Welcome to our first movie reviews for 1985.
As you've just seen, it's been a busy year and we'd like to thank you all for making it that way.
A little later on we'll be taking a look at some future product which I'm sure will make this year the best for entertainment.
Tony, I'm looking forward to that but before we go any further, I've got a little question that'll tease your brain and introduce us to the February product.
Okay, far away, good.
Tony, what comedy duo do you reckon has been the most successful in motion picture history?
How about Laurel and Hardy?
No.
No, then Abbot and Costell or Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis?
They might have been but not for the past couple of years because that distinction's held by Cheech and Chong.
Right.
And by a fair margin too.
They've grossed well over $250 million in box office returns and with comedy record sales they stand in the same star category as the Rolling Stones do with music.
Their apparent brilliance is hidden by a swarm of slapstick comedy, zany routines and off-colour humour.
In their latest hit they play the Corsigan Brothers which of course is the classic tale written by Alexander Dumas.
But as Cheech warned, this version is the one they remembered from their days of sleeping through history classes.
This film's a break from the usual Cheech and Chong as it doesn't concentrate on contemporary issues and is more of a general appeal film than anything that they've ever done before.
Ah, cha! Oh mon Dieu! My God! I have been hit with shit!
Cheech and Chong are the Corsican Brothers and that great legend may never recover.
It's a saga of birth.
Ahhhhh! Oh my God!
And death.
My darling. Love and hate.
I'm not supposed to be doing this. I'm Catholic.
Dungeons and drag queens.
It's a trisectal.
Trisectal?
Yeah, he'll try anything. Mud, chickens, anything.
Oh, that's beautiful.
They were twins.
We're not identical twins, see, because we had different fathers.
See, all they used to... well anyways.
When one brother was being hurt, the other felt the pain.
So that even when they fought, they truly felt for each other.
Executed!
I am here, my brother.
In an epic of epic proportions.
It's not nice to bullshit the queen.
Hey, would you follow this guy into a revolution?
Of course not, because you got half a brain.
Stop, I'm going to get some more evil.
One was destined to lead his people from oppression into freedom.
The other wasn't.
Cheech and Chong are the Corsican brothers.
Vince Colossomer is a young man being nurtured for the heady heights of Hollywood.
Already he's arguably the biggest
teen idol residing in Australia. And in the movie Street Hero, he proves himself to be not only good looking, but also a fine actor and musician.
In this Paul Daney production, Sigrid Thornton, who incidentally has made more films than any other Australian actress in the past six years, stars alongside Colossomer as his girlfriend.
It's all about a kid living in a world of drugs, illegal gambling and cruising cop cars.
And the only thing that keeps him above the mire of petty criminals is his music.
Street Hero has a fantastic soundtrack which you're listening to now. It features Dragon, Sharon O'Neil and John English.
Street Hero also featured in our recent TV commercial and it enjoyed enormous success in its theatrical run.
As the Australian newspaper remarked, it's the most stylishly proficient film, and it's the most popular movie in the world.
As the Australian newspaper remarked, it's the most stylishly proficient film since Mad Max.
It's his street.
His game.
His rules.
And everybody knows him.
The cops.
The pushers.
The girls.
Street Hero.
The most popular movies in today's society are ones with topical storylines, such as The Deer Hunter, Midnight Express, The Day After and Kramer vs Kramer.
Joining that list now is an engaging film called Brainwaves.
And although it still comes under the category of science fiction, it is alarmingly close to being science fact.
This film was described by Variety magazine as an engrossing medical science fiction thriller.
Have you heard of the Clevius process by any chance?
One uses electronic devices to transfer impulses.
They force us to endure what we cannot understand.
They have tampered with the human mind.
I'm afraid we've encountered a complication.
Where do you think we get the impulses that go into the computer to feed the program?
Who's the donor?
The police said it was an accident.
They're trying to kill me.
She's trying to kill you.
Don't touch me!
She seems to be approaching in your paranoia state.
It wasn't an accident.
They have created a world in which we have no control.
Do you think I'm going crazy?
Nothing can stop them from going too far.
Brainwaves. They have violated the laws of nature.
From the makers of Razorback and Return to Eden comes the fiery, dangerous summer.
The film is directed by Quentin Masters, who's best known for putting the oomph in the bitch.
It stars James Mason, who was one of the greatest movie actors of all time,
AFI award winner Wendy Hughes, and Tom Skerritt, who had the lead role in Alien.
And when you add up all that talent, you've got a film that will really make you sweat.
Insurance fraud, right? They want to burn the hotel down?
I would do what I could to make sure that your hotel remains intact.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, I'd be only too pleased to see it burned to the ground.
And of course you'd be in a lot better shape financially if the whole place did burn down.
Why do you say that?
Well, you're insured with our company for ten million dollars.
But then you must know that, Mr. Anderson.
The
Our chap lights all his fires on Sunday.
Now you and I know that only one Sunday remains between now and the New Year, and that's Christmas Day.
Christmas Day.
UK video business magazine described Savage Islands as a 19th century Raiders of the Lost Ark, and it's not hard to see why.
Savage Islands is based on a factual character named Fully Hayes, played by Tommy Lee Jones.
Hayes was an international gun runner who looked for and stayed in trouble.
Michael O'Keefe is another star of the show, and he won an Academy Award nomination for The Great Santini.
He also starred in Caddyshack and another roadshow release, Split Image.
The script was written by a fellow called John Hughes, who wrote National Lampoon's Class Reunion and National Lampoon's Vacation.
It's tongue-in-cheek humor, it's unrelenting pace, and its romantic overtones make Savage Islands a real winner.
On these islands somewhere in the South Pacific, the greatest adventure of all time is about to begin.
Savage Islands, Fully Hayes and the Reverend Nate, always together through good times and bad.
They fight for love, for money, and just for the sheer hell of it.
Fully!
It all happens in...
Savage Islands, it's the place to be.
Tony, I don't think a day's gone by in the past month where you haven't been drumming Savage Islands into everybody's head.
Yes, Gordon, maybe I have been getting a bit carried away, but for Straight Adventure I haven't been this impressed since High Road to China.
And believe me, this film has just as big an audience range.
I agree. Well, Tony, by now our retailers should have received their latest issue of Tapetalk.
And on the back of the newsletter is a poster of the movie we've just been talking about, Savage Islands.
Right, and as usual we have posters, plus an assortment of material on the other titles, as well as a catalogue to give to customers.
In the coming months we'll be releasing some great entertainment, which we're sure will be enjoyed by the majority of your customers.
And believe me, they're rippers.
Electric Dreams is sure to put more than a little spark in your life.
Are you sure you don't have a dog?
No, just a pest.
Bakaru Banzai is a sci-fi adventure light years ahead of its time.
Bakaru, Presidents on Line 1 calling about is everything okay with the alien space clop on Planet 10?
Or should he just go ahead and destroy Russia?
Tell him yes on one and no on two.
Which was yes, destroy Russia or number two?
Woody Allen makes his funniest and most commercial film in Broadway, Danny Rose.
What did your husband do?
A little bookmaking, some mode shockings, some extortion, like that.
Professional.
Who are you?
Danny Rose, theatrical management.
Who else do you handle besides Lou?
One of the great balloon folding acts of all time.
Give me a favor, I want you to bring Tina.
But she knows you're married?
That's why you gotta bring her.
You can't ride two horses with one behind.
Lou, she seems to be a little upset.
The guy shot him in the eyes.
Lou is blind?
Dead.
He's blind, of course, because the bullets go right through.
And based on actual events, the Philadelphia experiment is both frightening and gripping.
Forty-one years ago, the United States government authorized an experiment that would render its ships undetectable by radar.
The experiment took place on a ship in Philadelphia.
It was October, 1943.
For forty-one years, the government denied it ever happened.
What is it?
We don't know, sir, but it wasn't here when we started.
The Philadelphia experiment.
Once Upon a Time in America is arguably the greatest story of gangland America.
Once Upon a Time in America.
Next month we'll be back with more reviews of new and future titles.
Yes, and 1985 is going to be a great year of entertainment from Roadshow.
Bye-bye.