Mad Dog Morgan (1976)

Simply A Masterpiece

Pretty Good

Just perfect...

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I've read many of the reviews and find little to disagree with. The film has its shortcomings, and also things to recommend about it. But no one noticed the one funny scene in the whole film. Morgan confronts a man who has informed the police of Morgan's possible whereabouts. The man surely fears death, but Morgan only knocks him unconscious. Prior to being knocked out, he was butchering an animal. Morgan reaches into the offal pail and spreads the liver and intestines on the prostrate man, above where his own would be. When the man awakens he looks down to see a dog eating the offal, thinks it's his own innards and screams to bloody hell. Who says there's no humor?

I am a HUGE bushranger fan. I have written many essays, read many books, and watched many movies about them. And if anyone out there was also a bushranger fan and Australian history buff, they would soon realize after watching this movie, that it is not quite true to the real-life tale of the notorious bushranger Daniel "Mad Dan" Morgan.Firstly, I want to say that this is still a pretty good movie. The cinematography is great, the Australian setting, and the eerie Aborigine music that plays in the opening credits sets this relatively violent movie up in the most perfect way. Dennis Hopper does play a fantastic part as the fictionalized version of Morgan, who in this film is portrayed somewhat as a Ned Kelly or Ben Hall type bushranger--romantic Robin Hood-type folk hero. After witnessing a bloody massacre of Chinese gold diggers, he escapes into the bush and becomes a bushranger in order to stay alive, but is caught soon afterwards and sent to prison where he is brutalized not just by his fellow prisoners, but by the hateful police officers as well. Once released, he swears vengeance on those who have wronged him. After being shot and wounded, he is nursed back to health by Billy (played fantastically by Aussie actor David Gulpilil). Soon, the two team up and begin their revenge in the Australian bush. By the time the film ends and Morgan is killed, we feel remorse and sadness for him......which is one of the BIGGEST problems of the whole movie.Daniel Morgan (AKA John Fuller/John Smith/Sydney Native/Dan the Breaker/Down the River Jack) has always been one of my favourite bushrangers that I have studied. The real Daniel Morgan was a bloodthristy criminal who would NOT hesititate for a moment to shoot and kill anybody he pleased. He was known to have brutally murdered a couple of Chinese settlers in the bush, and cowardly shot John McLean in the back during his time outside of the NSW town of Morven when McLean rode on horseback to get help after another man (John Heriot) who was also shot by Morgan. This historic event was documented in the film, but rather poorly I thought.The character of the young Aborginie Billy was likely based on one of Morgan's associates named German Bill. Morgan and German Bill got into a bloody police gun fight, where German Bill was killed. Morgan didn't care though, as he didn't care much for human life. Everyone in the 1860's here in Australia had heard about "Mad Dan Morgan",and were terrified to venture in the bush at night in fear of encountering him. He stood 6-feet tall with piercing eyes. Thus, all of this is what I was hoping to be portrayed in the movie version based on his life.However, putting history aside, I really did enjoy this movie for what it was. This film has now become known as an Aussie Western, or "Bush Western". The acting was good, the premise dark and sometimes depressing, and it did really capture the mood of what life was probably like in Colonial times Australia.All in all, I give this movie a 5/10

I have no idea what the budget was for this film, but it has low budget written all over it from frame one. The establishing shot is about as good as any of the cinematography gets for the remainder of the film.As the hero approaches the stage coach and wanders aimlessly away into the gaining foreground, it sets the pattern and the standard for the rambling, disjointed grab bag of scenes to follow.As usual in Australian historic films, the old cultural cringe sets in early. Any English characters, especially characters in authority, are either moronic animals, or outrageously portrayed elitists and silly arsed over enunciating buffoons.The real men of heroic heart and courage are either Irish or "Australian" bush men. This is the kind of thinking that allows us to make Ned Kelly, a man who clearly had a problem with authority and the rule of law, who killed policemen, and who almost derailed a train, which almost certainly would have made him the country's first mass murderer, a celebrated folk hero.This film is a string of seemingly hurriedly invented action, gratuitous violence, bluster and bullshit. That it is what I suggest it is, is a shame. The basis of a good story and the makings of a classic film are clearly within it, but they are lost in clouded plot ideas and confused direction, further hindered by surface acting and cultural cringe.

The recent release of "Mad Dog Morgan" on Troma DVD is disappointing.This appears to be a censored print for television viewing. Some of the more violent scenes have been edited and portions of the colorful language have been removed. Anyone who viewed the film uncut will be mad as hell at this toxic DVD version. "Mad Dog Morgan" deserves to be released on DVD in the original theatrical cut. However, even as released on DVD, the film is still one of the better depictions of bushranger life in nineteenth century Australia. After having toured the Old Melbourne Gaol, with death masks of convicts on display, it is "Mad Dog Morgan" that comes to mind.