Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974)

Director:

Bruce Beresford

Writers:

Bruce Beresford (writer)
Barry Humphries (writer)

Release Date:

June 1975 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Hard on the heels of evil...soft on the lips of sheilahs! [DVD Australia]

Plot:

Barry McKenzie's Aunt Edna is kidnapped by Count Von Plasma, the vampire head of an isolated Eastern...

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Rescue | Australia | Gay Interest | Female Impersonator

Cast

Barry Crocker	...	Barry McKenzie / Rev. Kevin McKenzie
Barry Humphries	...	Aunt Edna Everage / Dr. Meyer Delamphrey / Offensive Buck-toothed Englishman / Senator Douglas Manton
Donald Pleasence	...	Erich Count von Plasma
Dick Bentley	...	Colin 'The Frog' Lucas
Louis Negin	...	Hugo Cretin
Paul Humpoletz	...	Modeste Imbecile
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Beatrice Aston	...	Cherylene McKenzie
Nancy Blair	...	Clothilde
Ishaq Bux
Nell Campbell	...	Nerida Brealey
Craig Canning	...	Tassie
Chantal Contouri	...	Zizi
Ed Devereaux	...	Sir Alec Ferguson
Michael Downey	...	Skeeter
Arthur English	...	Cockney Spiv
Gail Galih	...	Indian Girl
Robert Gillespie	...	Dorothy
Deryck Guyler	...	Police Constable
Clive James	...	Paddy
John James	...	Transylvanian Waiter
Julian Jebb	...	Second Offensive Englishman
Merdelle Jordine	...	Rhonda Cutforth-Jones
Roy Kinnear	...	Bishop of Paris
John Le Mesurier	...	Robert Crowther
Philip Lloyd	...	Transylvanian Guide
Andrew Lodge	...	Scrotum Baker
Michael Newman	...	Foureyes Fenton
Margo Reid	...	Noeleen
Fiona Richmond	...	French Stripper
Don Spencer	...	Quizmaster
Meiji Suzuki	...	Kung Fu Champion
Brian Tapply	...	Sir Nigel Stewart
Desmond Tester	...	Marcel Escargot
Tommy Trinder	...	Arthur McKenzie
Lincoln Webb	...	Ambrose Cutforth-Jones
Gough Whitlam	...	Himself / Prime Minister
Margaret Whitlam	...	Herself
Frank Windsor	...	Police Sergeant
Katya Wyeth	...	Germaine

Runtime:

USA:93 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M (DVD rating) | UK:18 (re-rating) | UK:X (original rating) | New Zealand:R18

Company:

Reg Grundy Productions Pty. Ltd.

Trivia:

Four Eyes Fenton's voice isn't the actors the director did all his lines and overdubbed them.

Quotes:

Rhonda Cutforth-Jones: Have you ever balled another chick, Mrs Everage?
Auntie Edna Everage: I may be old fashioned, young woman, but lesbianism has always left a nasty taste in my mouth.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008)

Soundtrack:

Botany Bay

Antipodean Epic

If you ever get the chance to see this masterpiece of Australian culture, you will see what a great film this is.

The plot consists of Dame Edna being mistaken for the Queen by Count Erich Von Plasma, a transylvanian vampire and head of a Stalinist state which has no tourist industry. He hopes by kidnapping the queen he will be able to attract tourists.

Edna's nephew Barry and his chums (including a permanently intoxicated Clive James) have to travel into darkest Transylvania (on Vamp-Air) to rescue her. Once Plasma discovers she is Dame Edna and that Norm of Melbourne is not a codename for Prince Phillip, he puts her onto his patent vampometer and is rapidly building up his collection of Chateau Everage.

In the course of this film there are numerous sight gags and sub plots most of which are either racist, sexist or both. The French and the Poms are the main targets, although a scene involving a van loan of illegal immigrants and a DHSS office would not be tolerated if it were filmed today.

Throughout the film, which will make you proud to be an Australian, cans of Fosters are opened with monotonous regularity and Advance Australia Fair is played everytime Barry thinks about his beloved homeland.

This film is funny and different to anything else I've seen and as such is very difficult to describe. All I can say is whatever you do, try and see it.