Wake in fright

Drama, Thriller, directed by : Ted Kotcheff, writting credits : Ewan Jones (based on a novel by Kenneth Cook), cast (in credits order) : Donald Pleasence, Gary Bond, Chips Rafferty, Sylvia Kay, Jack Thompson, Peter Whittle, Al Thomas, John Meillon, John Armstrong, Slim De Grey, Maggie Dence, ..., produced by : Howard G. Barnes, Bill Harmon, (executive producers), Maurice Singer (associate producer), Georges Willoughby (producer), music by : John Scott, cinematography by : Brian West, film editing by : Anthony Buckley, casting by : Jill Dempeter, John Merrick, production design by : Dennis Gentle, art direction by : Dennis Gentle, makeup department : Monica Dawking, second unit and assistant director : Howard Rubie (first assistant director), Philip Austin, Michaël Follers(third assistant director), sound department : John Appleton, camera and electrical department : John R Mc Leon, costume and wardrobe department : Tom Noble, other crew : Vivian Holmes, Lynda Levy, John Shaw, NLT Productions, Groupe W, La Rabbia / Le Pacte, Drafhouse films.

The director Ted Kotcheff has shooted the first Rambo in 1982 but nobody except the film enthousiasts know that he has introduced a film called "Waked in fright" during the Cannes Film Festival of 1971. This film is the adaptation of a novel written by Kenneth Cook and it has influenced great directors like Martin Scorsese when he realises "After hours".

The negative of this films has been lost several years in a Pittsburg's warehouse by one of the producers Anthony Buckley. The negative was inside a box in which it was written "for destruction". This film is completely shooted in Broken Hill a mining city in the australian Outback. The city of Bunddanyabba doesn't exist.

The teacher arrives in Bunddanyabba

Everything begins when a primary school teacher arrives in Bunddanyabba. The Outback is big like the half part of Europe an only populated by one million of people. Ted Kotcheff shoots like Werner Herzog and Francis Ford Coppolla. He imagines is own work as a way to explore the world with the risk to loose himself.

In Bunddanyabba the empty space is a kind of prison because there is not much in the way of entertainement except working. The men loose also their time in fighting and drinking. There is not many women in this place. The only who stay there have no way to go and generally stay at home. It explains why the women suicid rate in this area is very high.

The primary school teacher drinks a lot

The primary school teacher looses his own humanity when he follows the men of the mining city during their drinking sessions and their huntings. The more cruelty scenes of the film is the hunting of wallaby (kangourou). These scenes are real because the crew has followed professionnals hunters and they have been shocked by their violence and cruelty with the animals.

Before the hunting each hunter drink a bottle of whisky and become quickly completely drunk. They take their riffle and go for killing wallabys. The hunters know clearly how to shot speedly a wallaby or how to prolong the agony of the animal. They improve a real pleasure to frigth and kill the wallabys. The bodies of wallabys are taken and converted for making dog food. This dog food is exported in the United - States. The director and the producers have consulted specialized organisms in England and in Australia before shooting the hunting. After the sreening of the film the australian governement decided to forbide the wallaby hunting.

The hunting.

Massacre à la tronçonneuse - artetcinemas.over-blog.com

Epouvante, terreur de Tobe Hooper, avec Marylin Burns, Allen Danziger, Teri McMinn, Paul A. Pertain, William Vail, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen, John Dugan, narrateur : John Henrik Faulk ...

http://artetcinemas.over-blog.com/2014/11/massacre-a-la-tronconneuse.html

Wake in Fright (1971)

Directed by Ted Kotcheff. With Donald Pleasence, Gary Bond, Chips Rafferty, Sylvia Kay. John Grant, a bonded teacher, arrives in a rough outback mining town planning to stay overnight before ...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067541/

Ted Kotcheff

Ted Kotcheff, Producer: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. William Theodore Kotcheff was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Bulgarian parents from Plovdiv. He graduated with a degree in English ...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0467646/

Donald Pleasence

Donald Pleasence, Actor: Halloween. Balding, quietly-spoken, of slight build and possessed of piercing blue eyes -- often peering out from behind round, steel-rimmed glasses -- Donald Pleasence had

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000587/

Gary Bond

Gary Bond, Actor: Zulu. Gary James Bond was an English actor and singer, born in Liss, Hampshire. Although his family were in industrial and military occupations, from an early age he wanted to be ...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0093937/

Sylvia Kay

Sylvia Kay, Actress: Rooms. Sylvia Kay was born in 1936 in Altrincham, Cheshire, England. She is an actress, known for Rooms (1974), Wake in Fright (1971) and Just Good Friends (1983). She was ...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0443191/