A sex-hungry Australian (pardon the tautology) gets into all kinds of trouble on a visit to the Mother Country in a movie which is funny, crude and tasteless – just like Australians.
But if you’re a fan of Antipodean bad taste (or you ever lived in Earls Court) you’ll love The Adventures Of Barry McKenzie and the superior 1974 sequel, Barry McKenzie Holds His Own(1975).
This film – produced by Phillip Adams and adapted for the screen by Barry Humphries from his popular comic strip character, Bazza, which appeared in Private Eye – was the first truly Australian feature for decades.
Barrington Bradman Bing “Bazza” McKenzie (Barry Crocker) inherits $2,000 on the condition that he leaves Australia for the United Kingdom immediately – accompanied by his auntie Edna Everage (Barry Humphries) – “to further the cultural and intellectual traditions of the McKenzie dynasty.” And so begin the adventures of a colonial boy in England.
Bazza is an innocent abroad, fond of beer, Bondi and beautiful ‘sheilas’, but he soon settles into the Australian ghetto in Earl’s Court, where his old mate Curly (Paul Bertram) has a flat.
He gets drunk (often), ripped off (more often), insulted by effete Englishmen (constantly) and exploited by record producers, religious charlatans and a pretentious BBC television producer (Peter Cook).
He leaves England in disgust, after exposing himself on national television.
The critics hated it but the audience turned up in droves to belly laugh their way through it. They loved its mixture of slapstick larrikinism, beer-swilling and the infamous technicolour yawn.
The Adventures Of Barry McKenzie became the first Australian movie to make a million dollars. It went on to make many millions, and it also made the careers of many.
Barry McKenzie
Barry Crocker Edna Everage/Hoot/Dr Meyer de Lamphrey
Barry Humphries Curly
Paul Bertram Mr Gort
Dennis Price Mrs Gort
Avice Landone Sarah Gort
Jenny Tomasin Blanche
Julie Covington Dominic
Peter Cook Lesley
Mary Anne Severne Detective
Dick Bentley Landlord
Spike Milligan Joan Bakewell
Joan Bakewell
Director
Bruce Beresford
Video
Related Posts
Mississippi Australian group Mississippi began life in 1972 as a trio, comprising Graham Goble, John Mower and Russ Johnson, augmented by…
Pick-A-Box 1 9 5 7 - 1 9 7 1 (Australia) A long, long running, popular Australian game show from Channel…
Town Criers, The Australian band The Town Criers formed in Melbourne in 1964. Their first single, a cover of The Kinks' The World…
Fear Is the Key (1972) As this underrated British film from 1972 opens, we watch and listen to a man (Barry Newman) on a short-wave…
Power Without Glory 1 9 7 6 (Australia) 26 x 60 minute episodes Power Without Glory is probably among the two or three finest drama…
All Coppers Are... (1972) Joe (Martin Potter), Sue (Julia Foster) and Barry (Nicky Henson) meet as strangers at a noisy wedding reception held in…
M.P.S.I.B. 1 9 8 2 (Australia) 10 x 50 minute episodes The Australian Broadcasting Commission produced this mediocre and superficial police drama…
Avalanche With the break up of The Bootleg Family Band in November 1975, Tony Naylor, Geoff Cox and Clive Harrison recruited Adrian Campbell…
Barrington Bradman Bing “Bazza” McKenzie (Barry Crocker) inherits $2,000 on the condition that he leaves Australia for the United Kingdom immediately – accompanied by his auntie Edna Everage (Barry Humphries) – “to further the cultural and intellectual traditions of the McKenzie dynasty.” And so begin the adventures of a colonial boy in England.
He leaves England in disgust, after exposing himself on national television.
