It’s Australia Day, so who’s up for a quiz celebrating our Antipodean friends? They’ve given us a wealth of great actors, directors and musicians for a whole spectrum of films, so see if you can work out the six films below that show different sides of an amazing country.
(1970s)
(1980s)
(1980s)
(1990s)
(2000+)
(2000+)
Answers below
1. Mad Max (1979)
2. Gallipoli (1981)
3. Crocodile Dundee (1986)
4. Strictly Ballroom (1992)
5. Lantana (2001)
6. Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
Alex Raphael 
Two of my favorite Australian movies are Romper Stomper and Heaven’s Burning, which I saw almost back-to-back while working in Hong Kong. Gallipoli is also an incredible file.
When did you see Heaven’s Burning? Did you think Crowe would be such a star?
I saw Heaven’s Burning in 1999–I was working just up the river from Hong Kong at the time–so I’d already seen him in LA Confidential. I didn’t learn until later that he’d made Heaven’s Burning in the same year as LAC. I knew when I’d see LAC that he was going to be big; it was only after that movie that I discovered his work back home, and you can see how he was working towards becoming someone you’d remember.
I wish him and Guy Pierce would act alongside each other more often!
I always thought Guy would become huge as well, but as I’ve watched them both, you realize that Russel is a leading man, and Guy is a character actor who’ll take any role, big or small, as long as he keeps acting. They’ll probably do something one of these days, maybe in another five-ten years, where they can bounce off each other again. Or, if they ever get around to filming “White Jazz,” which is the book that came after “LA Confidential,” Guy could play Exley once more.
That’s an interesting point of view. Why do you think they haven’t done ‘White Jazz’ yet?
Part of the difficulty of bringing any of Elroy’s work to the screen is having to deal with all his plot lines, all the inner thoughts the characters have. “White Jazz” also has NO characters that anyone would say are good. Plus, you have Duddly Smith as a main character, and with his death in “LAC” movie, people would likely get confused as to WHY he’s in this story. Exley also became the sort of person he fought against: he might say he’s different, but he’s not. He simply doesn’t kill off people like Duddly did.
In short, it’s a tough book to translate and have it play to an audience looking for a hero. It’s full of anti-heroes.
Thanks for the helpful description Cassidy 🙂
This time I knew 1 & 3.
Putting the film Australia seemed too obvious ha. I hope you didn’t see Crocodile Dundee 3 too. Sounded below abysmal.
Actually, I haven’t even seen the first. Only knew the picture because that dude is kind of iconic. 🙂
not to mention the corkscrew hat ha
Einen schönen Nachmittag,ja er sollte handeln.Wünsche eine gute neue Woche liebe Grüße Gislinde
Vielen dank. You too 🙂
Oh wow – I sucked at this category! Only knew Mad Max & Crocodile Dundee. ; )
2 is probably average for this one. I had no idea it was Australia day until they kept mentioning it on the final of the Australian Open.
I guessed them all correctly! I’m a good citizen. One of my favourite Australian films is Wake In Fright (1971). Such a classic.
Nice! How did you spend the day?
It was so hot on the day, so I just had a casual one. Hung out with some friends and listened to a big song countdown on the radio. Didn’t have a shrimp on the barbie but I did have one beer so that’s one stereotype to tick off the list!
Got them all again, my man. Struggled with Lantana for a bit but got it it the end.
Gotta a love a bit of Chopper as well, though. I expected that to feature.
Great score. Having a think about categories to do next.
Only got Crocodile Dundee. Whoops. Hahaha.
Been years since I’ve seen it. I still laugh though when the hotel porter puts his hand out for the tip and Crocodile Dundee looks at him, smiles and shakes his hand haha.
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