Buddies
(1983/Umbrella Entertainment/Region Free/Zero/PAL DVD Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: B-
PLEASE NOTE: This TV show on DVD can only be
operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region
Free/Zero/PAL format software, and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment at the website address provided at the end of the review.
Colin Friels may not have become a star worldwide or in
the U.S., but he certainly did in Australia and after seeing several of his
films, the star appeal is obvious. Like
most actors, he is at his best in his best films and Arch Nicholson’s Buddies (1983) is a classic of
Australian Cinema that holds up very well.
This is not to say that all Friels films are great, but films like this
and Ground Zero makes the argument for his success. You can read more about Ground Zero at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6995/Ground+Zero+(Umbrella+Entertainmen
This
time, Friels is part of a small group of men who intend to make some money and
more by mining valuable stones from a tough emerald belt in Central Queensland,
but a large corporation with heavy equipment and guns want to stop them and get
what they want for themselves. That
conflict and the tale of how the men interact with each other makes for a good
film and takes us somewhere no recent independent film has. As a matter of fact, the idea of going out to
make a fortune by taking on nature us a sort of lost story type we don’t see
enough, but this film does it well.
Bruce
Spence (from the original Mad Max)
and Kris McQuade (Strictly Ballroom)
play the friends and are totally credible doing so. It is a film about people not afraid to get
their hands dirty and are for real about their lives. We don’t see enough of this today and it is
worth your time.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image may be softer than I wanted, but it is
color consistent and from a restored print.
That makes this often watchable just the same and Director of
Photography David Eggby (the original Mad
Max) delivers some of the best work of his career with fine compositions
and location work all around. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo has very weak surrounds and was originally a Dolby A-type
analog sound theatrical release. Extras include
the original trailer, trailers to other Umbrella DVD releases and a
24-minutes-long making of featurette called A Gem Of A Time.
As noted
above, you can order this import DVD exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Nicholas Sheffo
