''Oz'' (a.k.a. ''Oz – A Rock 'n' Roll Road Movie'' also released as ''20th Century Oz'' in United States) is a 1976 Australian film written, directed and co-produced by
Chris Löfvén
Chris Löfvén (born 4 April 1948) is an Australian film maker. He is best known for directing the feature film '' Oz'' (1976) and for directing a number of video clips, including " Eagle Rock".
He started making films when he was about 12.
He ...
.
It stars
Joy Dunstan
Joy Dunstan (born 20 July 1951) is an Australian retired film and television actress. She is best remembered as the teenage star of Chris Löfvén's 1976 film '' Oz'', a modern-day remake of the 1939 film '' The Wizard of Oz'', with Graham Ma ...
,
Graham Matters
Graham Matters (19 July 1948 - 7 May 2021) was an Australian actor and musician.
He appeared in the 1976 film '' Oz'' as Wally, the Wizard, record salesman and tram conductor. He was one of the original Australian cast members of ''The Rocky Hor ...
,
Bruce Spence
Bruce Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand–Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre.
Biography
Spence won an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1971 comedy ...
,
Gary Waddell
Gary Waddell is an Australian actor. He was nominated for the 2012 AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in '' The King is Dead!'' and for an AFI award for his role in 1975 film ''Pure Shit''.
Filmography
TV
*'' Old School ...
, and
Robin Ramsay; and received four nominations at the 1977
AFI Awards.
The musical score is by
Ross Wilson (frontman for
Daddy Cool and
Mondo Rock
Mondo Rock are an Australian rock band, formed in November 1976 in Melbourne, Victoria. Singer-songwriter Ross Wilson founded the band, following the split of his previous band Daddy Cool. Guitarist Eric McCusker, who joined in 1980, wrote man ...
).
The plot is a re-imagining of the 1939 ''
The Wizard of Oz'' film transferred to 1970s Australia and aimed at an older teen / young adult audience. It was released on DVD in 2004 as ''Oz - A Rock 'n' Roll Road Movie : Collector's Edition'' with additional material. The poster and album sleeve for the American release was done by rock artist
Jim Evans.
Plot summary
Dorothy (Joy Dunstan) is a sixteen-year-old groupie riding with a rock band, Wally (Graham Matters) and the Falcons. Suddenly, the van is in a road accident, and she hits her head. She wakes up in a fantasy world as gritty and realistic as the one she came from and learns she killed a young thug in the process. A gay clothier, Glin the Good Fairy (Robin Ramsay), gives her a pair of red shoes as a reward to help her see the last concert of the Wizard (Matters), an androgynous glam rock singer. She is pursued by the thug's brother (Ned Kelly) who attempts to rape her on several occasions. She also meets a dumb surfer Blondie (
Bruce Spence
Bruce Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand–Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre.
Biography
Spence won an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1971 comedy ...
), a heartless mechanic Greaseball (Michael Carman), and a tough biker Killer (Garry Waddell).
Cast
*
Joy Dunstan
Joy Dunstan (born 20 July 1951) is an Australian retired film and television actress. She is best remembered as the teenage star of Chris Löfvén's 1976 film '' Oz'', a modern-day remake of the 1939 film '' The Wizard of Oz'', with Graham Ma ...
as Dorothy
*
Robin Ramsay as Glynn the Good Fairy
*
Graham Matters
Graham Matters (19 July 1948 - 7 May 2021) was an Australian actor and musician.
He appeared in the 1976 film '' Oz'' as Wally, the Wizard, record salesman and tram conductor. He was one of the original Australian cast members of ''The Rocky Hor ...
as Wally/the Wizard/record salesman/tram conductor
*
Bruce Spence
Bruce Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand–Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre.
Biography
Spence won an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1971 comedy ...
as bass player/surfer
*
Michael Carman as drummer/mechanic
*
Gary Waddell
Gary Waddell is an Australian actor. He was nominated for the 2012 AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in '' The King is Dead!'' and for an AFI award for his role in 1975 film ''Pure Shit''.
Filmography
TV
*'' Old School ...
as guitarist/biker
Production
Chris Lofven and Lyne Helms got the idea to make an Australian version of ''The Wizard of Oz'' while working in London in the early 1970s. Lofven was also inspired by
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
and wanted
Graham Matters
Graham Matters (19 July 1948 - 7 May 2021) was an Australian actor and musician.
He appeared in the 1976 film '' Oz'' as Wally, the Wizard, record salesman and tram conductor. He was one of the original Australian cast members of ''The Rocky Hor ...
to feature.
["Chris Lofven/Lyne Helms", ''Cinema Papers'', June–July 1976 p52-53]
They moved back to Australia in September 1974, and house sat at the house of
David Williamson
David Keith Williamson Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 24 February 1942) is an Australians, Australian dramatist and playwright. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.
Early life
David Williamson was born in Melbourne, Vi ...
for six months writing the script (Lofven's sister Kristen was married to Williamson).
[David Stratton, ''The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival'', Angus & Robertson, 1980 p232-233] The first draft was rejected for funding but the second got some development from the
Australian Film Development Corporation
The Australian Film Development Corporation was an organisation created and funded by the Australian Government in the 1970s, intended to allow filmmakers in the Australian film industry to create movies for everyone to see. In 1975 it was repl ...
in March 1975, shortly before it became the
Australian Film Commission
The Australian Film Commission (AFC) was an Australian government agency was founded in 1975 with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a producti ...
.
The budget was $150,000 with $260,000 in contra deals. The
Australian Film Commission
The Australian Film Commission (AFC) was an Australian government agency was founded in 1975 with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a producti ...
invested $90,000 plus a loan of $25,000 and Greater Union put in $25,000 with the rest from private investment.
The money took six months to raise.
Joy Dunstan was a singer and theatre actress who was cast after Lofven saw her singing at the Flying Trapeze cafe. It was her first movie.
The film was shot in early 1976 over a five-week period near Melbourne.
Release
The film was a commercial disappointment on release in Australia despite receiving some excellent reviews. It may have been hurt by the fact the soundtrack was not ready before the film came out in July. However the movie was released in the US and was one of the highest-grossing Australian films there, grossing over $1 million before its release in the largest markets in New York and Los Angeles, and has become a cult movie.
Soundtrack
Wilson,
Gary Young and Wayne Burt were all former members of
Daddy Cool. Their biggest hit single "
Eagle Rock" had a promo video directed by Löfvén in 1971. By late 1975, Daddy Cool had disbanded and Wilson was waiting out his contract with Wizard Records by producing a
Company Caine
Company Caine, also styled as Co. Caine and Company Kane, were an Australian progressive rock band. They were formed in March 1970 by Ray Arnott on drums (ex-Chelsea Set, Browns, Cam-Pact), Cliff Edwards on bass guitar (ex-Cam-Pact), Jeremy Noo ...
album for his own label Oz Records. Wilson signed
Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons
Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons are an Australian blues music, blues and rock music, rock band that features the singer, songwriter and saxophonist Joe Camilleri (aka "Jo Jo Zep"). The band was active in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and had severa ...
with members Young and Burt to his label. Contractually free, Wilson recorded his first solo single "Livin' in the Land of Oz" and produced Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons' second single "
Beating Around the Bush" both released mid-1976 from this soundtrack.
Track listing
Track listing for Australian version ''Oz - A Rock 'n' Roll Road Movie'' released on Oz Records /
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
in 1976, US version ''20th Century Oz'' released on Celestial Records in 1977.
# "Livin' in the Land of Oz" (
Ross Wilson) — Ross Wilson - 4:12
# "The Mood" (Wilson) — Ross Wilson - 3:31
# "
Beating Around the Bush" (Wayne Burt) —
Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons
Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons are an Australian blues music, blues and rock music, rock band that features the singer, songwriter and saxophonist Joe Camilleri (aka "Jo Jo Zep"). The band was active in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and had severa ...
- 3:30
# "Our Warm Tender Love" (
Gary Young) — Joy Dunstan - 3:46
# "You're Driving Me Insane" (Baden Hutchins) — Graham Matters - 3:25
# "Livin' in the Land of Oz" (Reprise #1) — Ross Wilson - 1:43
# "Greaseball" (Wilson) — Ross Wilson - 3:43
# "Glad I'm Living Here" (Burt) — Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons - 4:07
# "Who's Gonna Love You Tonight" (Wilson, David Pepperell) — Ross Wilson - 4:41
# "You're Driving Me Insane" (Reprise) — Graham Matters - 5:53
# "Livin' in the Land of Oz" (Reprise #2) — Ross Wilson - 1:45
# "Atmospherics" (Wilson, John French, Ian Mason) — Ross Wilson - 1:35
All songwriters according to
Australasian Performing Right Association
APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwr ...
(APRA).
Charts
Personnel
* Ross Wilson – producer, arranger
* John French – engineer
*
Peter Ledger
Peter Ledger (25 October 1945 – 18 November 1994) was an Australian cartoonist, comic book artist, commercial airbrush artist, and illustrator.
Biography
In addition to studying art, Ledger worked with surveying teams in the Australian outba ...
— cover illustration & design
References
External links
*
*
*
*
''Oz''at Oz Movies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oz (1976 Film)
1976 films
Australian fantasy comedy films
1970s musical films
Australian musical comedy films
Films set in Australia
1976 comedy films
1970s English-language films
Films based on The Wizard of Oz