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IMDbPro

Wake in Fright

  • 1971
  • R
  • 1h 49m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
13K
YOUR RATING
Wake in Fright (1971)
The story of John Grant, a bonded teacher who arrives in the rough outback mining town of Bundanyabba planning to stay overnight before catching the plane to Sydney. But his one night stretches to five and he plunges headlong toward his own destruction
Play trailer2:02
5 Videos
99+ Photos
DramaThriller

After a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.After a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.After a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.

  • Director
    • Ted Kotcheff
  • Writers
    • Evan Jones
    • Kenneth Cook
    • Ted Kotcheff
  • Stars
    • Donald Pleasence
    • Gary Bond
    • Chips Rafferty
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.6/10
    13K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Ted Kotcheff
    • Writers
      • Evan Jones
      • Kenneth Cook
      • Ted Kotcheff
    • Stars
      • Donald Pleasence
      • Gary Bond
      • Chips Rafferty
    • 118User reviews
    • 108Critic reviews
    • 85Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination

    Videos5

    Re-release Version
    Trailer 2:02
    Watch Re-release Version
    Wake in Fright
    Trailer 2:03
    Watch Wake in Fright
    Wake In Fright: Clip 6
    Clip 1:19
    Watch Wake In Fright: Clip 6
    Wake In Fright: Clip 1
    Clip 1:34
    Watch Wake In Fright: Clip 1
    Wake In Fright: Clip 3
    Clip 2:05
    Watch Wake In Fright: Clip 3

    Photos202

    Gary Bond and Chips Rafferty in Wake in Fright (1971)
    Jack Thompson in Wake in Fright (1971)
    Gary Bond in Wake in Fright (1971)
    Donald Pleasence, Gary Bond, Tex Foote, Jack Thompson, and Peter Whittle in Wake in Fright (1971)
    Donald Pleasence in Wake in Fright (1971)
    John Dalleen, Slim DeGrey, and Owen Moase in Wake in Fright (1971)
    Gary Bond in Wake in Fright (1971)
    Wake in Fright (1971)
    Wake in Fright (1971)
    John Meillon in Wake in Fright (1971)
    Donald Pleasence and Gary Bond in Wake in Fright (1971)
    Chips Rafferty in Wake in Fright (1971)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Donald Pleasence
    Donald Pleasence
    • Doc Tydon
    Gary Bond
    Gary Bond
    • John Grant
    Chips Rafferty
    Chips Rafferty
    • Jock Crawford
    Sylvia Kay
    Sylvia Kay
    • Janette Hynes
    Jack Thompson
    Jack Thompson
    • Dick
    Peter Whittle
    Peter Whittle
    • Joe
    Al Thomas
    Al Thomas
    • Tim Hynes
    John Meillon
    John Meillon
    • Charlie
    John Armstrong
    • Atkins
    Slim DeGrey
    • Jarvis
    • (as Slim De Grey)
    Maggie Dence
    Maggie Dence
    • Receptionist
    Norman Erskine
    • Joe the Cook
    Owen Moase
    • 1st Controller
    John Dalleen
    • 2nd Controller
    Buster Fiddess
    • Charlie Jones
    Tex Foote
    • Stubbs
    Colin Hughes
    • Stockman
    Jacko Jackson
    • Van Driver
    • Director
      • Ted Kotcheff
    • Writers
      • Evan Jones
      • Kenneth Cook
      • Ted Kotcheff(uncredited)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Director Ted Kotcheff recalled that Chips Rafferty, whose last film appearance this is, insisted on drinking real pints of beer during the bar sequences. Kotcheff substituted non-alcoholic beers for the real stuff, but Rafferty could tell immediately that it had no alcoholic content and demanded proper pints be served. He told Kotcheff: "You concentrate on the directing, I'll concentrate on the drinking." The director calculated that due to this, Rafferty was drinking up to 30 pints per day.
    • Goofs
      As Grant leaves the hotel bar in Tiboonda, he takes one last swig of beer - leaving his glass half full. In the next shot, when the camera focuses on the interior of the bar, his glass is now empty.
    • Quotes

      'Doc' Tydon: [to a semi-conscious John Grant] I cannot accept your premise, Socrates. Affectability... progress... are vanities spawned by fear. A vanity spawned by fear. The aim of what you call civilisation is a man in a smokin' jacket, whiskey and soda, pressing a bottom... button, to destroy a planet a billion miles away, kill a billion people he's never seen.

    • Crazy credits
      [Australian version] PRODUCERS' NOTE: The hunting scenes depicted in this film were taken during an actual kangaroo hunt by professional licensed hunters. For this reason and because the survival of the Australian kangaroo is seriously threatened, these scenes were shown uncut after consultation with the leading animal welfare organisations in Australia and the United Kingdom.

      [International version] PRODUCERS' NOTE: Photography of the hunting scenes in this film took place during an actual kangaroo hunt conducted by licensed professional hunters. No kangaroos were killed expressly for this motion picture. Because the survival of the Australian kangaroo is seriously threatened these scenes were included with approval of leading animal welfare organisations in Australia and the United Kingdom.
    • Alternate versions
      The international TV version that, until 2009, replaced the uncut Australian version in circulation, runs approximately 101 minutes (97 minutes on most copies due to NTSC to PAL conversion), roughly eight minutes shorter than the original. The changes are as follows:
      • When John awakens the morning after the two-up game, an alternate take of the scene is used: instead of being naked, he is wearing underpants.
      • When Janette is seducing John, the scene fades to black when she nuzzles her head against his groin and cuts to Doc's handstand. In the original, she then unbuttons her dress and kisses John, who drunkenly vomits; disappointed, she wipes his face and leads him back to the house.
      • The entirety of John's conversation with Doc outside his shack is missing.
      • The daytime kangaroo hunt lacks most of the brief scene in which Doc cuts off a kangaroo's testicles, and only shows the shot of Joe handing his knife to Doc before cutting to John's bemused close-up.
      • The night-time kangaroo hunt is severely truncated: only the first two kills are shown, and prior to the sequence in which Joe fights the one-eyed kangaroo, the sequence consists entirely of close-ups of the actors firing at the screen. Similarly, the shot of Joe slashing the kangaroo's throat and a lingering shot of kangaroo carcasses post-carnage are cut.
      • During the bush pub fight, Joe's line "You bastard!" is cut, as is Doc rising from his chair saying "You bloody bastards!"; Doc's further utterances of the phrase in this scene are cross-faded so that only the first vowel is heard.
      • After Doc grabs John by the neck during their post-hunt "tryst", the scene fades to white when the ceiling lamp swings toward the screen and cuts to the following morning, thereby eliminating Doc's suggestive mounting of John (curiously, the part of this scene featured during the montage of John's mental breakdown remains intact).
      • The following have been removed from the montage of John's mental breakdown: Doc spitting beer into Janette's mouth; Doc playfully slapping Janette; John breaking into a run; both shots of Doc having sex with Robyn. John Scott's music is cross-faded over the penultimate crescendo so that the final sting is still synchronized with the reversed shot of the two-up pennies over Doc's eyes, although much of Dick, Joe and the two-up patrons' howling laughter is eliminated as a result.
    • Connections
      Edited into Terror Nullius (2018)
    • Soundtracks
      She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain
      (uncredited)

      Traditional, based on a Negro spiritual song known as "When the Chariot Comes"

      Sung by passengers on the train

    User reviews118

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Raw introduction to Australian outback life
    You can't help admiring many aspects of this confronting movie. The use of light is inspired. Fantastic colour too. Some brilliant camera angles, and some advanced editing techniques. It conveys the heat of the outback, the dust of the towns, the sweat of everybody. Great actors, truly, really great. The story itself is fairly straightforward. It's the odd touches that are memorable. A receptionist dousing herself with water. A drunk man registering that some food in his pocket needs to be in the fridge, so he just stuffs the entire jacket into the freezer. The occasional flashback of a girlfriend, miles away in a seemingly enchanted world, coming out of the surf at Bondi. A slow pan of a lonely outback railway stop. A rabbit turned into lunch. I listened to an interview with the Director, whom claimed this movie is about the human condition that we are all capable of being our worst imagined selves, as well as our best, and as such the movie was not commentary on Australian males of that time, but more about a stranger in a strange land. That's probably true. In my experience (I've stayed in country towns), the film was a fairly accurate description of country blokes' obsession with beer on the weekends, and I was impressed with how the movie shows how truly vulnerable a single guy from the city can be in such an insistent culture. I also liked the way in which Wake In Fright never quite passes judgement by making anyone evil or aloof in any way. The protagonist does try to be civil, and he is honest, so he's not really to blame for the adventures that follow. Similarly the guys he encounters are not out to corrupt or have fun at his expense. They are all genuinely just out to enjoy the weekend, and, in their own peculiar fashion, they are all being generous. The soundtrack is impressive too. I'll concede that it sounds a little old-fashioned and 1960s, similar to the horror movies of that time, but the sounds are nevertheless a very fine example of that vogue. Indeed, Wake In Fright is a very fine example of gritty outback drama. I don't remember seeing it in its day, I only saw it today. Wake In Fright certainly has power. I'm looking forward to checking out the TV series. Cheers!
    helpful•4
    0
    • robertemerald
    • Jun 6, 2019

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    FAQ7

    • Is this movie based on a book?
    • Were real kangaroos killed during the making of the film?
    • Did Doc and John have a homosexual encounter?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 9, 1971 (Australia)
    • Countries of origin
      • Australia
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Outback
    • Filming locations
      • Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia
    • Production companies
      • NLT Productions
      • Group W
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • A$800,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $50,394
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $6,761
      • Oct 7, 2012
    • Gross worldwide
      • $218,229
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 49 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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