It’s reached a point with modern film releases where local actors are hardly given a special mention when they appear in big budget American films. There are so many fine performers from this country making a success of themselves in Hollywood that the Australian media has become inured to the their ubiquitous presence.
Almost an embarrassment of riches, it speaks volumes for the quality of the performers that Australia produces.
But the new millennium hasn’t been the only time when Australian acting stocks have been at the point of overflowing. In the late seventies and early 80s there was a similar situation, with the careers of performers such as Judy Davis, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, Gary Sweet, Mel Gibson, Wendy Hughes, Bruce Spence and John Hargreaves all coming into fruition.
What’s more, these players didn’t need to search for work overseas to become artistically successful. The 10BA tax benefits had been established and Australian filmmakers were cashing in.
So you have a film like the 1981 production of “Hoodwink.” It’s typical of the era in that the quality of the cast is flabbergasting. With John Hargreaves in the lead role, the film also features Judy Davis, Wendy Hughes, Kim Deacon, Dennis Miller, Max Cullen, Michael Caton, Les Foxcroft and even Geoffrey Rush in a tiny part as a crooked cop. It’s a ridiculous collection of talent, and goes a long way to making “Hoodwink” digestible.
Because while the quality of the cast is typical of the era, so is the quality of the film. The story of a bank robber who upon capture pretends to develop a debilitating blindness starts out an engaging crime caper but suffers from a slowly slackening pace and a bizarre genre switch, which eventually guts the film of any goodwill it’s engendered in its audience.
Based very loosely on the true story of the notorious Carl Synnerdahl, Hargreaves plays Martin Stang, a cunning and charming bank robber who consistently manages to stay one step ahead of the flat-footed authorities. Even when they capture him, the police have a hard time keeping Stand locked up for very long, with the canny rogue using bribery, outside connections, and his considerable supply of wits to continually wriggle his way to freedom.
But a plan to fake a deteriorating eye condition and have himself moved to a low security prison blows up in Stang’s face when he unexpectedly falls for a local preacher’s wife (Judy Davis), complicating his intentions to use the couple for the purposes of escape.
“Hoodwink”’s biggest problem is it doesn’t quite know what film it wants to be. Ken Quinnell’s script shoots out of the gates at a decent clip, involving the audience in Stang’s caper-laden misadventures, but begins to stutter once it hits the secure lock-up where the protagonist invents his false claims of blindness, before sinking completely under the weight of an unlikely romance in its later half. It’s disappointing because Hargreaves imbues Stang with plenty of exuberance in the film’s early scenes, and things motor along for a short period, but Quinnell’s inability to decide upon the important beats in his story leaves “Hoodwink”’s script muddled and unsatisfying.
Onscreen, things aren’t too much better, with Dean Semler’s photography cramped by Claude Whatham’s flat and dowdy direction. There are few opportunities for the talented cinematographer to really work his frames and the film often has the visual appeal of a midday telemovie.
Thankfully, some of the performances in “Hoodwink” help right the ship somewhat.
Hargreaves does admirably with an inconsistent and unconvincing character, and the often languid Dennis Miller impresses as the tightly wound preacher, Ralph. Frequently outshining her counterparts, however, is Judy Davis as Sarah, Stang’s frigid love interest. Davis has great control over an arsenal of precise mannerisms, and deploys each one with unfailing accuracy during her many scenes in the second half of the film.
In smaller roles, Wendy Hughes leaves her mark as one of Stang’s many girlfriends, while Colin Friels and Max Cullen impress with their naturalism as a couple of the bank robber’s cellmates.
Watching actors of this calibre go to work is always a pleasure, even if the material they have to work with is sub par, and it helps turn “Hoodwink” away from being a complete disaster.
Still, “Hoodwink” shows the faults of the era in which it was produced with its underdeveloped script, as if the money was put on the table at a certain point and the filmmakers didn’t want to lose their opportunity to get the production rolling. Its faults of overly thrifty preproduction and often uninspired execution make it hard to recommend.
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