Pure Shit

Last updated

Pure Shit
Pure s 1975 dvd cover.jpeg
DVD release cover from 2010
Directed by Bert Deling
Written byBert Deling
Anne Hetherington
Alison Hill
John Hooper
Ricky Kallend
John Laurie
David Shepherd
John Tulip
Bob Weis
Produced byBob Weis
Starring Gary Waddell
Anne Hetherington
Carol Porter
Cinematography Tom Cowan
Edited byJohn Scott
Music by Martin Armiger
Red Symons
Production
company
Apogee Films
Release dates
  • 15 August 1975 (1975-08-15)(Perth International Film Festival)
  • 7 May 1976 (1976-05-07)(Australia)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetAU$28,000 [1]

Pure Shit (censored as Pure S) is a 1975 Australian drama film directed by Bert Deling. [2]

Contents

When the film premiered at Melbourne’s Playbox in May 1976, the Vice Squad raided the theatre. [3] It was initially banned, then given an R certificate, and the title was changed from Pure Shit to Pure S.

The low-budget film provoked a hostile reaction from the mainstream media on its initial release. It is now considered an "underground" classic. [4]

Plot summary

A young woman dies of a heroin overdose. Four junkies who knew her commandeer her car and spend 24 hours searching the streets of Melbourne for good quality heroin, and excitement.

Cast

Production

The film's budget was partly provided by the Film, Radio and Television Board of the Australia Council and partly by the Buoyancy Foundation, an organisation to help drug takers. [1] Bert Deling says he was particularly influenced by Jean Renoir and Howard Hawks. [5]

Lead actor Garry Waddell says he helped with the script:

It was really good having Bert there because he helped me a lot. If you weren't sure of anything you could always get reassurance from him or the cameraman, Tom Cowan. It wasn't a hard movie to work on because it was so enjoyable. The relationships between people on the film were always good. [6]

Writer Helen Garner has a small role as a speed-addled woman named Jo. Garner starred in the film shortly before she published Monkey Grip (1977), which is set in a similar milieu of communal drug use. [7]

Release

The Commonwealth film censors initially banned the movie but allowed it to be released with an "R" rating provided the title was changed from Pure Shit to Pure S. [1] Deling later said that the film "played two weeks at Melbourne’s Playbox and had a short Sydney run … but very few people got to see it, and we didn’t make a cent from it." [8] The movie was polarising, with the critic of the Herald calling it "the most evil film that I've ever seen" [9] but others such as Bob Ellis championing it. [5]

The film was released on DVD in 2009.

Accolades

AwardCategorySubjectResult
AACTA Awards
(1975 AFI Awards)
Best Film Bob WeisNominated
Best Direction Bert Deling Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Helen Garner Nominated

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Garner</span> Australian author

Helen Garner is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's first novel, Monkey Grip, published in 1977, immediately established her as an original voice on the Australian literary scene—it is now widely considered a classic. She has a reputation for incorporating and adapting her personal experiences in her fiction, something that has brought her widespread attention, particularly with her novels, Monkey Grip and The Spare Room (2008).

<i>Caddie</i> (film) 1976 Australian film

Caddie is an Australian film biopic directed by Donald Crombie and produced by Anthony Buckley. Released on 1 April 1976, it is representative of the Australian film renaissance which occurred during that decade. Set mainly in Sydney during the 1920s and 1930s, including the Great Depression, it portrays the life of a young middle class woman struggling to raise two children after her marriage breaks up. Based on Caddie, the Story of a Barmaid, a partly fictitious autobiography of Catherine Beatrice "Caddie" Edmonds, it made Helen Morse a local star and earned Jacki Weaver and Melissa Jaffer each an Australian Film Institute Award.

<i>Oz</i> (1976 film) 1976 Australian film

Oz is a 1976 Australian film written, directed and co-produced by Chris Löfvén. It stars Joy Dunstan, Graham Matters, Bruce Spence, Gary Waddell, and Robin Ramsay; and received four nominations at the 1977 AFI Awards. The musical score is by Ross Wilson. The plot is a re-imagining of the 1939 The Wizard of Oz film transferred to 1970s Australia and aimed at an older teen / young adult audience. It was released on DVD in 2004 as Oz - A Rock 'n' Roll Road Movie : Collector's Edition with additional material. The poster and album sleeve for the American release was done by rock artist Jim Evans.

<i>Stone</i> (1974 film) 1974 Australian action film

Stone is a 1974 Australian outlaw biker film written, directed and produced by Sandy Harbutt. It is a low budget film by company Hedon Productions.

<i>The Last Days of Chez Nous</i> 1992 Australian film

The Last Days of Chez Nous is a 1992 Australian drama film directed by Gillian Armstrong and written by Helen Garner. Made in a style that emphasizes naturalism over melodrama, the film centres on what happens after Vicki arrives at the house of her older sister Beth, whose French husband falls for her. The film stars Bruno Ganz as the Frenchman JP, New Zealand actor Kerry Fox as the impulsive younger sister, and Lisa Harrow as her older sibling. The cast also includes Miranda Otto and Bill Hunter.

<i>The Connection</i> (1961 film) 1961 film by Shirley Clarke

The Connection is a 1961 found footage feature film directed by the American experimental filmmaker Shirley Clarke. The film was Clarke's first feature; she had made several short films over the previous decade. Jack Gelber wrote the screenplay, adapting his play of the same name. The film was the subject of significant court cases regarding censorship. It is the first known movie shot in the found footage format and beginning with a found footage title card.

<i>Monkey Grip</i> (novel)

Monkey Grip is a 1977 novel by Australian writer Helen Garner, her first published book. It initially received a mixed critical reception, but has now become accepted as a classic of modern Australian literature. The novel deals with the life of single-mother Nora, as she narrates her increasingly tumultuous relationship with a flaky heroin addict, juxtaposed with her raising a daughter while living in share houses in Melbourne during the late 1970s. A film based on the novel, also titled Monkey Grip, was released in 1982. In the 1990s, when critics identified the Australian literary genre of grunge lit, the book was retrospectively categorized as one of the first examples of this genre.

<i>The FJ Holden</i> 1977 Australian film

The FJ Holden is a 1977 Australian film directed by Michael Thornhill. The FJ Holden is a snapshot of the life of young teenage men in Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia in the 1970s and deals with the characters' difficulty in reconciling mateship with respect for a girlfriend.

Monkey Grip is a 1982 Australian drama film directed by Ken Cameron. It is based on the novel, also titled Monkey Grip (1977), by Helen Garner. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. The film was produced by Patricia Lovell and stars Noni Hazelhurst and Colin Friels, and featured an original soundtrack by Australian rock band the Divinyls.

Wrong World is a 1985 Australian drama film directed by Ian Pringle and starring Richard Moir, Jo Kennedy, Nick Lathouris, Robbie McGregor, and Esben Storm. It was filmed in Nhill and Melbourne in Victoria, Australia.

<i>On Our Selection</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

On Our Selection is a 1932 comedy based on the Dad and Dave stories by Steele Rudd. These had been turned into a popular play by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan in 1912, which formed the basis for the screenplay. Bailey repeats his stage role as Dad Rudd. He also wrote the script with director Ken G. Hall.

<i>Thoroughbred</i> (film) 1936 Australian film

Thoroughbred is a 1936 Australian race-horse drama film directed by Ken G. Hall, partly based on the life and career of Phar Lap. Hollywood star Helen Twelvetrees was imported to Australia to appear in the film. The film also stars Frank Leighton and John Longden.

<i>The Picture Show Man</i> 1977 Australian film

The Picture Show Man is a 1977 Australian film about a travelling film exhibitor in the 1920s. He has to deal with the rebelliousness of his son and a rival American exhibitor.

The Pram Factory was an Australian alternative theatre venue in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton from around 1970 until the 1981. It was home to the Australian Performing Group and Nindethana, Australia's first Aboriginal theatre group.

Pudding Thieves is a 1967 Australian film. It was the first movie from the "Carlton school".

Come Out Fighting is a short 1973 Australian feature directed by Nigel Buesst.

Dalmas is a 1973 Australian film directed by Bert Deling. One critic wrote that "with Dave Jones’ Yackety Yack [the film] constitutes the clearest presence of Godard in Australian cinema."

Bachelor Girl is a 1988 Australian TV movie.

The Playbox Theatre was a theatre located at 53-55 Exhibition Street in Melbourne, Australia, from 1927 to 1984. It became the home of the Playbox Theatre Company, previously Hoopla! and later Malthouse Theatre.

Gary Waddell is an Australian actor. He was nominated for the 2012 AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in The King is Dead! and for an AFI award for his role in 1975 film Pure Shit.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p291
  2. Beryl Donaldson & John Langer, "Bert Deling", Cinema Papers, April 1977 p 316-319, 377
  3. SBS Online Article by Peter Galvin A junkie film whose reputation precedes it
  4. Australian screen; curator’s notes by Paul Byrnes
  5. 1 2 Luke Buckmaster, 'Interview with Bert Deling', Crikey, 5 June 2009. Retrieved 2 October 2012
  6. "Garry Waddel", Cinema Papers, June–July 1976, p55
  7. "Pure S (1975) clip 1 on ASO". National Film and Sound Archive . Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  8. 'Deling, Bert - Pure Shit', Urban Cinefile, 14 May 2009. Retrieved 2 October 2012
  9. David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p278