Dallas Doll

Last updated

Dallas Doll
Directed by Ann Turner
Written byAnn Turner
Produced byRay Brown
Penny Chapman
Starring Sandra Bernhard
Victoria Longley
Celia Ireland
Rose Byrne
David Ngoombujarra
Roy Billing
Frank Gallacher
CinematographyPaul Murphy
Edited byMichael Honey
Release date
  • 1994 (1994)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Dallas Doll is an Australian black comedy-drama film starring Sandra Bernhard, David Ngoombujarra, Roy Billing, Victoria Longley, Frank Gallacher, Jake Blundell, Rose Byrne, Celia Ireland and written and directed by Ann Turner. [1]

Contents

Cast

Plot

Dallas Adair is an American consultant brought to Australia to advise on a new golf course project. On the plane from L.A. she meets Charlie Sommers, the 18-year-old son of one of her bosses when there's a near crash landing, after which Dallas moves into the Sommers bourgeois home. While living with the Sommers, Dallas begins a twisted odyssey to seduce and corrupt the family which includes seducing Charlie, then seducing his father Stephen, a workaholic lawyer who is re-awakened by sexual desire. Dallas even seduces Stephen's frustrated wife Rosalind, where Dallas introduces Rosalind to excitement of living on edge and the female body. Only the Sommer's UFO obsessed teenage daughter Rastus, along with her pet dog Argus, are highly suspicious to Dallas's agenda. Her influence over the Sommers family secured, Dallas begins to chart her final objective by appealing to the local Mayor Tonkin, for assistance in setting up the golf links with her wicked charms. However, fate and destiny finally catches up to Dallas when Charlie returns from his lone spiritual quest in the desert with old scores to settle where he, Argus and a spectacular visitation conspire to cause the downfall and death of Dallas Adair.

Production

Shot in April and May 1993, the film was developed with the assistance of the Australian Film Commission and made with money from the FFC. Sandra Bernhard was imported to play the lead. Ann Turner:

"Dallas Doll" essentially came from being part of and seeing how Australians really worship experts from overseas. I've done some writing workshops where that would happen. An American is brought out – and the willingness for Australians to accept with open arms whatever fraud comes out because they're American, that's absolutely the starting point of Dallas Doll. [2]

Reception

The film was released theatrically in 1994 in the United Kingdom and Germany, received mixed reviews. [3] [4] It was released in the United States on 23 June 1995 and had a limited theatrical run. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandra Bernhard</span> American actress and comedian (born 1955)

Sandra Bernhard is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy, where she often critiqued celebrity culture and political figures.

This is a list of films released in 1994. The top worldwide grosser was The Lion King, becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all-time, although it was slightly overtaken at the North American domestic box office by Forrest Gump, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The year is considered to be one of the best years for cinema during the post Golden Age Hollywood era and setting the standard for the movies of the modern era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan Fairchild</span> American actress (born 1950)

Morgan Fairchild is an American actress. She began acting in the early 1970s and has had roles in several television series ever since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose Byrne</span> Australian actress (born 1979)

Mary Rose Byrne is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut in the film Dallas Doll (1994), and continued to act in Australian film and television throughout the 1990s. She obtained her first leading film role in The Goddess of 1967 (2000), which brought her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, and made the transition to American cinema with a small role in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), followed by bigger parts in Hollywood productions of Troy (2004), 28 Weeks Later (2007) and Knowing (2009).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Callard</span> British actress

Rebecca Jayne Callard is an English actress and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holly Knight</span> American songwriter, musician, and singer

Holly Knight is an American songwriter, musician, and singer. She was a member of the 1980s pop rock groups Spider and Device, and wrote or co-wrote several hit singles for other artists, such as "Rag Doll", "Obsession", "Love Is a Battlefield", "The Best", "Invincible", "Better Be Good to Me", "The Warrior", and "Change".

<i>Murder Call</i> 1997-2000 Australian television series

Murder Call is an Australian television series, created by Hal McElroy for the Southern Star Entertainment and broadcast on the Nine Network between 1997 and 2000. The series was inspired by the Tessa Vance novels by Jennifer Rowe, both of which were adapted as episodes, while Rowe also developed story treatments for 38 episodes throughout the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xavier Samuel</span> Australian actor

Xavier Samuel is an Australian film and theatre actor. He has appeared in leading roles in the feature films Adore, September, Further We Search, Newcastle, The Loved Ones, Frankenstein, A Few Best Men, and played Riley Biers in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, and Billy in Spin Out. He also starred as Cass Chaplin in Blonde.

<i>Portrait in Black</i> 1960 film by Michael Gordon

Portrait in Black is a 1960 American neo-noir melodrama film directed by Michael Gordon, and starring Lana Turner and Anthony Quinn. Produced by Ross Hunter, the film was based on the play of the same by name by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, who also wrote the screenplay. The film was distributed by Universal-International. This was the final film appearance by actress Anna May Wong.

<i>Celia</i> (1989 film) 1989 Australian film

Celia is a 1989 Australian horror drama film written and directed by Ann Turner, and starring Rebecca Smart, Nicholas Eadie, Victoria Longley, and Mary-Anne Fahey. Set in 1957, the film centers on an imaginative young girl growing up on the outskirts of Melbourne during the Red Scare, whose fantastical view of the world around her brings about grim results.

Sandra A. Goldbacher is a British film director, TV director, and screenwriter.

<i>Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps</i> 2010 film by Oliver Stone

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is a 2010 American drama film directed by Oliver Stone, a sequel to Wall Street (1987). It stars Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon and Eli Wallach in his final film role.

<i>Charlie & Boots</i> 2009 Australian film

Charlie & Boots is a 2009 Australian film starring Paul Hogan and Shane Jacobson. It had the best opening weekend for any Australian film in 2009 when it was released on Father's Day. The film features many small towns in country Australia. It also has a cameo by Reg Evans, who died in the 2009 Victorian bushfires before the film was released, and the film is dedicated to the victims of the fires.

<i>Turtle Beach</i> (film) 1992 Australian film

Turtle Beach, also known as The Killing Beach, is a 1992 Australian film directed by Stephen Wallace and starring Greta Scacchi and Joan Chen. The screenplay was written by Ann Turner, based on the 1981 novel of the same name by Blanche d'Alpuget. It caused controversy in Malaysia, where the government took exception to scenes of Malays executing refugees.

The Woman Suffers is a 1918 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford. It is a melodrama starring Lottie Lyell. Two-thirds of the movie still survives.

<i>Mental</i> (2012 film) 2012 film by P. J. Hogan

Mental is a 2012 Australian comedy-drama film written and directed by P. J. Hogan. The film stars Toni Collette, Anthony LaPaglia, Liev Schreiber, and Rebecca Gibney. It follows a hitchhiker transforming a family's life when she becomes the nanny of five teenage girls whose mother has cracked from her husband's political ambitions and his infidelity.

<i>Tempted</i> (film) 2001 film by Bill Bennett

Tempted is a 2001 Australian-French-American thriller film written and directed by Bill Bennett and starring Peter Facinelli, Burt Reynolds and Saffron Burrows.

Ann Turner is an Australian writer and director of films and TV.

<i>Finding Your Feet</i> 2017 British film by Richard Loncraine

Finding Your Feet is a 2017 British romantic comedy film directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Nick Moorcroft and Meg Leonard. The film stars Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie, Joanna Lumley and David Hayman, and was released on 23 February 2018 in the United Kingdom.

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala, or Oxfam Gala, is a comedy show run annually as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Billed as Australian comedy's 'night of nights', it is held one week before the festival opens, and acts as a fundraiser for the charity Oxfam Australia.

References

  1. Scott Murray, Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995, Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p34
  2. "Interview with Ann Turner", Signis, 16 January 1998. Retrieved 21 November 2012
  3. "Dallas Doll". Oz Movies. Archived from the original on 6 May 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  4. Stratton, David (30 May 1994). "Dallas Doll". Variety . Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
  5. Davis, Steve (15 September 1995). "Dallas Doll". The Austin Chronicle . Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2009.