"Mr. Reliable is an excellent movie to watch in mixed company. Most importantly, all the Australian actor's dialects are understandable. The violence is limited to some wild shooting, there are bursts of biting comedy, and as the "hostage" drama progresses the outcome is always in doubt. In addition, a marvelous 60s soundtrack adds tremendously. Best of all, the entire story is based on fact. For a movie that is forty years old, it does not seem dated, even with the "flower power" dress and weird looking vintage automobiles. If the whole movie seems ridiculous, it is, and that is what keeps you watching to see how much further things can spiral out of control. Great movie. - MERK
14 Reviews
Good little flick from Oz
RondoHatton6 March 2006
I tripped over this today & had never heard of it but I said "Hmmm, Colin Friel, comedy? Let's give 'er a shot". As the previous poster said, it's along the lines of The Castle, and a few others from Down Under: The Dish, Strictly Ballroom, and Danny Deckchair. When the titles rolled I said "That was nice. I feel good." Can't ask for much more than that when you trip over a movie you've never heard of.
BTW, the quote "If you were my husband I'd poison your soup" was actually spoken at a dinner party by Lady Astor to Winston Churchill, but his reply was "Madam, if I were your husband, I would gladly drink it."- from the National Lampoon's 1973 "Wit & Witticisms of Winston Churchill
BTW, the quote "If you were my husband I'd poison your soup" was actually spoken at a dinner party by Lady Astor to Winston Churchill, but his reply was "Madam, if I were your husband, I would gladly drink it."- from the National Lampoon's 1973 "Wit & Witticisms of Winston Churchill
Bygone era
tonywebster-9609022 August 2020
This film failed terribly at the box office. It's a really funny film. Colin friel's appearance, should've brought people in. Jacqueline Mackenzie is wonderfully cast. Despite being made in 1996, it depicts an bygone era, of the '60's.
Cool and unpredictable
jlam88825 February 2003
MR. RELIABLE is a cool, relaxed and unusual mixture of comedy, crime and satire. It´s in the late sixties and Wally is a former prisoner who wants to settle down with his new girlfriend, but by a misunderstanding the couple and her little kid are trapped in a house on the Australian countryside, with the police thinking that Wally is holding the woman and the kid hostages. The film contains many charming and humoristic moments as the drama goes on, partly due to the crowd gathering outside the house. They have hippie parties and barbeques, some teenagers make love when a mother sees them, a journalist wants to interview Wally´s girlfriend about her underwear and so on. The filmmakers want to make a satire about media and people´s reactions to a tense situation, and I think they were inspired by Milos Forman´s HAIR and some "serious" hostage films. This is a cool film.
A somewhat under-rated good little Australian movie
wdhunt15 August 2007
I am probably over critical of most Australian movies, basically on account of the cringe factor, ie,"Gees, they're not going to show THAT somewhere else, are they." Once in a while though, you come across a domestic gem, like "Muriels Wedding", "The Dish", "The Castle", and "Paperback Hero", which I just love to bits, and they seem to put the Australian idiom into some kind of sense, and I love ém. Well anyway, I just found another one to add to that list."Mr Reliable." I remember the incident in the late sixties, when Wally Mellish held his girlfriend/de facto, Beryl Muddle (Yes folks, they were their real names) up in a hostage situation for 5 or 6 days, and it was the talk of the media for a long while. Anyway, it is a lovely, funny, easy to watch little movie that is well worth wasting a couple of hours of your life on. I doubt very much whether Wally was such a likable idiot in real life, and Beryls legs probably didn't go all the way to the ground like they did in the movie, but it is a good watch. You can see the various scrapes that they get into coming a mile away, which really only give the whole thing a sense of inevitability. And it is a great snapshot of mid sixties Australia, in so many respects. The summer heat, the cars, the crowds, the emerging hippy culture, the xenophobia as regards "new Australians", the black and white television. Well worth a look.
Unpredictable
dhalpert20 May 2001
This movie is a gem. No car chases. No monsters. No real bad guys (although the cops are keystonesque) You will not be able to guess what is going to happen next to this fellow. This is a fun movie for the whole family. A slice of the 60's and a slice of Australia. Good on ya!
Nonsense!
claudius13131 March 2015
A highly fictionalized account of the actual events. For a start the actual siege was in winter in New South Wales, not summer in Queensland as filmed. Glenfield in 1968 was not a deserted dusty piece of industrial outback wasteland but a suburb of low rent fibros, side by side.
And there was no Hollywood style ending for the career criminal Mellish. He was not accepted by the Army but instead he was interned for a term in a psychiatric hospital. Soon after release he was jailed for 3 years for demanding money with menaces.
Beryl Muddle divorced him immediately and Mellish never saw her again.
So much for "this is a true story".
Talk about making a celluloid hero out of a total loser.
And there was no Hollywood style ending for the career criminal Mellish. He was not accepted by the Army but instead he was interned for a term in a psychiatric hospital. Soon after release he was jailed for 3 years for demanding money with menaces.
Beryl Muddle divorced him immediately and Mellish never saw her again.
So much for "this is a true story".
Talk about making a celluloid hero out of a total loser.
Beautiful film
Mahalo22 April 1999
"Mr. Reliable" is a must-see movie if you're into romance flicks. I was channel surfing and discovered this film on Sundance channel. It's very hard to condense the greatness of this movie in a couple of words but it's very excellent. I highly recommend this to everyone. Trust me.
Should we celebrate Wally?
_t_1 August 1999
Warning: Spoilers
In my opinion, Mr. Reliable has a great production. I do not feel any disturbing mistake in the production for the whole film. I also think that all actors do good jobs. I normally like McKenzie, especially in Under the Lighthourse Dancing, Romper Stomper and Angel Baby. So I enjoy watching her role.
It is a story of Wally who gets involved with a single mother. He takes the mother and also the kid to a (poor) renovated house. The conflict happens because he wants new decoration for his house. He then steals the figures of car. Polices come along to arrest him but he tell the polices that he has a baby hostage. The situation is bigger becasue Sydney police commissioners try to control the situation. People are also interested in the case as well as media.
This disturbs me too much. People think that Wally is a great guy. They act against police's violence. Actually, police is not really violent becasue they want to help the baby who is not really a hostage. People also support and celebrate the loser Wally. I do not think of the reason why I would do that if I was in the situation. For me, Wally is not a hero at all. And he should repay for what he has done. The ending is too happy. He should get a lesson or even penal.
It is a story of Wally who gets involved with a single mother. He takes the mother and also the kid to a (poor) renovated house. The conflict happens because he wants new decoration for his house. He then steals the figures of car. Polices come along to arrest him but he tell the polices that he has a baby hostage. The situation is bigger becasue Sydney police commissioners try to control the situation. People are also interested in the case as well as media.
This disturbs me too much. People think that Wally is a great guy. They act against police's violence. Actually, police is not really violent becasue they want to help the baby who is not really a hostage. People also support and celebrate the loser Wally. I do not think of the reason why I would do that if I was in the situation. For me, Wally is not a hero at all. And he should repay for what he has done. The ending is too happy. He should get a lesson or even penal.
A nice, light movie.
aeroboy8 July 2006
I saw Mr. Reliable a long time ago, and I remember it left me with a good feeling. It's about a misunderstanding between the main character and the police, which leads to many funny situations.
Most of the action in the film took place in the house where Wally and his girlfriend were in and its surroundings, and even so the film was never boring. The main characters where likable, so there were lots of suspense as you wondered what would happen to them next, since they were surrounded.
The best of the film, in my opinion, begins when people and reporters gather outside the house: it provided amusing moments, which sometimes could give the viewer a nostalgic feeling.
Most of the action in the film took place in the house where Wally and his girlfriend were in and its surroundings, and even so the film was never boring. The main characters where likable, so there were lots of suspense as you wondered what would happen to them next, since they were surrounded.
The best of the film, in my opinion, begins when people and reporters gather outside the house: it provided amusing moments, which sometimes could give the viewer a nostalgic feeling.
CUTESIE-POO PICTURE, FROM AN OBNOXIOUS COUNTRY
printsofdenmark13 October 2018
A clever and charming yarn
Rumples1 August 1999
I had seen this film before and avoided it - suspecting it would leave me cringing. I did it a great injustice. This movie is very much in the vein of recent Aussie successes such as The Castle, and Muriel's Wedding - movies that take pride in the dry, wry, and laconic Aussie perspective on life. It had all the basic ingedients of a fun flick, charm, humour, good characters, bit of romance, and an interesting plot with a clever ending. If you see it, give it a try - you, like me, could be surprised. My vote 7/10
Charming watch, for a dark and stormy night. No big deal.
davidallanstein14 December 2014
One of those cute, little, low-budget efforts we got from small, undistinguished countries a few decades ago. Clever, but no searing profundity, textually or cinematographically.
Amusing; not rolling on the floor, hysterical.
Parker's cinematography is conventional, not in the least stunning, but the text doesn't deserve it.
Well, I just like films with a little more sinew, but this is Australian, after all, which is, I must admit, one of my least favourite "cultures". And ouch! that ACCENT.
A pleasant rental in the old VHS days, but wouldn't buy a DVD or travel three blocks to a cinema for it.
Tass and Parker, rather minor figures, who never made it to the very top tier, colonially or internationally, seem specialists in money-making sentimentality.
Cute.
Amusing; not rolling on the floor, hysterical.
Parker's cinematography is conventional, not in the least stunning, but the text doesn't deserve it.
Well, I just like films with a little more sinew, but this is Australian, after all, which is, I must admit, one of my least favourite "cultures". And ouch! that ACCENT.
A pleasant rental in the old VHS days, but wouldn't buy a DVD or travel three blocks to a cinema for it.
Tass and Parker, rather minor figures, who never made it to the very top tier, colonially or internationally, seem specialists in money-making sentimentality.
Cute.
MR. RELIABLE (1996) - 8/05/2020
mitch-bulfin8 May 2020
This movie is a hidden gem in Australian cinema. No car chases, no monsters, no real bad guys (besides the police), just a good piece of film. I'm not a fan of some of the shot choices, the sound had an echo and the directors style was quite bland, but there was some great lighting choices and costume designs. Fairly unpredictable which makes for a fun movie for the whole family.
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