Romper Stomper ** (1992, Russell Crowe, Daniel Pollock, Jacqueline McKenzie) – Classic Movie Review 6955

The US poster for Romper Stomper (1992).

Writer-director Geoffrey Wright’s pacy, noisy and unrestrained 1992 Australian film looks at the social forces that bring about a tribe of neo-Nazi skinheads who are enraged how their neighbourhood is changing and battle rival Vietnamese youths in blue-collar suburban Melbourne.

Russell Crowe makes some headway as the supposedly glamorous stubble-covered and tattoo-covered skinhead gang leader Hando (‘I’ll chop your legs off’). But this is an alienating movie, with too much wham-bam violence and too little thought on show, even though, moralistically, everybody gets their comeuppance.

The former film critic director Wright, in his feature film directorial début, shoots with immediacy and energy, with a vibrant style and much use of the suitably ugly hand-held camera.

However, his former critic colleagues in Australia nixed the film, which was highly controversial because of its violent content. David Stratton of SBS The Movie Show was appalled at the level of violence and refused to give it a rating upsetting Wright so much that he poured a glass of wine on Stratton during a chance meeting at the 1994 Venice Film Festival.

Also in the cast are Daniel Pollock as Davey, Jacqueline McKenzie as Gabrielle, Tony Lee as Tiger, Alex Scott as Martin, Leigh Russell as Sonny Jim, Dan Wyllie as Cackles, James McKenna as Bubs, Eric Mueck as Champ, Frank Magree as Brent, Christopher McLean as Luke and John Brumpton as Magoo.

Wright’s screenplay was inspired by the infamous, much publicised crimes of Melbourne Neo-Nazi skinhead Dane Sweetman, with whom he corresponded in jail.

Romper Stomper is written by Geoffrey Wright, runs 94 minutes, is produced by Film Victoria, Australian Film Commission and Seon, is distributed by Village Roadshow and Medusa (UK), is written by Geoffrey Wright, is shot by Ron Hagen, is produced by Daniel Schorf and Ian Pringle, and is scored by John Clifford White.

Wright went on the make Metal Skin, Cherry Falls and Macbeth (2006), a contemporary Melbourne gangland version of the Shakespeare starring Sam Worthington. In 2018 he is the creator of the six episode TV series Romper Stomper, a sequel to the film, with Wright directing two episodes.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6955

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