''Romper Stomper'' is a 1992 Australian
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...
written and directed by
Geoffrey Wright in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...
,
Daniel Pollock,
Jacqueline McKenzie,
Tony Le-Nguyen and Colin Chin. The film tells the story of the exploits and downfall of a
neo-Nazi
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...
group in
blue-collar
A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...
suburban
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
. The film was released on 12 November 1992.
Plot
A gang of violent young
neo-Nazi
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...
skinheads
A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...
from
Footscray, Victoria
Footscray is an inner-city Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Maribyrnong Local go ...
, Australia attack three
Vietnamese Australian
}) are Australians of Vietnamese ancestry. Vietnamese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Vietnamese diaspora. At the 2021 census, 334,781 people stated that they had Vietnamese ancestry (whether alone or in combination w ...
teenagers in a tunnel at
Footscray Station, brutally beating two of them. The gang is led by Hando, a violent, reckless, and unpredictable
psychopath
Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been ...
with strong
white nationalist beliefs and homicidal tendencies, with his friend and second-in-command, the quiet, reserved, but similarly violent Davey. At their local pub, Hando and Davey meet Gabrielle, who suffers from poorly controlled epilepsy, the day after her sexually abusive, affluent father Martin has her junkie boyfriend arrested. Gabrielle begins a romantic relationship with Hando, which, despite a strong start, quickly becomes dysfunctional as he becomes increasingly abusive towards her.
After the gang vandalizes a
shopping mall
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that ...
, friends of the gang visit from
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, one of whom has joined the
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister o ...
. A party at the warehouse follows. The next day two boys go to the pub, which has just been sold to a Vietnamese businessman by the owner. Upon seeing the new owner and his sons, they inform Hando, who arrives with his gang, and they savagely beat two of the new owner's sons, while the third son escapes and calls for help. Fed up with the gang's antagonism and violence, a large mob of armed and angry Vietnamese men, led by Tiger, arrive and descend upon the skinheads. The Vietnamese outnumber the skinheads by droves, and in the ensuing brawl and chase, several skinheads are beaten by the angry mob, among them Magoo, Luke, Champ, and Brent. The rest of the gang is chased back to their rented warehouse, from which they narrowly escape as the Vietnamese mob breaks in and ransacks the building before
burning it down.
The skinheads soon find a new base at a nearby warehouse, after evicting a pair of squatters, and plan retaliation against the Vietnamese. When the gang agrees to acquire firearms, two female friends of the gang depart in disgust. Gabrielle suggests the gang burgle her father's mansion for the guns. After beating and tying up Martin, the gang ransacks the house, smashes one of his cars, and raids his wine collection. The youngest skinhead, Bubs, steals a deactivated revolver from the house during the burglary. Gabrielle tells Martin the burglary is revenge for his years of abuse, then reveals to Davey her plan to take Hando away from his violent life. Martin eventually frees himself and uses a handgun to scare away the gang, who flee in the trashed vehicle and leave behind most of the stolen goods. Due to this incident, Davey begins to question his violent lifestyle.
Agitated by Gabrielle's criticism of the poor outcome of the robbery and their living conditions, Hando abruptly hits, berates, dumps, and then evicts her. Davey, unable to tolerate the excess violence and Hando's cruel and unpredictable nature any further, declares his departure from the gang and gives Gabrielle his German grandmother's address, where he will be staying. Gabrielle informs the police of the gang's location and spends the night with Davey, where they confess their feelings for each other. Davey also reveals his doubts about his violent lifestyle to Gabrielle, having removed the racist patches from his
flight jacket out of concern for his grandmother.
The morning after, the police raid the warehouse where the skinhead gang is hiding. Bubs is shot in the head after pointing the stolen deactivated gun at the police, and what remains of the gang is beaten and arrested. Hando, who was returning to the warehouse and fled when he spotted the police, successfully evades capture as the last remaining member of his gang.
Arriving at Davey's granny-flat, Hando finds his friend in bed with Gabrielle. Hando accuses her of informing the police, but Davey says they were together the whole time since leaving the squat. However, Hando convinces Davey and Gabrielle to come with him by claiming the police will soon raid the residence, and the trio go on the run. They rob a service station, where Hando strangles the Asian attendant to death; and, after driving all night, they stop at
Point Addis,
Bells Beach
Bells Beach is a coastal locality of Victoria, Australia in Surf Coast Shire and a renowned surf beach, located 100 km south-west of Melbourne, on the Great Ocean Road near the towns of Torquay and Jan Juc.
It is named after William B ...
the next morning. There, Gabrielle overhears a conversation wherein Hando tries to convince Davey to abandon her. Feeling betrayed, Gabrielle sets their car on fire and admits to tipping the police off about the gang's whereabouts. Hando, infuriated beyond sense, immediately attacks her and attempts to
asphyxiate
Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...
her multiple times, first by strangling her and then by drowning her in the surf. Davey attempts to fight Hando several times and successfully disrupts each attempt on Gabrielle's life, but he is quickly fought off and beaten down each time. Eventually, Hando attempts to smother Gabrielle in the sand, before Davey, desperate to save Gabrielle, stabs Hando in the neck with his
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
knife, who staggers away before finally collapsing. As a busload of Japanese tourists looks on, a weeping Davey attempts to comfort a petrified Gabrielle as Hando's corpse gazes lifelessly out at the ocean.
Cast
*
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...
as Hando
*
Daniel Pollock as Davey
*
Jacqueline McKenzie as Gabrielle
*
Tony Le-Nguyen (credited as Tony Lee) as Tiger
*
Alex Scott as Martin
* Leigh Russell as Sonny Jim
*
Dan Wyllie as Cackles
* James McKenna as Bubs
* Eric Mueck as Champ
* Frank Magree as Brent
* Christopher McLean as Luke
*
John Brumpton
John Brumpton (born 28 July 1958) is an Australian actor who has appeared in a large number of local productions.
Early life
Brumpton grew up in Sydney. He graduated from the University of New South Wales in 1982 with a Bachelor of Survey ...
as Magoo
* Colin Chin as Japanese Extra 1
Origin
Geoffrey Wright's script was inspired by the highly publicised crimes of leading Melbourne Neo-Nazi Dane Sweetman. Wright contacted Sweetman via mail in 1991 to request an interview; Sweetman was at that time in the process of serving a life sentence in
Pentridge Prison for murder. The interview could not be arranged in a timely manner due to prison regulations, so the two men commenced correspondence, and Sweetman furnished Wright with a transcript of his murder trial, from which Wright drew influence. This influence is most clearly seen in the line delivered by Hando when scaring off squatters from the warehouse: "I'll chop your legs off". It is a direct reference to Sweetman's having cut off the legs of his victim.
That was one of many aspects of the film that mirrored Sweetman's life. A further example is that the characters Gabrielle, Davey, and the punk girls were all based on associates of Sweetman. Sweetman's name was conspicuously absent in the end credits, however. This issue was raised in the Australian media during the publicity phase of promoting the film. Russell Crowe acknowledged the origin of his character during an interview on'' Tonight Live ''with Steve Vizard in 1992. Wright has also cited Sweetman as an inspiration for the film's characters.
The film was financed by 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 ...
with
Film Victoria
VicScreen, formerly known as Film Victoria, is the Victorian Government’s creative and economic screen development agency. They function behind the scenes, supporting professionals, infrastructure, projects and events – elevating Victor ...
.
Soundtrack
The
film's score was released by Picture This Records. It included the orchestral music and the energetic
punk rock music similar to the
Oi! genre (recorded by studio musicians).
White Power labels have bootlegged the RAC tracks and released them on a 7" many times since the soundtrack's release. In 2011, a Russian WP label released the whole soundtrack on a 12".
The RAC songs are often misattributed to real RAC bands on peer to peer sites, with
Skrewdriver
Skrewdriver were an English punk rock band formed by Ian Stuart Donaldson in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, in 1976. Originally a punk band, Skrewdriver changed into a white supremacist rock band after reuniting in the 1980s. Their original ...
being used often. The band is also often called "Master Race" due to Peter Pales's German-language monologue in the beginning of "Pulling on the Boots". Some people have also considered the Australian punk band the
Bastard Squad to have done the soundtrack, due to the line "Jason from the Bastard Squad" being in the thank you section at the movie's end credits. The actual versions of the RAC songs used in the film are earlier versions to what ended up on the commercial CD—most obvious being "Fuhrer Fuhrer", which plays in the scene after Hando is notified about Vietnamese being at the Railway Hotel—Clifford-White's intonation is slightly different and there are no backing vocals in the chorus.
In 2014, bassist Chris Pettifer was interviewed for ''
Vice Magazine'' about the soundtrack, in which he expressed his disappointment about how genuine neo-Nazi groups had embraced the Oi! songs.
# "Prologue"
# "Romper Stomper Theme"
# "Pulling on the Boots"
# "Skinheads Go Shopping"/"Gabe Sees Swastika"
# "Mein Kampf"
# "Fuhrer Fuhrer"
# "Let's Break Some Fingers/Brawl Crawl"
# "The Smack Song"
# "Tonguey for the Skins/Nightmare for the Hippies"
# "At the Mansion"
# "We Came to Wreck Everything"
# "Wild Animals 1"
# "Bubs Dead/Gabe Finds Davey"
# "Gabe and Davey"
# "Fourth Reich Fighting Men"
# "Night Drive"
# "On the Beach"
# "Wild Animals 2"
# "Fourth Reich Fighting Men (Reprise)"
# "The Dead Nazi March"
Crew
* John Clifford White – vocals
* John Hewett – guitar
* Chris Pettifer – bass
* Phillip Beard – drums
* Peter Pales – German vocals on "Pulling on the Boots"
* John Hawker – conductor
* Produced by Doug Brady
* All songs composed and written by John Clifford White
Awards
The film was nominated for nine
Australian Film Institute Awards
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industr ...
. It won Best Achievement in Sound,
Best Actor in a Lead Role and
Best Original Music Score.
At the
APRA Music Awards of 1993, the soundtrack won Television or Film Score of the Year.
Box office and reception
''Romper Stomper'' opened at
number one at the Australian box office with a gross of $819,736 from 49 screens, replacing ''
Strictly Ballroom''. It went on to gross $3.2 million at the Australian box office, the second highest-grossing Australian film of the year behind ''
Strictly Ballroom''. The film has an approval rating of 79% on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
based on 29 reviews, with a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
of 6.4/10 with its consensus reading, "Relentlessly grim and gripping, ''Romper Stomper'' is a disquietingly authentic glimpse into the inner dynamics of a hate group, featuring an electric performance by Russell Crowe".
David Stratton
David James Stratton (born 10 September 1939) is an English-Australian award-winning film critic, as both a journalist and interviewer, film historian and lecturer and television personality and producer.
Life and career
Born in Trowbridge, ...
of
SBS ''
The Movie Show
''The Movie Show'' is an Australian film review program which was broadcast on SBS TV. Its history is divided into three parts, until it finally wound up in 2008.
History
The original format, which ran from 30 October 1986 to 12 May 2004, had ...
'' praised the acting style in the film but was appalled at the level of violence, and as a consequence refused to give it a rating while fellow ''Movie Show'' critic
Margaret Pomeranz gave it four-and-a-half stars.
Stratton also described the film in ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' as "''
A Clockwork Orange
''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to:
* ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess
** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel
*** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...
'' without the intellect".
[ Wright was so upset by Stratton's rating that he later poured a glass of wine on Stratton during a chance meeting at the 1994 ]Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
. Stratton would many years later clarify his rating stating: "I think ''Romper Stomper'' was a very well-made film and an extremely well-acted film, and I thought Geoffrey Wright had a lot of talent. What troubled me about ''Romper Stomper'' was that it was made in a time, I think 1992, when there had been some racial problems with young Vietnamese people, particularly in Melbourne, and...I thought the film could stir up more violence..."
Influence
The film's violent content sparked heavy controversy. In March 2000, British prisoner Robert Stewart bludgeoned his cellmate, Zahid Mubarek Zahid is a male given name particularly popular in several Asian countries. It has its roots in the Arabic language. In Arabic, there are a few variations based on the exact pronunciation of the name thus having different meanings. One of the meanin ...
, to death with a wooden table leg at the Feltham Young Offenders' Institution
Feltham Young Offenders Institution (more commonly known as HM Prison Feltham) is a prison for male juveniles and Young Offenders Institution, occupying south-west of Feltham in the London Borough of Hounslow, in west London, England. It is op ...
. In 2004, Stewart was found guilty of the racially motivated murder of Mubarek and was jailed for life. Stewart compared himself to Hando in ''Romper Stomper'' as well as Alex DeLarge in ''A Clockwork Orange
''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to:
* ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess
** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel
*** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...
''. An inquiry heard that Stewart had watched ''Romper Stomper'' two days before the killing. A member of the inquiry team said he was a prolific letter writer, and much of his correspondence contained racist and violent content: "He sees himself in the correspondence starring in the film ''Romper Stomper'' as a racist thug attacking gook
Gook ( or ) is a derogatory term for people of East and Southeast Asian descent. Its origin is unclear, but it may have originated among U.S. Marines during the Philippine–American War (1899–1902) and Korean War. Historically, U.S. military p ...
s," the inquiry was told. The Anti-Nazi League protested against the film's London premiere.
Dylann Roof
Dylann Storm Roof (born April 3, 1994) is an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and mass murderer convicted of perpetrating the Charleston church shooting on June 17, 2015, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. During a Bible study at Em ...
, the perpetrator of the Charleston church shooting
On June 17, 2015, a mass shooting occurred in Charleston, South Carolina, in which nine African Americans were killed during a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Among those people who were killed was the senior past ...
, had an image of Hando dying on the homepage of his personal website.
Television series
In August 2017, Australian video streaming service Stan announced that it was producing ''Romper Stomper'', a six-part television series, as a sequel to the film. The film's director, Geoffrey Wright, will direct two episodes, alongside fellow directors Daina Reid
Daina Reid (born 1964) is an Australian director and actress who has been acting since the early 1990s. She began directing in 1999. Career
She is known for '' Full Frontal'' from 1995 to 1997.
Her directing credits include ''Sunshine'' for Aus ...
and James Napier Robertson
James William Napier Robertson (born 24 March 1982) is a New Zealand writer, film director, actor and producer, who wrote and directed 2009 film '' I'm Not Harry Jenson'', and 2014 film ''The Dark Horse'', for which he won Best Director, Best S ...
. The actors reprising their original roles are Jacqueline McKenzie, Dan Wyllie and John Brumpton
John Brumpton (born 28 July 1958) is an Australian actor who has appeared in a large number of local productions.
Early life
Brumpton grew up in Sydney. He graduated from the University of New South Wales in 1982 with a Bachelor of Survey ...
.
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 internat ...
* List of films shot in Melbourne
* List of films featuring home invasions
There is a body of films that feature home invasions. Paula Marantz Cohen says, "Such films reflect an increased fear of the erosion of distinctions between private and public space... These films also reflect a sense that the outside world is mo ...
* List of skinhead films
This is a list of notable fictional and documentary films featuring the skinhead subculture.
* ''16 Years of Alcohol'' (2003) – Richard Jobson
* ''Adam's Apples'' (2005) – Anders Thomas Jensen
* ''Alpha Dog'' (2006) – Nick Cassavetes
* ' ...
* Russell Crowe filmography
Russell Crowe is a New Zealand actor, filmmaker, musician and singer. He gained international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 epic historical film ''Gladiator (2000 film), Gladiator'', for which he wo ...
* '' American History X'', a 1998 drama film directed by Tony Kaye, starring Edward Norton
Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received numerous awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award and three Academy Award nominations.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised ...
and Edward Furlong
Edward Walter Furlong (born August 2, 1977) is an American actor. He won Saturn and MTV Movie Awards for his breakthrough performance at age 13 as John Connor in James Cameron's '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''; which was followed by a mini-seque ...
and set in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
that has a similar premise and themes to ''Romper Stomper''.
References
External links
*
*
*
''Romper Stomper'' at the National Film and Sound Archive
''Romper Stomper''
at Oz Movies
{{Geoffrey Wright
1992 films
1992 crime drama films
1992 directorial debut films
1992 independent films
1990s coming-of-age drama films
1990s gang films
1990s teen drama films
APRA Award winners
ARIA Award-winning albums
Australian coming-of-age drama films
Australian crime drama films
Australian independent films
Australian teen drama films
Films about death
Hood films
Films about domestic violence
Films about friendship
Films about neo-Nazism
Films about race and ethnicity
Films about racism
Films set in Melbourne
Neo-Nazism in Australia
Skinhead films
1990s English-language films
Films directed by Geoffrey Wright