''The True Story of Eskimo Nell'' (retitled ''Dick Down Under'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1975 Australian

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

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, directed, and written by Richard Franklin, and starring

Max Gillies Maxwell Irvine Gillies AM (born 16 November 1941) is an Australian actor and a founding member of the 1970s experimental theatre company, the Australian Performing Group. Early life and education Gillies studied art teaching at Frankston Tea ...

as Deadeye Dick and

Serge Lazareff Serge Constantine Lazareff (7 August 1944 - 20 August 2021) was an Australian actor and screenwriter/editor, who was born in Shanghai, China. He appeared in 54 roles from the late 1960s until 1999, before starting a second career as a writer fo ...

as Mexico Pete. This was the first film produced by Richard Franklin. Based on and inspired by the bawdy '' Ballad of Eskimo Nell'', which had actually been banned in Australia, with Deadeye Dick and Mexico Pete setting forth through the Australian

Outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

in search of the infamous

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

, Eskimo Nell. The film features large amounts of full frontal nudity which was one of the main attractions of the film at the time. The film was part of the

Australian New Wave The Australian New Wave (also known as the Australian Film Revival, Australian Film Renaissance, or New Australian Cinema) was an era of resurgence in worldwide popularity of Australian cinema, particularly in the United States. It began in the ea ...

, with most of the film being shot in Ballarat and some in Canada.

Plot

The film's unlikely protagonist is a mild-mannered window peeper named Dead-Eye Dick (Max Gillies). Dick spies on a Mexican couple. The husband is very jealous and is about to discover that his wife has a lover when Dick rescues the lover, whose moniker is Mexico Pete (Serge Lazareff). The worldly Pete counsels the shy Dick on his problems approaching women. Dick claims that he is waiting for an Alaskan Eskimo named Nell. Pete and Dick decide to travel to Alaska to find this fantasy woman, and they have several wacky misadventures along the way.

Cast

as Deadeye Dick *

as Mexico Pete *

Butcher Vachon Paul Vachon (born October 7, 1937) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He is a member of the Vachon wrestling family. He is perhaps best known by his ring name Butcher Vachon. Professional wrestling career Paul Vachon grew up as one of ...

as The Alaskan Kid (as Paul Vachon) * Jerry Thomas as The Sprunker * Kurt Beimel as Waldo the Great *

Abigail Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death ( 1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married ...

as Esmerelda * Kris McQuade as Lil * Elli Maclure as Elli *

Grahame Bond Grahame John Bond AM (born 21 November 1943) is an Australian actor, writer, director, musician and composer, known primarily for his role as Aunty Jack. Early career Bond began his career in entertainment at University of Sydney in the 1960s ...

as Bogger *

Max Fairchild Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) (1 ...

as Posthole Jack *

Tony Bazell Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

as Prof. Brayshaw (as Anthony Bazell) *

Ernie Bourne Ernest Alfred Bourne
''

Paddy Madden Patrick Stephen Madden (born 4 March 1990) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Stockport County. Club career Bohemians Madden signed league forms with Bohemians on 8 July 2008, and scored several times for the ...

as The Real Eskimo Nell *

Victoria Anoux Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

as The Dream Eskimo Nell *

Elke Neidhardt Elke Cordelia Neidhardt Member of the Order of Australia, AM (5 July 194125 November 2013) was a German Australian actress and opera and theatre director. She appeared in theatre, television and feature films in Germany, Austria, France and Aust ...

Development

Franklin says he got the idea to make the film when he was in Sydney producing ''The Jumping Jeweller of Lavender Bay'' and heard a tape recorded version of the poem ''Eskimo Nell''. He thought it would make a great movie and several months later wrote a treatment.Gordon Glenn & Scott Murray, "Richard Franklin", ''Cinema Papers'', July 1974 p246-248 The movie became known as a sex comedy but Franklin says it was never his intention to make that sort of movie. He was more interested in exploring a male friendship along the lines of ''

Midnight Cowboy ''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama (film and television), drama film, based on the 1965 Midnight Cowboy (novel), novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars ...

'' (1969) with elements of comic Westerns like ''

Cat Ballou ''Cat Ballou'' is a 1965 American western comedy film starring Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin, who won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual role. The story involves a woman who hires a notorious gunman to protect her father's ranch, and late ...

'' (1965).''The True Story of Eskimo Nell'', DVD (2004) He wrote a draft of the script which was set in the same locations as the poem, the Rio Grande and Alaska, and took it to Hollywood in 1972. However he encountered resistance from Hollywood agents, who believed "no one wants cold scripts", referring to the box office disappointment of movies like ''

Ice Palace An ice palace or ice castle is a castle-like structure made of blocks of ice. These blocks are usually harvested from nearby rivers or lakes when they become frozen in winter. The first known ice palace (or, rather, '' ice house'', ледяной ...

'' (1960) and ''

Ice Station Zebra ''Ice Station Zebra'' is a 1968 American espionage thriller film directed by John Sturges and starring Rock Hudson, Patrick McGoohan, Ernest Borgnine, and Jim Brown. The screenplay is by Alistair MacLean, Douglas Heyes, Harry Julian Fink, ...

'' (1968). He also discovered that the poem was not well known in the US. "It's known only in the 'English World', meaning Canada, Australia and England," said the director.Interview with Richard Franklin, ''Mondo Stump'', originally published in Eros Magazine Vol 3 No 1 (2003), Canberra
Retrieved 15 October 2012 Franklin returned home, then realised he could set the story just as easily in the Australian goldfields:

There was the desire to assert the Australian vernacular and thereby have a bit of lavatory humour in it, but at the same time I think, as opposed to Alvin and Barry McKenzie, to give a sense of our culture and history in terms of mateship. But basically it was designed to shock and, in retrospect, it's probably a bit tame.Interview with Richard Franklin, 15 September 1995
Retrieved 14 October 2012

Franklin pitched the idea of the film to 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 repla ...

who at first rejected it, but then he re-pitched the project with a series of stills he had taken at Sovereign Hill. They gave him some development money and put him in contact with screenwriter

Alan Hopgood Alan John Hopgood AM (29 September 1934 – 19 March 2022), also known as Alan Hopwood, was an Australian actor, producer, and writer. He wrote the screenplay for the 1972 film '' Alvin Purple'' and made appearances in television shows such as ...

.David Stratton, ''The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival'', Angus & Robertson, 1980 p249 According to Franklin, Hopgood mostly concentrated on the dialogue, while Franklin worked on structure. The AFDC were impressed by the second draft and agreed to help finance.

Production

Eventually the AFDC provided $105,000, with additional funds from the distributor Filmways and some private investment. Franklin had been impressed by the segment "The Family Man" in the film ''

Libido Libido (; colloquial: sex drive) is a person's overall sexual drive or desire for sexual activity. Libido is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors. Biologically, the sex hormones and associated neurotransmitters that act up ...

'' (1973) and wanted that film's stars,

and

Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to: Sports * Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City * Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Brig ...

, to play the leads. Gillies accepted but Thompson wasn't not available so

was cast instead. The film was shot in mid 1974 in rural Victoria, including

Sovereign Hill Sovereign Hill is an open-air museum in Golden Point, a suburb of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Sovereign Hill depicts Ballarat's first ten years after the discovery of gold there in 1851. It was officially opened on 29 November 1970 and has ...

and in an improvised studio in the Exhibition Building, Melbourne. A smaller unit shot some additional footage in Canada, including a scene involving pursuit on ice floes which was a homage to ''

Way Down East ''Way Down East'' is a 1920 American silent romantic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. It is one of four film adaptations of the melodramatic 19th century play ''Way Down East'' by Lottie Blair Parker. There we ...

''. Most of this sequence was re shot in Melbourne.

Release

The film received much criticism from conservative groups such as the Festival of LIght who claimed that government funds were being used to produce

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

. Franklin:

The theatres were picketed, and it was actually fairly successful in terms of damaging the picture. I thought it would be great publicity, but the one thing people don't want to hear is that tax dollars have been wasted. The minute they hear that, they're less inclined to throw good money after bad, if you see what I mean. So the film was not successful.

A British film based on the same poem, ''Eskimo Nell'', was made around the same time. Its release in Australia was delayed until 1976 and its title changed to ''The Sexy Saga of Naughty Nell and Big Dick''. The movie was not a commercial success, despite being recut for its Sydney release and helped lead to the demise of the Australian "ocker sex comedy" cycle. "It was an attempt to do something kind of poignant," says Franklin. "In retrospect it probably should have been funnier than it was." However Antony I. Ginnane worked on the overseas marketing of the film, starting his relationship with Richard Franklin. Richard Franklin admitted the film changed what sort of films he made:

One of the great disappointments for me, and I learned a lot from it, was showing it to my American friends - probably at the time we were there making ''
Fantasm ''Fantasm'' is a 1976 Australian softcore pornographic film, directed by Richard Franklin under a pseudonym. It was followed by a sequel, '' Fantasm Comes Again'', the following year, directed by a pseudonymous Colin Eggleston. Plot German ps ...
'' - and discovering they just didn't get the humour. That it was a kind of humour that didn't really travel well. They admired the filmmaking, they admired the craft, but they didn't laugh at any of the jokes. So the pathos and so on, which was really derived spiritually for me from ''Midnight Cowboy'', worked, but not the comedy. And so my next film, using a lot of the same financiers, was an attempt to make a universal genre film.

Home media

''The True Story of Eskimo Nell'' was released for the first time on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in March 2004.

References

External links

*
The True Story of Eskimo Nell at the National Film and Sound Archive

''The True Story of Eskimo Nell''
-

1M1 Records Philip Powers (born 1963) is a record producer - and author - specialising in film scores and classical music. His recordings have been nominated for five ARIA Awards. He has produced 34 CDs for the 1M1 Records label including ''The Lighthorse ...

: Track Listing
''The True Story of Eskimo Nell''
at Oz Movies {{DEFAULTSORT:True Story of Eskimo Nell, The 1975 films Australian Western (genre) comedy films 1970s English-language films Australian independent films 1970s Western (genre) comedy films Films directed by Richard Franklin (director) 1975 independent films Films scored by Brian May (composer) 1975 comedy films 1975 directorial debut films