Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!

R

Released Jul 31, 2009

1 hr. 43 min.

Documentary

List

95%

65 Reviews

Tomatometer

80%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

As Australian cinema broke through to international audiences in the 1970s through respected art house films like Peter Weir's "Picnic At Hanging Rock," a new underground of low-budget exploitation filmmakers were turning out considerably less highbrow fare. Documentary filmmaker Mark Hartley explores this unbridled era of sex and violence, complete with clips from some of the scene's most outrageous flicks and interviews with the renegade filmmakers themselves.

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Critics Consensus

A raucous, fast-paced celebration of the Ozploitation films that came out of Australia in the 1970s and 1980s.

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michael d

Some entertaining stories for sure but overall kinda meh.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Great documentary about some amazing films out of Australia. Great presentation. Amazing content.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A mediocre documentary about old B movies from Australia. It's certainly niche, and was fun enough, but it wasn't particularly educational in anything that I personally cared to learn about.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The Ozploitation explosion from the 1960's to the 1980's brought about some of the best underground filmmaking that cinema had to offer. Whether it be action-oriented, horror-themed, pornographic, or just downright gonzo, the underground Australian film community had it going on, pumping out gem after gem. Not Quite Hollywood takes a look at that timeframe, with gusto. It focuses on the filmmakers and not necessarily the effects of the films that they made, although they do touch on that just a bit. There are a great number of interviewees, including Brian Trenchard-Smith, Quentin Tarantino, George Miller, Jamie Lee Curtis, Stacy Keach, George Lazenby, Russell Mulcahy, James Wan, and many of the people (actors, directors, and film critics alike) involved in the Australian film industry at the time. It doesn't attempt to provide an argument about these films in either a positive or negative light. While the film critics that are interviewed give their brutally honest opinions, others might praise the films. In other words, it allows the films to speak for themselves. The film is a well-oiled machine with nothing taken for a granted. Because of the deliberate pace of the editing, you're constantly engaged at all times and there's hardly ever a shot that lasts more than five seconds. It's a terrific documentary overall.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

sean l

A quick-hits love letter to "Ozploitation" films, the stampede of cruddy cut-rate B movies bred by the Australian cultural craze of the 70s and 80s. It's well-produced, with loads of shiny transitions and a few familiar faces on the couch (Quentin Tarantino, unsurprisingly, is an energetic fan) but it's all cut together with the short attention span you might expect from an episode of VH-1's I Love the 80s. A bunch of talking heads, mostly non-celebrities, gushing about their favorite cinematic turds like a kid on a sugar rush. At least they're passionate about the subject. That whirlwind of mid-sentence breaks left me feeling dizzied and weary, though, with its constant, breakneck topic shifts, and eventually drained the premise dry. The clips can be very funny, in a "how did that get filmed" sense, but it's easy to get the impression that we're really seeing the only worthwhile shreds of these bombs, and by the end it was all starting to feel a bit boring and redundant. Still, true to the era, there's plenty of footage to fill a solid fifteen-minute devotion to gratuitous nudity, so it does have that going for it.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A documentary about Australian exploitation film boom of the 70s. Hilarious and absolutely wild. I think pretty much everyone involved with every film, cast or crew, was interviews. Occasionally it becomes too much and moves too fast. First 20 minutes have more nudity than I've seen in years of films combined. The whole thing is a wild ride. RECOMMENDED.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

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Mark Hartley

Director

Gregory Harrison

Self

Dennis Hopper

Self

John Jarratt

Self

Barry Humphries

Self

Stacy Keach

Self

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Wesley Morris

Boston Globe

This is as insightful a glimpse into a country's cinema as you're likely to see at this running time.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 20, 2009

Full Review

Peter Hartlaub

San Francisco Chronicle

It's all very foul, and completely entertaining.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 14, 2009

Full Review

John Hartl

Seattle Times

Not Quite Hollywood is jammed with well-preserved clips of the Aussie movies that started pushing the limits after censorship was essentially dropped in 1971.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 14, 2009

Full Review

Nikki Baughan

Roll Credits

It's a triumph of documentary making, and a truly entertaining movie in its own right.

Rated: 5/5

Nov 4, 2019

Full Review

David Harris

Spectrum Culture

An entertaining love letter to the sex and slasher films that emerged from the land down under.

Rated: 3/5

Oct 9, 2019

Full Review

Martin Unsworth

Starburst

This is a documentary worth checking out. If you're remotely interested in exploitation movies, or indeed, world cinema itself, it's invaluable and thoroughly entertaining.

Rated: 9/10

Dec 15, 2017

Full Review

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Synopsis

As Australian cinema broke through to international audiences in the 1970s through respected art house films like Peter Weir's "Picnic At Hanging Rock," a new underground of low-budget exploitation filmmakers were turning out considerably less highbrow fare. Documentary filmmaker Mark Hartley explores this unbridled era of sex and violence, complete with clips from some of the scene's most outrageous flicks and interviews with the renegade filmmakers themselves.

Director: Mark Hartley
Executive Producer: Nick Batzias, Bruno Charlesworth, Jonathan Shteinman, Paul Wiegard
Screenwriter: Mark Hartley
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Magnolia Pictures, Film Victoria, Australian Film Finance Corporation, Madman Entertainment, SBS Independent, City Films Worldwide, Melbourne International Film Festival
Rating: R (Sexuality|Graphic Nudity|Drug Use|Some Language|Violence and Gore)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 31, 2009, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 8, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $19.4K

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