THE CROP has gotten the worst reviews of any Australian film in memory, not a real test because the majority of product is never seen by anyone who is likely to go into print about it. Some of the more austere local writers have called it the worst Australian film ever made - this from the country that produced Charles Chauvel's UNCIVILISED, Tony Ginnane's TURKEY SHOOT and Tracey Moffat's BEDEVIL - give me a break!
THE CROP is a a dog eared, jokey crime piece set in the eighties when it's author-producer-star's character is running a semi legitimate strip club by paying off the cops who are supplying the dope that his newly booze breath test fearful customers smoke in the parking lot before coming in to look at the girls for free. Being an enterprising type, he decides to get out from under by growing his own marijuana crop, which is beset by calamities from hungry bunnies to greedy Drug Squad coppers.
The plot has a nice anti-establishment quality that matches WOG BOY more than any other local film. Short, balding, barrel chested Elliot and model/actress Brisley, last seen hosting old Warner cartoons on local TV, make a rather endearing couple, particularly when doing their song together at the club. The misfit, commitment-shy good guys and their determined lady friends aren't something we are used to seeing in anyone's movies and the handling is better than expected - strike up the music when they hit the dirt back roads or repeat the mean money lender HQ montage each time the low life shows up. Now we're not talking Walter Hill here. There are disturbing holes in the action. Why does Elliot show up starkers? What became of the doper informant? Back focus is not absent. Its biggest fault is that THE CROP goes on too long but in the company of the funded, script developed, politically correct Australian film, this one represents a modest peak.
So why is it getting so much flack? Easy answer. This one is privately financed. The usual list of government agencies, that prop up most of these, is missing from the end roller. Where are the people who get to send their kids to a nice school or support their habit doing assessments, fifth script drafts or consultations on this one? That's not the way it works in an operation where actually making a film is incidental to the process. Too many rice bowls risk getting broken if that catches on.
