Film critics hailed Romper Stomper as one of the most brilliant, provocative and truly exciting Australian motion pictures to appear on the screen – violent but never gratuitous, emotionally powerful and never afraid to portray the ugly, destructive face of ignorance and prejudice.
Hando (Russell Crowe) – a powerful, menacing and intimidating white supremacist – and his best mate Davey (Daniel Pollock) lead a rampaging gang of neo-Nazi skinheads in the inner city Footscray area of Melbourne during the 1980s.
They beat up young Vietnamese migrants, get drunk and fall down, living off the dole in a disused tyre warehouse draped with Nazi flags.
Gabe (Jacqueline McKenzie), running from an incestuous relationship with her rich father, joins the gang as Hando’s girlfriend, but Davey is also attracted to her.
When young Vietnamese kids retaliate, led by Tiger (Tony Lee), the skinheads escape to an abandoned warehouse, where Hando plots his revenge. Gabe pursues her own vengeance by leading the gang into her father’s house.
When Hando kicks her out, she tells the cops where the gang are hiding. Routed again, this time by the police – Hando, Davey, and Gabe take to the road.
Romper Stomper is not a pretty or comforting film, but it’s an incredibly exciting one to watch, which forces viewers to confront their attitudes towards violence as entertainment.
Several filmmakers said it was racist towards Asians and sympathetic towards skinheads and neo-Nazis. Many similar things were said about Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, made in the UK 20 years earlier, a film from which Romper Stomper borrows heavily – but the outrage was similarly misdirected.
To save money, director Geoffrey Wright decided to shoot on 16mm rather than 35mm. The resulting grainier look is perfect for the film.
Life imitated art in part, with Jacqueline McKenzie and Daniel Pollock becoming a couple during filming and afterwards, until Pollock – battling depression and fearing a prison sentence in an upcoming court case – threw himself in front of a train at Newtown railway station in Sydney on 13 April 1992.
He was only 22 years old.
McKenzie returned in 2018 in a six-part television miniseries – also called Romper Stomper – which was developed by Geoffrey Wright and centred on Gabe’s son. But whose son was he – Davey’s or Hando’s?
Hando
Russell Crowe Davey
Daniel Pollock Gabe
Jacqueline McKenzie Martin
Alex Scott Sonny Jim
Leigh Russell Cackles
Dan Wyllie Bubs
James McKenna Champ
Eric Mueck Brett
Frank Magree Jacqui
Janie Anderson Tiger
Tony Lee
Director Geoffrey Wright
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They beat up young Vietnamese migrants, get drunk and fall down, living off the dole in a disused tyre warehouse draped with Nazi flags.
He was only 22 years old.
Bubs
