It took a couple of attempts but finally David Caesar has come up with something watchable. Dirty Deeds is set in 1969 Kings Cross where Barry Ryan (Bryan Brown) runs a crooked scheme siphoning off a large percentage of pokie machine winnings. Other than the occasional tussle with competition this runs well for him when the US Mafia decides to get in on the scheme and send Sal (Felix Williamson) and Tony (John Goodman) to either buy or muscle their way in.
Barry's nephew Darcy (Sam Worthington), having just returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam is recruited straight away by Barry to, amongst other things, look after his mistress Margaret (Kestie Morassi). Before long they show a lot more interest in each other than Barry anticipated.
The two mafia characters, Sal and Tony are very different characters. While Sal is more of a shoot first, ask later type, Tony is a bit older and not particularly happy with what he's done with his life. Neither really trusts the other and are not sure what the other is really up to.
The film looks far bigger, budget wise, than anything David Caesar has done before and is far more entertaining to boot. It shows 1969 Sydney as a mix between Hicksville and happening place. There's a lot of fun to be had with 60's fashion, particularly some of the wallpapers and room decors are worth the price of the movie ticket alone.
Bryan Brown basically plays a similar character to most he's played so far, although here he is truly in mean mode. He plays his character very well and is well and truly the films centre piece. His character is superficially a bit similar to his Pando character from "Two Hands" but here he is much more scheming and the contrast from his family persona to the crook persona is not as pronounced.
Sam Neill has a minor role as a corrupt cop who can walk into a crime scene where Barry and Darcy are dragging away two people they killed and pronounce it a "murder suicide". He plays very much against character and is all the better for it.
There's a bit of a running joke on the fact that no one in 60's Australia knows what Pizza is which I found a bit hard to believe. There were lots of Italian immigrants there by that time anyway. But then I'm not old enough to remember that.
This is a very enjoyable film and one where for once I truly didn't know which way it would end. That's achieved without even making the ending full of surprises and twists.
Barry's nephew Darcy (Sam Worthington), having just returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam is recruited straight away by Barry to, amongst other things, look after his mistress Margaret (Kestie Morassi). Before long they show a lot more interest in each other than Barry anticipated.
The two mafia characters, Sal and Tony are very different characters. While Sal is more of a shoot first, ask later type, Tony is a bit older and not particularly happy with what he's done with his life. Neither really trusts the other and are not sure what the other is really up to.
The film looks far bigger, budget wise, than anything David Caesar has done before and is far more entertaining to boot. It shows 1969 Sydney as a mix between Hicksville and happening place. There's a lot of fun to be had with 60's fashion, particularly some of the wallpapers and room decors are worth the price of the movie ticket alone.
Bryan Brown basically plays a similar character to most he's played so far, although here he is truly in mean mode. He plays his character very well and is well and truly the films centre piece. His character is superficially a bit similar to his Pando character from "Two Hands" but here he is much more scheming and the contrast from his family persona to the crook persona is not as pronounced.
Sam Neill has a minor role as a corrupt cop who can walk into a crime scene where Barry and Darcy are dragging away two people they killed and pronounce it a "murder suicide". He plays very much against character and is all the better for it.
There's a bit of a running joke on the fact that no one in 60's Australia knows what Pizza is which I found a bit hard to believe. There were lots of Italian immigrants there by that time anyway. But then I'm not old enough to remember that.
This is a very enjoyable film and one where for once I truly didn't know which way it would end. That's achieved without even making the ending full of surprises and twists.