A Dangerous Summer

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A Dangerous Summer
Directed by Quentin Masters
Screenplay by David Ambrose
Quentin Masters
Story by Kit Denton
Jim McElroy
Produced byJim McElroy
Starring Tom Skerritt
Ian Gilmour
Guy Doleman
James Mason
Giselle Morgan
Shane Porteous
Ray Barrett
Norman Kaye
Cinematography Peter Hannan
Edited by Ted Otton
Music by Groove Myers
Production
company
Distributed byAustralia:
Roadshow Entertainment
United States:
Reel Media International
Release date
  • 21 October 1982 (1982-10-21)(Australia)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2,930,000 [1]
Box officeA$150,000 (as at March 1985) [1]

A Dangerous Summer (aka Flash Fire) is a 1982 Australian crime film drama film directed by Quentin Masters and starring Tom Skerritt, Ian Gilmour, Guy Doleman and James Mason.

Contents

Premise

Howard Anderson, a restless and discontented American, goes to Australia to team up with an old associate, Julian Fane. They plan the construction of a holiday resort.

While Anderson is a builder who takes pride in his work, Fane's only motive in building is to burn down the resort in an insurance fraud. He hires an arsonist to carry out the work.

Unfortunately, Fane's plans are triggered too soon and result in murder. Anderson, suspicious about events, forms an alliance with George Engels, an insurance investigator. [2]

Cast

Production

The film was inspired by the Sydney bush fires of the 1979-80 summer. John Seale shot footage of the fire which Brian Trenchard-Smith turned into a 25-minute film, That Dangerous Summer. It was then announced this material would be used by Trenchard Smith in a feature version of the story, to be called Bushfire. In the end, Trenchard-Smith did not direct, and Quentin Masters did. Actor Ian Gilmour broke his leg during filming. [3]

Filming was delayed due to an injury to James Mason. The film was originally budgeted at $2.3 million. [4]

Box office

A Dangerous Summer grossed $33,000 (equivalent to $130,767in 2022) at the box office in Australia. [5]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "How film investors found themselves in a foxhole". The Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend. 30 March 1985. p. 7.
  2. Panorama newspaper TV guid; 19/10/1987; Page 16
  3. David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p. 117
  4. "No biz like film biz for Peter Fox". The Sydney Morning Herald. 13 June 1981. p. 42.
  5. "Film Victoria – Australian Films at the Australian Box Office" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2010.