Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Naked Bunyip (1970)


Director: John B. Murray

Starring: Graeme Blundell, Barry Humprhies and a cast of dozens and dozens of everyday people you'll never meet

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The first serious study of sex in Australia (in a funny sort of way).

Plot: A shy young man is hired by an ad agency to conduct a survey on sex in Australia. The somewhat clueless young man investigates homosexuality, transvestites, prostitution, and strip clubs along with every other variant on the "norm". While doing his interviews he meets celebrities, self proclaimed sex experts, prostitutes, female impersonators, pop stars, actors, and legislators as well as self appointed morals guardians.



My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Nah.

#5 on my on-going quest to watch every film from the amazing documentary, NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF OZPLOITATION! (2008)

While this isn't one of those "everything you always wanted to know about..." kind of flicks, it does cover an awful lot of ground on a wide range of subjects, all pertaining to sex and sexuality. Barry Humphries (as the very funny Edna Everage - not yet Dame Edna) was one of the brighter spots but he/she is only in it in the beginning, but the survey she takes, with all manner of questions, is hilarious.

On the question of "Do you believe in circumcision?"

"The only thing about circumcision, I feel, is that it really isn't taken far enough!"

One great reason to watch this is not for the few laughs (which are front-loaded in the film, btw. There aren't nearly as many laughs for the rest of the picture as in the first twenty minutes) but for the clothing styles, music and overall late 60s culture in Australia. It's wonderful to watch. And it's funny (or not) how much we as a society, in a lot of ways, haven't changed all that much. The more things change, the more they stay this same isn't too far off the mark. But the biggest surprise for me was that at no point in the TWO HOURS AND SIXTEEN MINUTES (!) did I get bored! It was quite entertaining. It's actually kind of fun...or maybe it's just that everything sounds better when spoken with an Australian accent...

No comments:

Post a Comment