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Mad Dog Morgan [1976]
![Mad Dog Morgan [1976]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EHYQ8K83L._SL160_.jpg)
Sadly, Waterfall's DVD leaves a lot to be desired: the print is poor and has been cropped from 2.35:1 to squeezed 1.85:1 that is best seen on a widescreen TV.
RRP: £4.99
Our Price: £2.20 (subject to change)
A fine movie that deserves a better DVD
Review date: 2005-11-16 Rating: 6 out of 10
Mad Dog Morgan is a real rarity, which is a great shame, because Philip Mora's film has much to recommend it and deserves much better than a dodgy cropped transfer on the Troma label. More a chronicle of the exploits of `Mad Dog' Morgan, the bushranger who inspired Ned Kelly, than a conventional narrative, it's a non-judgemental portrait of an inconsistent, unpredictable man - after going to great lengths to deny he'll ever "be made a murderer," he then becomes one almost immediately when he drunkenly sets his gun off, wounding his host, and then hurrying off to kill the man that he himself has just sent after a doctor. It's very much a seventies film (in the best sense), with a sense of the violence of both the landscape and the people trying to eke a living from it, and it constantly surprises with neat little details such as the magistrate who doles out long sentences simply because there are still so many roads to build. Despite being at the height of his drugs-and-booze lost period, Dennis Hopper gives a pretty good performance as the naïve and contradictory folk hero cum psychopath, even managing a fairly convincing Irish accent. There's an impressive supporting cast of familiar Aussie faces, not least Gulpilil as Morgan's beloved partner in crime and Frank Thring at his most superciliously unpleasant as the Superintendant: few actors could seem more natural when he and his social circle start casually divvying up Morgan's body parts in the final scene (the head for an anthropologist, the scrotum for the Superintendant's new tobacco pouch). Although not overly graphic, it's still fairly strong meat for some viewers.
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Reviews
Disastrous transfer to DVD
Review date: 2005-04-05 Rating: 2 out of 10
I can't tell you the disappointment i felt when the DVD started playing. In a nutshell, it looks as if more time was spent on the minimal packaging than the DVD. It is unwatchable. The DVD image is taken from a video. No doubt, i know what video images look like and this DVD image looks like an old video. If that wasn't bad enough, the image is also distorted. For some incomprehensible reason, the image is stretched vertically. Its like the original image was widescreen and it has been stretched to fit the format of a TV screen. The consequence is that all of the actors are 8 foot anorexics with squashed heads! Aftter 10 minutes I gave up. Don't know whether the actual movie is good or bad. It is certainly unwatchable. This DVD release holds the dubious honour of shoddiest DVD I have ever bought. I will not offer it for resale as it isn't worth it. My copy is now in the bin.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Jack Thompson
Frank Thring
Michael Pate
David Gulpilil
Dennis Hopper
Creators:
Dennis Hopper (Primary Contributor)
Jack Thompson (Primary Contributor)
Mike Molloy (Cinematographer)
Philippe Mora (Writer)
John Scott (Editor)
Jeremy Thomas (Producer)
Richard Brennan (Producer)
Margaret Carnegie (Writer)
Director(s):
Recording label: Whe Europe Limited
Manufacturer: Whe Europe Limited
EAN: 5060033471579
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2003-08-04
Number of discs: 1
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 98 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1976
Language: English (Original Language)