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After he comes into a small inheritance, Barry McKenzie (aka Bazza) decides to visit England with his aunt, which leads to many humerus and some not-so-humorous incidents with Poms from all persuasions and classes. As Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper note: 'The narrative offers a 'vigorous parody of the Australian "ocker," anti-intellectual, xenophobic, obsessed with beer and sex but never capable of relating positively with women, using a vernacular of prodigious vulgarity and inventiveness, and totally oblivious of anything beyond his own narrow conception of the order of things' (1980, p. 340).
Notes
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Based on the Barry McKenzie comic strip written by Barry Humphries (and drawn by Nicholas Garland), from an idea conceived by British comedian Peter Cook. The cartoons were first published in England in Private Eye magazine, and later in The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie (Macdonald and Co, 1968). The book, however, was banned in Australia by the Minister for Customs and Excise due to the humour's reliance on indecency. Interestingly, the Australian Government (under Prime Minister John Gorton) fully funded the film version of the book two years later through the newly created Australian Film Development Corporation. In 1974, another prime minister, Gough Whitlam, appeared as himself in the sequel, Barry McKenzie Holds His Own.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Masculinity, Victimhood and National Identity in 1970s Australian Ocker Cinema
2023
single work
criticism
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 20 no. 1 2023; (p. 118-136)'Historians have long understood ocker cinema in terms of a more distinct and assertive national identity in Whitlam’s 1970s, yet only recently have begun to consider the context of the women’s liberation movement unfolding at the time. Adding to this emerging body of scholarship, this article reads the rise of ocker cinema both in the context of, and as a response to, second-wave feminism. Turning to the films Stork (1971), The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972) and Alvin Purple (1973), this article argues that the cinematic articulation of the ocker in the 1970s not only asserted a masculinist national identity, but also positioned this national masculinity as the victim of (and in danger from) threatening feminist challenges.' (Publication abstract)
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“Smash Sexist Movies” : Gender, Culture and Ocker Cinema in 1970s Australia
2022
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 46 no. 2 2022; (p. 181-195)'The 1970s is often characterised as the decade of Australia’s “new nationalism”, expressed most potently in a wave of cultural activity nurtured by government funding. The figure of the ocker was central to this new nationalism, particularly in film. The ocker, a contemporary masculine archetype devoted to beer, sex and swearing, was a star of Australian films such as The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, Alvin Purple, Petersen and Don’s Party. Yet few scholars have considered the ocker in a gendered context, remarkable when we consider that while the ocker films were being produced, the women’s liberation movement was mounting a radical challenge to Australian cultural, social and political norms. What new understandings of 1970s society and culture might result if we read the new nationalist ocker and women’s liberation in the same frame? This article examines the relationship between ocker culture and women’s liberation in the 1970s. It argues that we can read new nationalist popular culture as a site of gendered cultural contest, with a particular focus on feminist responses to ocker culture, including Alvin Purple, and a reading of the film Petersen.' (Publication abstract)
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Up a Wombat’s Freckle
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Best Australian Essays 2017 2017; (p. 173-176) The Times Literary Supplement , 21 June 2017;'“I hope there won’t be any colloquialisms in this fillum Barry”, said Tom Stubbings breathlessly. The senior Sydney accountant had bounded across the tarmac at Kingsford-Smith aerodrome to catch us before we boarded the flight to London to start filming The Adventures of Barry McKenzie. The director, Bruce Beresford, and I were co-authors of the screenplay, and Mr Stubbings was charged with administering the total production budget of $250,000 advanced to us by the Australian Film Corporation. He was nervous. Naturally I reassured him: “It’s a family film, Tom”, I said, lying through my teeth. When the film was released on October 12, 1972, and returned its total investment to the AFC in a matter of weeks, it was, notwithstanding, excoriated by every critic, journalist and disc jockey in Australia as a vulgar calumny, a cruel misrepresentation of Australian refinement. The movie was a ceaseless stream of colloquialisms new, obsolete and invented. It was the filthiest Australian film of the year, the nadir of Australian cinema which had by then entered its soft-focus “idyllic” phase.' (Introduction)
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From Barry McKenzie to Priscilla : The Evolution of the Aussie Comedy Hero
2015
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 12 August 2015; -
The Bogan Aesthetic
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Island , no. 139 2014; (p. 9-15) 'Australian society has never been more diverse, intricate and sophisticated than it is right now. But, as Simon Caterson writes, never have we been more bogan.' (9)
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'Bazza' is a Good Simple Comedy
1972
single work
review
— Appears in: The National Times , 23-28 October 1972; Creme de la Phlegm : Unforgettable Australian Reviews 2006; (p. 143-145)
— Review of The Adventures of Barry McKenzie 1972 single work film/TV -
The Two Bazzas
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , 2008 no. 48 2008;
— Review of The Adventures of Barry McKenzie 1972 single work film/TV -
Bazza Arrives On the Silver Screen
1972
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 19 August vol. 94 no. 4817 1972; (p. 6)
— Review of The Adventures of Barry McKenzie 1972 single work film/TV -
Bazza Brings It Up
1972
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 21 October vol. 94 no. 4826 1972; (p. 45)
— Review of The Adventures of Barry McKenzie 1972 single work film/TV -
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie Rewatched – Crude but Charming
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 29 August 2014;
— Review of The Adventures of Barry McKenzie 1972 single work film/TV -
y
The Barry McKenzie Movies
Strawberry Hills
:
Currency Press
,
2005
Z1229014
2005
single work
criticism
(taught in 1 units)
'Bruce Beresford's a colourful film about an 'innocent abroad' as he blunders his way through the London of the 1970s was panned by the critics but a huge success with audiences. The film became the first Australian movie to make a million dollars, thereby playing a crucial part in the resurgence of the Australian film industry in the early 1970s by demonstrating the commercial viability of local production. It also did very well commercially in London, where it established a record for any Australian film released there.
'Based on Barry Humphries comic-strip character, which appeared in the British satirical magazine Private Eye in the 1960s, the screenplay was written by Humphries and Beresford, the story line deriving from the culture clash between the Australian innocent 'Bazza' McKenzie and the English - from a taxi driver who takes Barry from Heathrow to Earls Court by way of Stonehenge, to the decadent upper classes with their public school fetishes, the swinging scene of pop music promoters and Jesus freaks, and eventually the hallowed halls of BBC television. ' (Publication summary)
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The Story of Bazza and Us
2007
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 27 January 2007; (p. 3) -
Strewth! Bazza Speaks Volumes
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 10-11 February 2007; (p. 18-19) Gabriella Coslovich puts The Adventures of Barry McKenzie under the spotlight thirty-five years after its original film release. - y Lethal Humour: Nick Garland, Barry Humphries and 'The Adventures of Barry McKenzie' Anne Pender (interviewer), London : Menzies Centre for Australian Studies , 2003 Z1355072 2003 single work interview
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The Director on Some of His Films
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 27 - 28 September 2008; (p. 15)
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