Mad Dog Morgan


Mad Dog Morgan is a 1976 Australian bushranger film directed by Philippe Mora and starring Dennis Hopper, Jack Thompson and David Gulpilil. It is based upon the life of Dan Morgan.

Plot

witnesses a bloody massacre of Chinese immigrants on the goldfields and turns into a robber. He is arrested and sent to prison for six years where he is tormented and raped. He is let out on parole and becomes a bushranger, befriending an Aboriginal man, Billy. Morgan fights against the vicious Superintendent Francis Cobham and is eventually killed.

Cast

Production

Development

Mad Dog Morgan is based on the book Morgan: The Bold Bushranger by Margaret Frances Carnegie, which she researched over 12 years.
Philippe Mora wrote the script on a ship voyage from London to Melbourne in 1974. This was submitted to the Australian Film Development Corporation in early 1975 who agreed to support it.
The budget was raised from the Australian Film Commission, Greater Union and private investment, including Mora's father Georges, Margaret Carnegie, tycoon Victor Smorgon and Lyn Williams, the wife of artist Fred Williams. The AFC invested $175,000.
The movie was originally called just Mad Dog. Mora and producer Jeremy Thomas flew to Los Angeles to cast the lead role. Their first choice, Stacy Keach turned it down; Martin Sheen and Jason Miller expressed interest in playing Daniel Morgan but Mora decided to cast Dennis Hopper instead. The director recalled, "So we took this little plane down to New Mexico, in Taos, and we get out of the plane, and there's Dennis at the end of the runaway, dressed in tattered Levis, holding a rifle, just standing there and I remember thinking 'That's our Mad Dog!' ", Hopper's fee was $50,000.
David Gulpillil was cast off the back of his appearance in Walkabout.

Shooting

The film used various locations where Dan Morgan had been active, in the eastern Riverina, including Billabong Creek, Culcairn and Jindera; as well as locations in Beechworth, North East Victoria. Morgan's cave in the film was the actual cave Dan Morgan had used. Shooting started on 27 October 1975 and went for six weeks over 36 shooting days to 6 December. The shoot was challenged by rain during the first week but managed to be completed on schedule.
Mora recalled, "The completely different thing about it was the Australian character itself, which was gung-ho and go out and do it. We didn't really know what we were doing, so we just improvised. I mean, the catering on Mad Dog was just cooking a whole sheep. "
Producer Jeremy Thomas later remembered his experience making the film:
Mora later wrote that he was "setting grotesque 19th-century human behaviour against an extraordinary landscape. I created Francis Bacon figures in a Sidney Nolan landscape, with stunts inspired by Jean Cocteau." The director says that Hopper was a handful during the making of the film, constantly imbibing drink and drugs. He noted "every drug dealer and hippie in Australia gravitated to Dennis. They're almost parachuting in to meet Dennis Hopper. " However he says the actor could be very professional, a skilful improviser and gave a performance which was "really extraordinary. I think he identified with the role." Mora recalled Hopper at the finish of the shoot:
Reflecting on the violence in the movie, Mora said "Vietnam was still fresh in our minds at that point. We'd been used to seeing incredible violence being broadcast into our living rooms when they'd show footage from the war." It was the first in a string of movies where Jack Thompson supported an American star.
Mora shot a scene where a young Ned Kelly looks at a waxwork of Morgan but decided not to use it.
The making of Mad Dog Morgan was featured in Mark Hartley's 2008 documentary Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!, in which Thomas, Mora and Hopper are interviewed.
It was the last film for actor Bob McDarra who died ten days after finishing his scenes on the movie.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival.
The film was screened at the Cannes market place in 1976 and distribution rights were sold to Cinema Shares for a reported $300,000. "The response was just sensational," said Thomas.
The film was released in Australia in July 1976. The ''Sydney Morning Herald called it "maddeningly beautiful, horrific - and disappointing." The Bulletin declared "there are a couple of such spots in which Mora's vision merges on melodrama." According to Filmnews:
The reviews in Australia for Mora's film have been the most polarized yet. Inspired by a local production. Reviewers working for the Murdoch press have described the movie in such glowing terms as "masterful" and "a breakthrough". The Fairfax reviewers must have previewed a different film, so opposed to the production have their critiques generally been.

The movie was released in New York in September 1976. Australian media reported on poor reviews the film received in New York.
The film performed disappointingly at the box office, returning to the producers an estimated $100,000. Mora later wrote:
However the movie sold well around the world – including a $300,000 sale to the US – and achieved good reviews.
Mora tried for several years to set up other films in Australia – including the movie that became Newsfront, an adaptation of For the Term of His Natural Life and a science fiction story called The Black Hole – but was unsuccessful. He moved back overseas where executives at United Artists, who had been impressed by Mad Dog Morgan, hired Mora to direct The Beast Within''.

Awards

The film was nominated for Best Director, AACTA [Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role|Best Supporting Actor] and Best Music at the 1977 [Australian Film Institute Awards]. It won the John Ford Trophy at the First International Festival of Westerns held at Cannes in July 1976.

''To Shoot a Mad Dog''

A 23-minute documentary was made about the making of the film, To Shoot a Mad Dog, directed by David Elfick.

DVD Releases

Tromasterpiece Collection

's original VHS and DVD release was a heavily edited version of the film, seeing that the unrated or uncut versions were very difficult to come by outside of Australia.
With the intent of re-releasing the best films in the Troma library, The Tromasterpiece Collection released a 2-disc unrated version of the film in the US in November 2009.
Special features include interviews with director Philippe Mora, cinematographer Mike Molloy and associate producer Richard Brennan, along with a radio interview, deleted scenes, locations featurette, stills gallery and the original theatrical program.
Two graphic trailers were released for the DVD launch.

Director's Cut

released a Director's Cut of the film on DVD in early 2009.
The DVD featured a fully restored print of the film, presented in an aspect ratio of 2:35:1.
The single disc included:
– They Shoot a Mad Dog: The Making of Mad Dog Morgan, a 23-minute documentary

– That's Our Mad Dog: Dennis Hopper interviewed by Philippe Mora - a new 30-minute documentary
Further extras included an audio commentary by director Philippe Mora; film excerpts; a radio interview; a stills gallery, a reprint of the film's original release theatre programme; and a.pdf file of the original shooting script.

Reception

The critic John Simon wrote about Mad Dog Morgan: "Whoever can find me a film more arrhythmic and incoherent – indeed inept – gets a reward in the shape of the ears of a wombat".

Copyright issues

The film's title screen copyright notice had an error with the Roman numerals, showing it as Copyright "MCMDXXVI" The "D" should have been an "L". Under American law this would have invalidated the Copyright entirely and placed the film in the public domain. However, as an Australian film, Australian copyright law does not require a specific production date be specified on the film, but rather, that information be available regarding the year of initial public screening.