The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972) - Umbrella - January 2021

[DawnShadow]

Outside of BG, one title we can announce will be the blu-ray debut of THE ADVENTURES OF BARRY MCKENZIE in January as part of a refresh of the Ozploitation Classics range, and we’re pretty confident that the punters are going to enjoy the finished product. Again, there’s some other titles in the works on that front, and some restoration work going on that will definitely get people’s attention.

Source : https://www.monsterfest.com.au/simon...5ZnSbyi3vHWVMY

[DawnShadow]

Coming January 6. Up for pre-order at EzyDVD:
http://www.ezydvd.com.au/blu-ray/The...ics/dp/6223072

[Aunt Peg]

They don't make them like this anymore. I think I'll buy it for nostalgic purposes and a good non-PC laugh.

Dame Edna gets what is probably the funniest line she has ever spoken in the film and that alone if worth the it.

[CinemaScope]

Ha, I remember seeing it at the cinema, I had a couple of the cartoon books as well, very un-PC these days. If all's well with the Blu-ray I'll have to but it.

[BrentLW]

Hopefully Holds His Own will follow soon.

[fuzzymctiger]

Picked this up today. Was a tad disappointed that the slip is entirely different from any of the prior Ozploitation line outside of the logo, but then I saw the spine is marked 01!!!

Glad to see this likely means a lot more Ozploitation titles to come, but given they’re restarting the series with new sleeve design and numbered, I expect some double dips to come.

Will crack it open and check out the inside and the disc later tonight after work

[tucker_cleveland]

Originally Posted by fuzzymctiger

Picked this up today. Was a tad disappointed that the slip is entirely different from any of the prior Ozploitation line outside of the logo, but then I saw the spine is marked 01!!!

Glad to see this likely means a lot more Ozploitation titles to come, but given they’re restarting the series with new sleeve design and numbered, I expect some double dips to come.

Will crack it open and check out the inside and the disc later tonight after work

It's a little odd to restart the Ozploitation series after so many releases. I'm guessing it's an attempt to compete with Imprint.

[LucasJ]

Originally Posted by fuzzymctiger

Picked this up today. Was a tad disappointed that the slip is entirely different from any of the prior Ozploitation line outside of the logo, but then I saw the spine is marked 01!!!

Glad to see this likely means a lot more Ozploitation titles to come, but given they’re restarting the series with new sleeve design and numbered, I expect some double dips to come.

Will crack it open and check out the inside and the disc later tonight after work

Post some pictures up if you can.

[The Mole]

Do they still use reversible covers without the ratings logo?

[SillyG]

Originally Posted by Aunt Peg

They don't make them like this anymore. I think I'll buy it for nostalgic purposes and a good non-PC laugh.

Is there even such a thing as a "PC" laugh?

[Aunt Peg]

I hope the sequel is forthcoming soon.

I've actually never seen it

[fuzzymctiger]

Finally got around to actually watching this last night. A lot later than I intended but some more anticipated things came in the mail and the length of this made it tough to squeeze in around life (a 2 hour ocker comedy?).

Film wise, it was exactly as I expected. A quite crass un-PC ocker comedy but great fun, and honestly a bit tamer than I expected.

As far as the disc goes, the transfer was pretty good. Vibrant colours, good detail, very little damage, and some grain. I don't say excellent, because note I said SOME grain.

This has been seemingly grain managed in one way or another, but only slightly. There is visibly grain in every scene, but not much and it doesn't move very naturally. I suspected something was up the second I noticed a visible glitch on the building being zoomed into in the opening shot, and there was some VERY unnatural swarming grain moving around people and objects during the opening titles, likely a result of whatever they've used to manage the grain struggling with the opticals in the opening credits.

Other than that though, I didn't notice any other real issues, until the final scenes with the smoke and urine streams, in which case when the detective is hit with the streams, the streams appear solid like they're not even flowing or moving.

On the whole though, still quite a good transfer, just not perfect. I'm not much for reviewing audio given I have to watch movies relatively quiet and use just my TVs speaker. The subtitles were a bit odd though, in that they were quite small, and multiple peoples dialogue were all on the same line with no indication a different person was speaking.

I'll grab some photos of the packaging now, but tbh not a massive fan. The blue borders are garish, and the case on the inside is useless without the outer slip case, as it only has a different original poster on front and back a bit smaller than ideal, surrounded by the blue border and nothing else. The reverse just has shots from the film with speech bubbles containing quotes.

I definitely miss the older packaging for the Ozploitation line

[fuzzymctiger]

Some photos of the slipcover and the case

[Show spoiler]

Note the spine on the case is identical to the spine on the slipcover. If you're someone who likes reversible spines so you don't have to see ratings, you won't be impressed with this one.

They make up for it though with no ratings logos on the front of the slipcover

[Aunt Peg]

Does anybody know why this went from 'M' to 'R'. There is nothing in the film to warrant an 'R' rating. Maybe something in the special features?

[CinemaScope]

I've ordered this, it may well have dated a bit, but I have fond memories of reading the comic strip books, & I saw it at the cinema, I also saw Barry McKenzie Holds His Own, & even (gulp) Les Patterson Saves the World

[fuzzymctiger]

Originally Posted by Aunt Peg

Does anybody know why this went from 'M' to 'R'. There is nothing in the film to warrant an 'R' rating. Maybe something in the special features?

It’s gone from an R on original release down to an M during the DVD era actually.

Was surprised it had an R in the first place, outside of some nudity and a bit of coarse language it’s pretty tame, just crass and dated

[SillyG]

Originally Posted by Aunt Peg

Does anybody know why this went from 'M' to 'R'. There is nothing in the film to warrant an 'R' rating. Maybe something in the special features?

Originally Posted by fuzzymctiger

It’s gone from an R on original release down to an M during the DVD era actually.

The film was originally classified R upon its release in 1972, but it appears that the decision was appealed for some reason, and dropped to the equivalent of what is now the M rating in 1974, and has held that rating since.

The slipcase correctly displays an M classification while the plastic case reflects the theatrical posters that would have had the R logo on them back in the day and is not indicative of the current classification status of the film/disc.

Classification history:

Theatrical releases:
1972 - R18+
1974 - M (on appeal)

Home video releases:
1984 - M
1992 - M - Adult themes, Sexual references
2006 - M - Moderate sexual references, Moderate coarse language, Crude humour

Incidentally, "crude humour" is a more descriptive way of disclosing the classifiable element of "adult themes", though sexual references and coarse language are also occasionally subsumed under the "crude humour" umbrella.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by fuzzymctiger

It’s gone from an R on original release down to an M during the DVD era actually.

Was surprised it had an R in the first place, outside of some nudity and a bit of coarse language it’s pretty tame, just crass and dated

It was re-rated M in 1974.

[fatboyslim142]

Does this BD include ALL the extras from the 2 disc DVD release?

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Aunt Peg

I hope the sequel is forthcoming soon.

I've actually never seen it

Other way around for me. Back in the 80s, when a lot of video stores (here in the US) were selling off their Betamax tapes because no one had Beta players, I picked up a couple of Aussie films. One was Weekend of Shadows, which I loved (and would love to see it come out on BD), the other Barry McKenzie Holds His Own, which I found completely demented (in a good way). It was also the first time I encountered Edna Everage. Until getting this BD, I've never had the opportunity to see the first film.

Originally Posted by fatboyslim142

Does this BD include ALL the extras from the 2 disc DVD release?

Don't know, but damn, this thing was loaded, including a 2-hour documentary, a few other lengthy interviews, some early short films of Beresford's, and more. Probably a good 5-6 hours of extras.