Barry McKenzie Holds His Own

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Barry McKenzie Holds His Own
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Bruce Beresford
Produced by Bruce Beresford
Written by Bruce Beresford
Barry Humphries
Starring Barry Crocker
Barry Humphries
Donald Pleasence
Dick Bentley
Music by Peter Best
Cinematography Don McAlpine
Production
company
Distributed by Roadshow (Australia)
Release dates
12 December 1974
Running time
93 minutes
Country Australia
Language English
Budget A$450,000[1]
Box office A$1,407,000 (Australia)

Barry McKenzie Holds His Own is the 1974 sequel to the 1972 Australian comedy film The Adventures of Barry McKenzie.

Returning from the original film is Barry Crocker in the title role, as well as Barry Humphries in the role of Barry's aunt, Dame Edna. Also returning in the director's chair is Bruce Beresford. The then Prime Minister of Australia, Gough Whitlam, along with his wife Margaret Whitlam, made cameo appearances as themselves.[2]

Barry Humphries contends that Barry McKenzie was an inspiration for the later film Crocodile Dundee.[3]

Plot

The film continues directly where The Adventures of Barry McKenzie ended with Barry McKenzie (Barry Crocker) and his aunt Dame Edna returning home to Australia from England.

During the flight two henchmen of Count Plasma (Donald Pleasence) (a Dracula-type Minister of Culture from the People's Republic of Transylvania) mistake Dame Edna for the Queen of England and kidnap her during their brief stopover in Paris, believing that she will draw tourists to their country.

It is then up to Barry, his identical twin brother the Reverend Kevin McKenzie, his Parisian expatriate Aussie friend "Col the Frog" (Dick Bentley) and his other expatriate mates in France and England to head a team of Australian agents to be parachuted into Transylvania and rescue Edna.

Barry and Edna return home to Australia and are greeted by Gough Whitlam and his wife. Whitlam makes Edna a Dame.

Cast

Production

Bruce Beresford wanted to make a film of The Getting of Wisdom but was unable to raise finance. The movie was entirely funded by Reg Grundy.[4] Shooting began in February 1974. Most of the film was shot on location in England, Wales and Paris, with some studio scenes shot in London. Edna's home movie footage was shot at Palm Beach, Sydney, in December 1973. British unions constantly objected to Australian cast and crew working in Britain.[1]

Box Office

Barry McKenzie Holds His Own grossed $1,407,000 at the box office in Australia,[5] which is equivalent to $9,497,250 in 2009 dollars.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p283
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  4. David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p46
  5. Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office

External links