Wake in Fright

 Year of Release:  1971

Director:  Ted Kotcheff

Screenplay:  Evan Jones, based on the novel Wake in Fright by Kenneth Cook

Starring:  Donald Pleasence, Gary Bond, Chips Rafferty, Sylvia Kay

Running Time:  109 minutes

Genre:  Drama, thriller, psychological horror

John Grant (Bond) is a young schoolteacher who has been forced to accept a post at a tiny school in Tiboonda, a remote town in the arid Australian outback, in order to pay back a student loan from the Government.  On his way for a break in Sydney, John is forced to have a stop over in the rough mining town of Bundanyabba (known by the locals as "The Yabba").  When he discovers a local gambling craze, John sees a way to win enough money to pay back the loan and escape the outback.  However it goes badly wrong, and John finds himself trapped in The Yabba, with nothing left but drinking, gambling, fighting and hunting.

This film almost feels like a post-apocalyptic science fiction film.  It is almost a sensory experience in that the blistering heat, dust, and smell of sweat and beer practically radiates off the screen.  Almost every frame has the feel of violence just waiting to be unleashed.  John finds himself in an almost inescapable cycle because there is really nothing to do in the town is drink, and almost the stock greeting is offering to buy you a drink and the worst thing you can do is refuse an offer of a drink.  He is also trapped in the macho culture of the town.  John looks down on the people of The Yabba when he arrives.  He is a middle-class, educated city guy and believes that he is better than the rough, boozing, fighting working-class people of the town, but finds that he has more in common with them than he thought.  His dark angel is Clarence "Doc" Tydon (played by Donald Pleasence), an alcoholic medical professional who has wound up in The Yabba and stays in a run down shack,  and provides John with a glimpse of his possible future.  

The film is notable for it's brutal kangaroo hunting sequence, which features footage of kangaroos actually being shot, and is extremely hard to watch.  It is a necessary and powerful film though and provides a striking look at toxic masculinity.  The master print of the film had gone missing and so for several decades the only versions available were poor quality, cut prints.  However original film and sound elements have been recovered, and the film has been now restored, and is now regarded as a classic of Australian cinema and praised by Martin Scorsese and Nick Cave.

Donald Pleasence and Gary Bond in Wake in Fright