This is an awesome Aussie fright film, I loved watching it as a kid with my mates on video.
Do any Aussies remember when the Hey Hey gang ripped into film just prior to its release? The icing on the cake was when John Blackman started saying in the Miss Piggy voice- "Kermie, I'm coming to get you!!"
Top film.
I remember that. I think director Mulcahy was on the show at the time.
It was terrible, noone gave it a chance. John blackman w/ his Miss Piggy voices, Daryl Somers nearly falling over w/ laughter etc!!
The film "only lasted a week" in Australia, according to the new doco on the DVD. Hey Hey certainly didn't help its chances!
I don't think Hey Hey ruined the films chances. After all, a gore drenched 'pig film' is certainly not everyone's cup of tea, plus it starred a token yank.
It's a cult film, films like this have their life on video and dvd, not in the cinema.
And the film was quite a bore... with a boar. It ha amazing visuals and was directed by my favourite directer (Mulachy), and from my favourite writer (DeRoche). But still i found it very boring. Still, I'd give it a better rating than it's now IMDB Rating, but still.
5.5/10 (Current IMDB Rating - 5.4/10)
Regardless of whether the film would have been a cinema successs, the nerve of the Hey Hey team to dump on it like that. To have a first time director on the show to promote his debut film, only to be constantly heckled and belittled, shows the lack of respect they had for others. This is particularly pertinent when you consider the quality of the show in question. Co-hosted by a lifeless dull character and a puppet, relying on men dressed as chickens and pie innthe face gags for laughs along with constant heckling of the shows music critic due to his sexaulity. Not exactly a high brow production if you ask me. To top all this, host/producer Darryly Sommers has the nerve to come out in the press a few years back and have a good whine about the negative comments Andrew Denton made in reference to the show in its final years. He claimed that Dentons comments put the nails in the coffin. Welcome to Karma Mr Sommers!!!
Razorback is not great but it has a level of artistic integritty you could of only dream of Hey Hey boys.
1. Mulcahy is an Australian and grew up in Australia so I'm sure he knew the format of Hey Hey and what he was gonna be in for from the Hey Hey team with regards to how they dump on guests. If you went on that show, you were asking for it.
2. If you read a history of Hey Hey and the type of "Olden Days" live variety stage show format it sprang from you'll have a better understanding of its structure and style and why it was the way it was.
3. It ran from 1971 to 1999 and Darryl Sommers was the host for the whole time so he must've been doing something right.
4. As for its quality, Hey Hey was cutting-edge live television for those days in Australia.
5. All you have to do is watch a few minutes of any episode to know that there's no way in the world they were aspiring to be a "high brow" production. If you want high brow go to the Opera or the Ballet.
Watch Bedbug on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QI_1YSXt8Y/
I remember watching that Hey Hey p!ss-take as a kid and literally having tears of laughter rolling down my face. They were absolutely merciless, but let's face it, you really can't take a film like this 100% seriously. I think Mulcahy was a good sport about it all.
shareCromeRose, your defending a show like Hey Hey? "Olden days" live variety? Structure? Style? Cutting edge live television? Is this Mr Sommers himself. Only he could get so excited by such a pile of dross.
Don't confuse longevity with quality or artistic success. Home & Away has been running for 23 years but it's still a poor excuse for broadcasting. Run along now and watch it again this Wednesday (it won't last long).
Simple pleasures for simple people.
To each their own Whitey 4. And don't confuse your own tastes and opinions with gospel. Others in the world have their own likes and dislikes, and the very longevity of Hey Hey and Home & Away (which I have never watched and never will, by the way) prove that there are a lot of folks that like(d) them. And no, I'm not Mr. Sommers, but thanks for the laugh!
All the best.
Watch Bedbug on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QI_1YSXt8Y/
Here is the footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Afgg0eqeM