Les Patterson Saves the World (1987)

Fat middle aged 24/7 drunkard Les Patterson (Barry Humphries) represents Australia at the UN where his fart literally incinerates an Arab ambassador. Patterson is reassigned to the Middle ... See full summary »

Director:

George Miller

Writers:

Barry Humphries, Diane Millstead

Stars:

Barry Humphries, Pamela Stephenson, Thaao Penghlis

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Barry Humphries	...	Sir Les Patterson / Dame Edna Everage (as Sir Les Patterson/Dame Edna Everage)
Pamela Stephenson	...	Veronique Crudite
Thaao Penghlis	...	Colonel Richard Godowni
Andrew Clarke	...	Neville Thonge
Henri Szeps	...	Dr. Charles Herpes / Desiree Herpes
Hugh Keays-Byrne	...	Inspector Farouk
Elizabeth McIvor	...	Nancy Borovansky
Garth Meade	...	Mustafa Toul
Arthur Sherman	...	General Evans
Josef Drewniak	...	Mossolov
Esben Storm	...	Russian Scientist
Joy Westmore	...	Lady Gwen Patterson
Connie Hobbs	...	Madge Allsop
Christine Hill	...	A Possum for Peace
Kati Edwards	...	A Possum for Peace

Storyline

Fat middle aged 24/7 drunkard Les Patterson (Barry Humphries) represents Australia at the UN where his fart literally incinerates an Arab ambassador. Patterson is reassigned to the Middle East so he can be tortured to death by the country he insulted. Patterson's arrival disrupts a coup and he is spared. At a bar Patterson meets a bioweapons scientist who's developed a horrific disease for the KGB which plan to distribute it to the Pentagon via toilet seats. Patterson, though far too drunk to understand anything happening, teams up with Dame Edna (also Humphries)to save the world.

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Plot Keywords:

written by star | toilet seat | scientist | middle east | arab | 

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Taglines:

Les Patterson Saves the World. A True Story.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 April 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

A követ, aki minden követ követ

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Humpstead Productions, J&M Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The H.E.L.P virus was a commentary on A.I.D.S.

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Quotes

Dr. Charles Herpes: Visiting careless tourists in their rooms at the hotel Sodom is my bread and butter, but the jam on top is chronic diarrhea.

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Crazy Credits

Dame Edna Everage and Dr. Sir Leslie Patterson appear by arrangement with the Barry Humphries Life Enhancement Facility.

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Alternate Versions

A comparison between the DVDs published in the U.K. (2004) and in Germany (2011) shows different endings, apparently the Australian/worldwide Edition and a special version for the USA. The worldwide Edition ends with Sir Les Patterson getting awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. After an eulogy has been held in his favor, Sir Les, drunk like a skunk, staggers to the speaker's platform, looses some pages of his speech, bows down and farts, somebody is lighting up a cigarette and the whole story ends like is had begun. In the U.S. version, a reception is held for Sir Les by Mrs. President at the White House. Surrounded by her guests, she praises her interior designer for redecorating her domicile. Than she excuses herself for seeing the lavatories. Meanwhile the gay designer boasts of his idea of having colored the Blue Salon all in pink and that even appropriate toilet seats have installed at the lavatories this very morning. Getting suspicious about the seats being contaminated, Sir Les rushes into the ladies and comes back with a bewildered, but happy Mrs. President on his arms and the invited crowd applauds.

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Soundtracks

Rose Marie
(uncredited)
Music by Rudolf Friml
(Additional music by Herbert Stothart)
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto A. Harbach
The first line is sung by Les Patterson a couple times during the film

User Reviews

Less Patterson would've been better. (Oh, what a pun!)

This is the rare merciful Australian comedy that doesn't star Paul Hogan or Yahoo Serious. Instead, it stars Barry Humphries, who was wonderful as Bert the game show host in the overlooked classic "Shock Treatment". This movie, however, is not a classic. As Australian comedies go, it's pretty embarrassing, and that's saying a lot (as anyone who's seen "Young Einstein" can attest).

Humphries plays the titular character, a repugnant, leathery, big toothed, eternally horny drunkard who starts off the movie by farting, which causes a man standing behind him to burst into flames. Usually I'm a big fan of flaming flatulence humor, like The Eternal Flame character in "Freaked", but here it left me cold. Don't get me wrong, the director was obviously passionate about the material, but here it falls flat.

Anyhoo, Patterson gets wrapped up in some obscure Middle Eastern plot to spread a virus by planting it on poisoned toilet seats. The virus causes it's victims to mutate into horrible, lumpy-faced monstrosities oozing puss.

Speaking of which, it should be noted that Joan Rivers is in this movie. She is one of the most horrifying actresses in show business. From her pointy voice to her hateful fashion views to her plastic face, she frightens me more than an army of Freddy Kreugers. Thank goodness her film credits are small and after her creepy cameo at the end of "Look Who's Talking" the producers had the good sense to replace her with Roseanne in the sequel (actually, that's kind of a lateral move).

Anyway, back to this movie. For some reason Dame Edna Everage (also played by Humphries) shows up, and compared to Rivers he/she's a Goddess. This movie has a lot of things going for it- exploding koalas, some animation, a character called Dr. Herpes- but unfortunately it's all tied into Patterson, a revolting character who at no time approached anything even remotely resembling likability. By the time you get to the finale at a revolving restaurant in which another man in drag shows up, you'll be longing for the quiet subtlety of "Reckless Kelly" (a movie I actually like- it's Yahoo Serious' "Laurence of Arabia).