Cool Change (1986)

Director:

George Miller

Writer:

Patrick Edgeworth (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 April 1986 (Australia)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A modern love story

Plot Keywords:

Aborigine | Australia | Male Female Relationship | Land Rights | Cattleman

Cast

Jon Blake	...	Steve
Lisa Armytage	...	Joanna
Deborra-Lee Furness	...	Lee
David Bradshaw	...	James Hardwicke
Alec Wilson	...	Bull Raddick
James Wright	...	Snr. Ranger
Mark Albiston	...	Frank Mitchell
Alan Fletcher	...	Rob Mitchell
Marie Redshaw	...	Helen Mitchell
Clive Hearne	...	Ray Regan
Christopher Stevenson	...	Jim Regan
Jennifer Hearne	...	Jennifer Regan
Robert Bruning	...	Minister
Wilbur Wilde	...	Wally West
Alistair Neely	...	Joanna's Child

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Mansfield, Victoria, Australia

Company:

Delatite Productions

Propagandistic but fun

Accessible but over-sentimentalised (and at times propagandistic) treatment of an issue that remained topical throughout the following two decades: the Bracks Labor government in Victoria (through its then Environment Minister, future Deputy Premier John Thwaites) announced in 2005 that none of the 61 existing cattle grazing licenses would be renewed when they expired in August of that year; while its decision had the support of scientists, the CSIRO, environmental historians and the National Trust (and had been recommended as far back as 1957 by the Australian Academy of Science), the federal Howard government announced through its then Environment Minister Ian Campbell that it would overrule the Victorian decision. The cattlemen, who claimed they were the real conservationists ('if we don't look after the mountain, it won't look after us') rallied on 9 June in Melbourne, just as they had during the 1980s (see footage used in the film); they were supported by celebrities including Billy Brownless, Tim Watson, Josh Fraser, Brad Ottens (as AFL identities, the modern inheritors of the bushman myth) and Tom Burlinson, who played the title role in the 1982 film THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER, and who set up his own website in support of the cattlemen. (For the record, other celebrities, including John Wood of the newly formed Alpine Alliance, weatherman Rob Gell and Ron Barassi, lined up in support of the Bracks government.) The federal government did not have the power to demand that Victoria reissue the licences, and did not succeed in having cattle grazing in the area heritage listed before it lost office in November 2007; the mountain cattlemen in 2006 drove cattle through the Park in contravention of the new laws. An updating of THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER (by the same producer and director team), the film makes a concerted and populist attempt to present the situation from the point of view of the cattlemen, whose reasonableness is contrasted with the attitudes of the "Greenie" protesters (extremist) and the Labor government (technocratic and bureaucratic); while a more considered presentation of those other views may have made for a less sentimentalised film, it is a rich account of the source of a major cultural hero in Australia – the 'Man from Snowy River', the larrikin bushman himself. Steve Mitchell is good-looking, quick-witted, sardonic, full of common sense, and good in a fight; his comfortable way with women has been included for modern and American audiences. Set firmly within the Australian tradition, which by the 1980s was almost all kitsch, tradition is given an unproblematically 'good' value – especially in relation to modernity, as represented by the environmentalism and feminism of the Lee character (played by Furness), who is both home-wrecker and lifestyle-wrecker. Beautifully shot, though often with a midday-movie feel, and with another top score by Rowland, this forgotten gem is worth watching on a lazy winter afternoon; despite its relative popularity at the box office, it has now been almost completely forgotten. Most evident is the tragedy of Blake. At just 28, his immensely promising career was cut short on 1 December 1986 when, driving home after the last day's filming of The Lighthorsemen, he sustained massive brain injuries after colliding with another vehicle; the compensation he received for his confinement to near-vegetative state for the remainder of his life (a massive $32 million, reduced to $7m on appeal) was, one feels after seeing his performance in COOL CHANGE, only a fraction of what he could have made in Hollywood. A lighter observation: Farnham, who co-wrote the title song, would ironically become the voice of Greenpeace in 1989 when he launched the NGO's Rainbow Warriors album in Moscow with his song 'You're the Voice' (and it should be noted that the Little River Band's 1979 hit 'Cool Change' is completely unrelated to this film). Wilde (then of Ol'55, Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons and HEY HEY IT'S Saturday fame) makes an odd cameo performance as an ocker ranger-cum-saxophonist.