''Reckless Kelly'' is a 1993 Australian
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
produced, written, directed and starring
Yahoo Serious
Yahoo Serious (born Greg Gomez Pead; 27 July 1953) is an Australian film actor, director, and score composer. His films include the comedy films ''Young Einstein'' (1988), ''Reckless Kelly'' (1993), and '' Mr. Accident'' (2000). Serious writes, ...
. It co-stars
Melora Hardin,
Alexei Sayle and
Hugo Weaving
Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is an English actor. Born in Colonial Nigeria to English parents, he has resided in Australia for the entirety of his career. He is the recipient of six AACTA Awards, Australian Academy of Cinema and Tel ...
. The story is a
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
take on a modern-day
Ned Kelly, a famous Australian outlaw.
Synopsis
A modern-day
Ned Kelly robs banks in Australia and gives all the money to the poor people. Ned is forced to go to
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
to make enough money to save his family's land. As it goes against his belief, he cannot simply rob banks there for his own benefit. Ned is forced to find another way to come up with the $1 million required to save his family island. That is when a movie producer shows up and gives Ned an offer he cannot refuse.
Cast
*
Yahoo Serious
Yahoo Serious (born Greg Gomez Pead; 27 July 1953) is an Australian film actor, director, and score composer. His films include the comedy films ''Young Einstein'' (1988), ''Reckless Kelly'' (1993), and '' Mr. Accident'' (2000). Serious writes, ...
... Ned Kelly
*
Melora Hardin ... Robin Banks
*
Alexei Sayle ... Major Wib
*
Hugo Weaving
Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is an English actor. Born in Colonial Nigeria to English parents, he has resided in Australia for the entirety of his career. He is the recipient of six AACTA Awards, Australian Academy of Cinema and Tel ...
... Sir John
*
Kathleen Freeman ... Mrs. Delance
*
John Pinette
John Paul Pinette ( ) (March 23, 1964 – April 5, 2014) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and Broadway performer. He toured the comedy club circuit beginning in the 1980s and appeared in cinema and on television. Besides stand-up, Pinet ...
... Sam Delance
*
Bob Maza ... Dan Kelly
*
Martin Ferrero
Martin Victor Ferrero (born September 29, 1947) is an American actor. His most well known roles are Izzy Moreno in ''Miami Vice'' (1984-1989) and Donald Gennaro in the 1993 film ''Jurassic Park''.
Life and career
Ferrero was born in Brockport, Ne ...
... Ernie the Fan
*
Anthony Ackroyd
Anthony Michael Ackroyd (born 30 June) is an Australian comedian, writer, musician, actor, speaker, and teacher. He is currently the CEO (Chief Enjoyment Officer) of his company The Laughter Advantage.
Biography
Ackroyd was born in Hobart, Tasma ...
... Joe Kelly
*
Max Walker
Maxwell Henry Norman Walker (12 September 1948 – 28 September 2016) was an Australian sportsman who played both cricket and Australian rules football at high levels. After six years of balancing first-class cricket in summer, professional f ...
... Newsreader
Production
The film was financed by Warner Bros, Village Roadshow and the Australian
Film Finance Corporation
The Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) was the government agency responsible for funding commercial productions of Australian film, documentary, and television from 1988 to 2008. Unlike other publicly funded organisations responsible for f ...
. Serious used many of the same key creatives he had on ''
Young Einstein''.
Reception
Neil Jillett, film critic for ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' wrote, "There are some good gags along the way, and a few of the plot's twists have an entertainingly surreal zaniness. But there is much heavy going too. Most of the messages Serious loads into the film—protect the environment, hate violence and banks, mock the British, go for a republic, sneer at American fads and religious hypocrisy—are presented with a smugness that was missing from ''Young Einstein''".
Box office
''Reckless Kelly'' opened at
number one at the Australian box office with a gross of $2,036,224. It remained at number one for a second week and went on to gross $5,444,534 at the Australian box office.
In popular culture
* Australian rock duo
Divinyls covered the song
"Wild Thing" in 1993 for the soundtrack to the film. It peaked at No. 39 on the
Australian Singles Chart
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
.
See also
*
Cinema of Australia
The cinema of Australia had its beginnings with the 1906 production of ''The Story of the Kelly Gang'', arguably the world's first feature film. Since then, Australian crews have produced many films, a number of which have received internati ...
References
External links
*
*
''Reckless Kelly''at Oz Movies
*
* {{Internet Archive film, id=reckless-kelly-1993
RECKLESS KELLY : 1ST RE-CUT VERSION(Australian video release) at the National Film and Sound Archive
RECKLESS KELLY : 2ND RE-CUT VERSION(U.S.A. film release) at the National Film and Sound Archive
1993 films
Australian Western (genre) comedy films
Australian satirical films
1990s English-language films
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Australia
1993 comedy films
Films scored by Anthony Marinelli
Warner Bros. films
Cultural depictions of Ned Kelly
Films directed by Yahoo Serious