Mad Dog Morgan (Special Fully Restored Edition) [DVD]

Mad Dog Morgan is a real rarity, which is a great shame, because Philip Mora's film has much to recommend it and deserves much better than a dodgy cropped transfer on the Troma label. More a chronicle of the exploits of `Mad Dog' Morgan, the bushranger who inspired Ned Kelly, than a conventional narrative, it's a non-judgemental portrait of an inconsistent, unpredictable man - after going to great lengths to deny he'll ever "be made a murderer," he then becomes one almost immediately when he drunkenly sets his gun off, wounding his host, and then hurrying off to kill the man that he himself has just sent after a doctor. It's very much a seventies film (in the best sense), with a sense of the violence of both the landscape and the people trying to eke a living from it, and it constantly surprises with neat little details such as the magistrate who doles out long sentences simply because there are still so many roads to build. Despite being at the height of his drugs-and-booze lost period, Dennis Hopper gives a pretty good performance as the naïve and contradictory folk hero cum psychopath, even managing a fairly convincing Irish accent. There's an impressive supporting cast of familiar Aussie faces, not least Gulpilil as Morgan's beloved partner in crime and Frank Thring at his most superciliously unpleasant as the Superintendant: few actors could seem more natural when he and his social circle start casually divvying up Morgan's body parts in the final scene (the head for an anthropologist, the scrotum for the Superintendant's new tobacco pouch). Although not overly graphic, it's still fairly strong meat for some viewers.

Sadly, it's fallen into the public domain so you have to be wary of most of the cheap copies on DVD. For example, Waterfall's DVD leaves a lot to be desired: the print is poor and has been cropped from 2.35:1 to squeezed 1.85:1 that is best seen on a widescreen TV. The Australian Region 4 PAL DVD from Madman is a much better bet, offering a remastered 2.35:1 widescreen transfer, audio commentary, interviews and more.

Other reviewers have commented about the picture quality of this Aussie classic. On the double disc widescreen edition the picture quality are perhaps not crystal clear sharpness, but this didn't detract from my enjoyment. It's a great performance from Hopper. Interesting extras too. Fans of the likes of Wake in Fright and Turkey Shoot should enjoy this one also.

Firstly, my DVD version is the final disc (of 12) in the Australian Cinema Collection and is in good, clear 'tall' widescreen. Therefore I do not need to cover ground about the quality issues surrounding the transfer that other Amazon reviewers have, apart from that it's fine.

Irish Daniel Morgan (a suitably way-out casting choice and performance from American acting legend Dennis Hopper) goes a bit awry and is subsequently incarcerated into a penal regime that demands 12 years hard labour from him. Here, he is raped, tortured and generally abused by officers and inmates who find pleasure in such things.

Calling himself 'Smith', he is freed on parole after serving half his sentence, but Morgan is emotionally damaged and wild with anger and revenge. The film, directed by Philippe Mora, is certificate "M", for 'Mature', as it's an Australian release, is probably between a 15 and 18, over here in the U.K. Thus, it shows the natural side to bush life, as Morgan starts out a free man as a horse thief. Therefore, if such things as aboriginal methods of pulling off a snake's head to extract a 'medicine' are going to spoil your viewing pleasure, then do, look elsewhere, such as the first disc in the boxed -set, the cert U 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'.

When Morgan is left for dead after a skirmish with those he was trying to steal from, the aboriginal youth mentioned above nurses him back to health and teaches him methods of survival. This is at times illuminating but also clumsy - such as Hopper's bushy, shiny false beards that can be spotted a mile off and gun wounds to a head that's obviously made of something very synthetic.

These anomalies aside, this is a pretty good yarn, with Hopper well able to carry the central character. The locational scenery is often splendid and the supporting cast well able, too. Excesses in violence do occasionally mar, as they do look gratuitous, but not, say in the almost stately manner that Sam Peckinpah managed and seem almost jokey.

All in all, this is a pretty good film and actually one of the best in my boxed set, which is slightly surprising.