you feel when you wake up from these dreams?
00:58:33
They scare me a bit For Alice Palmer.
00:58:45
Underneath the hopes of a bright future were suspicions.
00:58:49
I feel like something bad is going to happen to me.
00:58:52
The death was new.
00:58:56
Matt Fulton: You scared of dying ?
00:58:57
Yeah, of course I'm scared of dying.
00:58:59
That was the last time I saw her.
00:59:01
I kept hearing noises in the hallway.
00:59:05
It hasn't reached me yet, but it's on its way.
00:59:08
I feel like I can't do anything .
00:59:11
I think Alice saw a ghost.
00:59:15
I didn't have any rational explanation for who was in those
00:59:20
photos.
00:59:23
Pete Iacono: Something was happening inside their house and
00:59:24
I wanted to find out what it was.
00:59:27
Matt Fulton: There was a ghost in their house.
00:59:29
Lake Mungo.
00:59:48
Pete Iacono: Yeah, of course I'm scared of dying.
00:59:49
Isn't everyone scared of dying?
00:59:54
Next, on a dingo 8-mime movie, we dive into Lake Mungo.
00:59:57
Get ready for a haunting journey through this Ozzy Corp
01:00:01
classic.
01:00:02
Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode.
01:00:14
Thank you to all my guests who give their time to make this
01:00:17
podcast possible, and a special thanks to you for listening.
01:00:20
Don't forget you can follow a dingo 8-mime movie on social
01:00:24
media.
01:00:25
We're at Dingo Movie on Twitter , dingo Movie Pod on Facebook
01:00:30
and Instagram and we're on the web at dingomoviepodcom.
01:00:34
If you'd like to support the show, leave us a rating or
01:00:39
review on Apple podcasts or share the show with your friends
01:00:43
.
01:00:43
Of course, you can always buy me a coffee over at
01:00:46
buymeacoffeecom.
01:00:47
Once again, thanks for listening.
01:00:52
Stay safe and I'll see you on the next episode of a dingo
01:00:57
8-mime movie.
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