''The Adventures of Barry McKenzie'' is a 1972 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 o ...
directed by
Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford (; born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States.
Beresford's notable films he has directed include '' B ...
and starring
Barry Crocker
Barry Hugh Crocker (born 4 November 1935 Official Barry Crocker website) is an Australian character actor, televisio ...
, telling the story of an Australian ' yobbo' on his travels to the United Kingdom.
Barry McKenzie
Barry McKenzie (full name: Barrington Bradman Bing McKenzie)Rebecca Coyle and Michael Hannan, La Trobe University, 2005 is a fictional character created in 1964 by the Australian comedian Barry Humphries (but suggested by Peter Cook) for a comic ...
was originally a character created by
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film pr ...
for a
cartoon strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st c ...
in ''
Private Eye
''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent critici ...
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own
''Barry McKenzie Holds His Own'' is the 1974 sequel to the 1972 Australian comedy film '' The Adventures of Barry McKenzie''.
Returning from the original film is Barry Crocker in the title role, as well as Barry Humphries in the role of Barry ...
'', was produced in 1974.
Barry Humphries appears in several roles, including: a hippie, Barry McKenzie's psychiatrist Doctor de Lamphrey, and as Aunt Edna Everage (later
Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna Everage, often known simply as Dame Edna, is a character created and performed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries, known for her lilac-coloured ("wisteria hue") hair and cat eye glasses ("face furniture"); her favourite flower, t ...
). Humphries would later achieve fame with the character of Dame Edna in the UK and US.
The film was produced by
Phillip Adams
Phillip Adams, Philip Adams, or Phil Adams may refer to:
Sports
* Phillip Adams (American football) (1988–2021), American football cornerback
* Phillip Adams (sport shooter) (born 1945), Australian pistol shooter
* Phil Adams (cricketer) (born 1 ...
.
Plot summary
Barry 'Bazza' McKenzie (Barry Crocker) travels to England with his aunt Edna Everage (Barry Humphries) to advance his cultural education. Bazza is a young Aussie fond of beer, Bondi and beautiful '
sheila
Sheila (alternatively spelled Shelagh and Sheelagh) is a common feminine given name, derived from the Irish name ''Síle'', which is believed to be a Gaelic form of the Latin name Caelia, the feminine form of the Roman clan name Caelius, mean ...
s'. He settles in
Earls Court
Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...
, where his old friend Curly (Paul Bertram) has a flat. He gets drunk, is ripped off, insulted by pretentious Englishmen and exploited by record producers, religious charlatans and a BBC television producer (
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...
). He reluctantly leaves England under the orders of his aunt, after exposing himself on television. His final words on the plane home are, "I was just starting to like the Poms!"
Cast
*
Barry Crocker
Barry Hugh Crocker (born 4 November 1935 Official Barry Crocker website) is an Australian character actor, televisio ...
as Barry McKenzie
*
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film pr ...
as Aunt Edna/Hoot/Meyer de Lamphrey
*
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...
as Dominic
*
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Colonial India, where he spent his ...
as landlord
*
Dick Bentley
Charles Walter "Dick" Bentley (14 May 1907 – 27 August 1995) was an Australian-born comedian and actor of radio, stage and screen. He starred with Jimmy Edwards in '' Take It From Here'' for BBC Radio. He was a staple of and pioneer of radio, ...
as detective
*
Dennis Price
Dennistoun Franklyn John Rose Price (23 June 1915 – 6 October 1973) was an English actor, best remembered for his role as Louis Mazzini in the film '' Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1949) and for his portrayal of the omnicompetent valet Jeeve ...
as Mr Gort
*
Julie Covington
Julie Covington (born 11 September 1946) is an English singer and actress, best known for recording the original version of " Don't Cry for Me Argentina", which she sang on the 1976 concept album Evita.
Early life
Julie Covington was born in ...
Joan Bakewell
Joan Dawson Bakewell, Baroness Bakewell, (''née'' Rowlands; born 16 April 1933), is an English journalist, television presenter and Labour Party peer. Baroness Bakewell is president of Birkbeck, University of London; she is also an author a ...
Jonathan Hardy
Jonathan Hardy (20 September 1940 – 30 July 2012) was a New Zealand-Australian film and television actor, writer and director, he worked also in Australia.
Early career
Hardy was born in New Zealand in Wellington and began his training ...
as Groove Courtney
*
Jenny Tomasin
Jenny Tomasin (22 March 1938 – 3 January 2012) was an English actress best known for her roles in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' and ''Emmerdale''.
Early life
Tomasin was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1938 to working class parents. S ...
as Sarah Gort
*Chris Malcolm as Sean
*
Judith Furse
Judith Furse (4 March 1912 – 29 August 1974) was an English actress.
Career
A member of the Furse family, her father was Lieutenant-General Sir William Furse and mother
Jean Adelaide Furse. Her brother, Roger, became a stage designer and ...
as Claude
*Maria O'Brien as Caroline Thighs
*John Joyce as Maurie Miller
*Margo Lloyd as Mrs McKenzie
*Brian Tapply as avant-garde composer
* John Clarke as an underground filmmaker
*Wilfred Grove as customs officer
* William Rushton as man on plane
*
Bernard Spear
Bernard Spear (11 September 1919 – 9 May 2003) was an English actor.
Early life
Spear was born on 11 September 1919 in Croydon, Surrey, to a Polish-Jewish father and a Russian-Jewish mother. He was educated at Central Federation School in ...
as taxi driver
*
Jack Watling
Jack Stanley Watling (13 January 1923 – 22 May 2001) was an English actor.
Life and career
The son of a travelling scrap metal dealer, Watling trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts as a child; and made his stage debut in ''Where ...
Clive James
Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019."Interview with Bruce Beresford", ''Signet'', 15 May 1999 Retrieved 17 November 2012
The film was entirely funded by 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 ...
. Shooting started in London in January 1972, with the unit moving to Australia in February. Local unions complained about the presence of British technicians in the crew, but a compromise was reached where Australian technicians joined the crew. Filming ended in March.
Phillip Adams wanted to cast Paul Hogan as Curly but he turned down the role. "I suspect he was concerned over his ability to work with professional actors," says Adams.Gordon Glenn & Scott Murray, "Phil Adams: Producer", ''Cinema Papers'', March–April 1976 p340
Release
Phillip Adams initially insisted on distributing the film himself,David Stratton, ''The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival'', Angus & Robertson, 1980 p44 as had been done with an earlier film Adams had co-produced, ''
The Naked Bunyip
''The Naked Bunyip'' is a 1970 Australian documentary film directed by John B. Murray. The film explores sex in Australia using a fictional framework.
Synopsis
''The Naked Bunyip'' is a sex documentary and a blend of fact and fiction; " tincorpo ...
''. ''Barry McKenzie'' was very popular at the box office in Australia and London, and the production company repaid the government most of its money within three months of release. Beresford went on to direct ''
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own
''Barry McKenzie Holds His Own'' is the 1974 sequel to the 1972 Australian comedy film '' The Adventures of Barry McKenzie''.
Returning from the original film is Barry Crocker in the title role, as well as Barry Humphries in the role of Barry ...
'' again to great commercial success in 1974.
Beresford said in a 1999 interview that both films were detrimental to his career:
Personally, it was a massive mistake for me to do it, a massive mistake, because the film was so badly received critically. Instead of getting me work, even though it was successful commercially, it put me out of work... I couldn't find anything else to make because the films were so reviled critically that I thought that, with these two films, I'll never work again.
He added that 'Luckily Phillip Adams saved my life by offering me ''
Don's Party
''Don's Party'' is a 1971 play by David Williamson set during the 1969 Australian federal election. The play opened on 11 August 1971 at The Pram Factory theatre in Carlton.
Plot
Don Henderson is a schoolteacher living with his wife Kath and b ...
''. But that was a couple of years later.' ''Don's Party'' and '' Breaker Morant'' restored Beresford's reputation.
Box office
This was the first Australian film to surpass $1 million at the national box office, and it led the Australian box office in 1972. The film recovered its $250,000 budget within a few months of release.A
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 ...
report on box office results states that ''The Adventures of Barry McKenzie'' took $47,000 at the box office in Australia, which is equivalent to $399,500 in 2009 dollars ''Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office'' archive cop here However, this figure may be an error, since it is inconsistent with the many other sources that describe the film as a major box office success that recouped its $250,000 budget in a few months. See also the notes at the entry fo ''The Adventures of Barry McKenzie'' at Oz Movies, raising similar doubts about the Film Victoria box office figures.
Themes
The film explores the cultural distance between Australian
popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
and the manners and mores of England, both nations presented in hyperbolically satirical manner. Barry is the extreme embodiment of "Ockerism" of the late fifties and mid-sixties Australia. Swearing, excessive drinking, vomiting, rowdiness and other crassness is glorified. The film also plays with the ideas of the era where the sixties cultural revolution had swept aside the "certainties" of classical education.
Soundtrack
A soundtrack was released by Fable Records (FBSA 026).
Australian Screen Online
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national c ...