After a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.After a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.After a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
- Jarvis
- (as Slim De Grey)
- Director
- Writers
- Evan Jones
- Kenneth Cook
- Ted Kotcheff(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Ted Kotcheff recalled that Chips Rafferty, whose last film appearance this is, insisted on drinking real pints of beer during the bar sequences. Kotcheff substituted non-alcoholic beers for the real stuff, but Rafferty could tell immediately that it had no alcoholic content and demanded proper pints be served. He told Kotcheff: "You concentrate on the directing, I'll concentrate on the drinking." The director calculated that due to this, Rafferty was drinking up to 30 pints per day.
- GoofsAs Grant leaves the hotel bar in Tiboonda, he takes one last swig of beer - leaving his glass half full. In the next shot, when the camera focuses on the interior of the bar, his glass is now empty.
- Quotes
John Grant: Why did you say that?
'Doc' Tydon: Say what?
John Grant: About them being proud of hell.
'Doc' Tydon: Discontent is the luxury of the well-to-do. If you've got to live here, you might as well like it. Why don't you like Crawford?
John Grant: Jock?
'Doc' Tydon: The touch of his hairy hand offended you.
John Grant: I'm bored with it. The aggressive hospitality, the arrogance of stupid people who insist you should be as stupid as they are.
'Doc' Tydon: It's death to farm out here. It's worse than death in the mines. You want them to sing opera as well?
- Crazy credits[Australian version] PRODUCERS' NOTE: The hunting scenes depicted in this film were taken during an actual kangaroo hunt by professional licensed hunters. For this reason and because the survival of the Australian kangaroo is seriously threatened, these scenes were shown uncut after consultation with the leading animal welfare organisations in Australia and the United Kingdom.
[International version] PRODUCERS' NOTE: Photography of the hunting scenes in this film took place during an actual kangaroo hunt conducted by licensed professional hunters. No kangaroos were killed expressly for this motion picture. Because the survival of the Australian kangaroo is seriously threatened these scenes were included with approval of leading animal welfare organisations in Australia and the United Kingdom.
- Alternate versionsThe international TV version that, until 2009, replaced the uncut Australian version in circulation, runs approximately 101 minutes (97 minutes on most copies due to NTSC to PAL conversion), roughly eight minutes shorter than the original. The changes are as follows:
- When John awakens the morning after the two-up game, an alternate take of the scene is used: instead of being naked, he is wearing underpants.
- When Janette is seducing John, the scene fades to black when she nuzzles her head against his groin and cuts to Doc's handstand. In the original, she then unbuttons her dress and kisses John, who drunkenly vomits; disappointed, she wipes his face and leads him back to the house.
- The entirety of John's conversation with Doc outside his shack is missing.
- The daytime kangaroo hunt lacks most of the brief scene in which Doc cuts off a kangaroo's testicles, and only shows the shot of Joe handing his knife to Doc before cutting to John's bemused close-up.
- The night-time kangaroo hunt is severely truncated: only the first two kills are shown, and prior to the sequence in which Joe fights the one-eyed kangaroo, the sequence consists entirely of close-ups of the actors firing at the screen. Similarly, the shot of Joe slashing the kangaroo's throat and a lingering shot of kangaroo carcasses post-carnage are cut.
- During the bush pub fight, Joe's line "You bastard!" is cut, as is Doc rising from his chair saying "You bloody bastards!"; Doc's further utterances of the phrase in this scene are cross-faded so that only the first vowel is heard.
- After Doc grabs John by the neck during their post-hunt "tryst", the scene fades to white when the ceiling lamp swings toward the screen and cuts to the following morning, thereby eliminating Doc's suggestive mounting of John (curiously, the part of this scene featured during the montage of John's mental breakdown remains intact).
- The following have been removed from the montage of John's mental breakdown: Doc spitting beer into Janette's mouth; Doc playfully slapping Janette; John breaking into a run; both shots of Doc having sex with Robyn. John Scott's music is cross-faded over the penultimate crescendo so that the final sting is still synchronized with the reversed shot of the two-up pennies over Doc's eyes, although much of Dick, Joe and the two-up patrons' howling laughter is eliminated as a result.
- ConnectionsEdited into Terror Nullius (2018)
- SoundtracksShe'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain
(uncredited)
Traditional, based on a Negro spiritual song known as "When the Chariot Comes"
Sung by passengers on the train
Since he's not really fond of teaching anyway, Grant believes he's found an easy way to pay off his government debt, thereby escaping his job. It all comes down to the toss of two coins, which appears to be the biggest excitement in town. That, and consuming incredible amounts of alcohol.
Unfortunately, Grant finds himself skint, and constantly delayed and drawn in by the "hospitality" of the inebriated, crackpot locals. Not surprisingly, this includes his consuming oceans of beer. The longer he stays in the Yabba, the deeper he falls into stupor and depravity.
WAKE IN FRIGHT is an increasingly frenzied spin into drunken madness. Disturbing, nightmarish, and fascinating, this movie takes the viewer on Grant's dark journey to near oblivion. The opening and closing shots establish the desolation between them, showing the utterly barren landscape that seems to stretch on forever. By the end, Grant has gone through torment and desperation, and makes one wonder what will become of him.
Co-stars the vastly underrated Donald Pleasence as the unassumingly low-key, Doc Tydon, and Sylvia Kay as the palpably bitter, Janette Hynes. Chips Rafferty also puts in a great performance as the gleefully corrupt cop, Jock Crawford.
ANIMAL LOVERS BEWARE: The infamous kangaroo hunt is truly terrible, as well as lengthy. Although it is explained in the disclaimer, it's still difficult to watch...
- azathothpwiggins
- Jun 18, 2019
Details
Box office
- Budget
- A$800,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $50,394
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $6,761
- Oct 7, 2012
- Gross worldwide
- $219,472
- Runtime1 hour 49 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1