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It's bloke culture all right but much more than that. Almost elegiac violence. The director Ted K comments in the extras on the DVD are fascinating. As a Canadian, he was entranced by the way fighting and physical rough stuff was the equivalent of hugging in other cultures. The only skin contact allowable. The novel I read aloud cover to cover to a group of students all repeating year 11and they got right into it. The roo shooting sequences are challenging viewing. Chips Rafferty is unforgettable as looming, sweaty Jock, the local copper at Bundanyabba, so aggressively hospitable. On 20/10/2012, at 12:22 PM, Jill Jones <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Good film based on good book. It's heavy duty - the violence of bloke culture. > > J > > On 20/10/2012, at 7:26 AM, Barry Alpert wrote: > >> I don't believe I've ever seen this film though I've followed Australian film for many years. The American Film Institute has scheduled an 8 day run as part of their Halloween on Screen festival. I could easily see it, but should I? >> >> Barry >> >> >> WAKE IN FRIGHT >> New 35mm Print! >> "The best and most terrifying film about Australia in existence." - Nick Cave >> >> Alongside MAD MAX and WALKABOUT, this film is widely acknowledged as one of the seminal films in the development of modern Australian cinema. Directed by Ted Kotcheff (NORTH DALLAS FORTY, FIRST BLOOD), it tells the story of a British schoolteacher's descent into personal demoralization at the hands of drunken, deranged derelicts while stranded in a small town in outback Australia. One of the few films to screen twice at the Cannes Film Festival: in competition in 1971, and the restored version in the Cannes Classics section in 2009. With Donald Pleasence, Gary Bond, Chips Rafferty, Sylvia Kay and Jack Thompson. >> >> DIR Ted Kotcheff; SCR Evan Jones, after the novel by Kenneth Cook; PROD George Willoughby. Australia/US, 1971, color, 114 min. RATED R >