THE FJ HOLDEN MOVIE, A SLICE OF
AUSSIE NOSTALGIA from the 1970s!
The FJ Holden movie, a
slice of Bankstown life in the 1970s, Australian
'New Wave' cinema, Sigrid Thornton, Paul Couzens,
Eva Dickinson, Carl Stever, Gary Waddell, Karlene
Rogerson, Colin Yarwood, Graham Rouse. Welcome to >
THE
F.J. HOLDEN Page updated 24th June,
2008.
BANKSTOWN AS IT
WAS, BACK IN THE 1970s ...
More of a
documentary than a drama, a 'docu-drama' if you
will, 'The F.J. Holden' movie delivers up
Bankstown, NSW, Australia, as it really was for
us local rev-heads in the late 1970s.
Movie
77 magazine #3 (now MOVIE,
a monthly) featured the only colour cover I've
been able to find (see below). The
colour spread - of Ol' 55, BAD-781, with Frankie
J Holden, is of a different FJ, or else it has a
different plate, AXB 146. Sprayed in the same
yellow and sign-written on the side: "The FJ
Holden - The groovy new movie" (see above).
PRINT
RESTORATION DETAILS. 35mm print now available
from SCREENSOUND.
Another
movie with scenes of Greenacre a decade earlier
is now available on DVD in a Screensound restored
print, namely 'They're a Weird Mob'.
Highly recommended for the nostalgic content.
Viewer comments regarding 'They're a Weird Mob'
are now being listed below, separately.
Gary,
Karlene and ?
at The Party
CAST(incomplete, but
almost done) Kevin Paul Couzens Anne Eva Dickinson Bob Carl Stever Deadlegs Gary Waddell Cheryl Karlene Rogerson Brian Colin Yarwood Sgt Graham Rouse Kevin's father Roy Corbett Kevin's mother Beryl Marshall Wendy Sigrid Thornton Mr
Sullivan Ray Marshall Betty
Armstead Maggie Kirkpatrick Security Guard Harry Lawrence
Cheryl,
played by Karlene Rogerson
Anne,
played by Eva Dickinson.
PRODUCTION
CREDITS Production company FJ Films, in
association with Greater Union Distributors and
the Australian Film Commission. Producer and Director Michael Thornhill Screenplay Terry Larsen Photography David Gribble using Eastman
Colour. Shot on 16mm. Editor Max Lemon Music Jim Manzie Assoc. Producers Jenny Woods and Errol
Sullivan Art Directors Lissa Coote and Monte
Fieguth Sound Don Connolly Production Manager Jenny Woods Unit Manager Pom Oliver First assistant director Errol Sullivan Running time 101 minutes Cost n.k. Australian ratingM in
NSW, R elsewhere Shoot Approximately 7 weeks in
November-December, 1976. Source for the above information The Last New Wave by David Stratton, published by
A&R 1980, and the definitive guide to Australian Film in the 1970s.
Deadlegs,
played by Gary Waddell.
Anniversary
of the PREMIERE- 29th
April 29th April, 1977 Bankstown Chullora Twin Drive-In, Waterloo Road,
Greenacre. The site is now occupied by a Big-W department
store and shopping centre. FJ and FX Holdens were
admitted free on the opening night. Sydney Rapallo Cinema Melbourne Rapallo Cinema
INTERNET MOVIE
DATABASE ( IMDb) Use this site
for queries on any movie, TV series, star,
character or production information. You can vote
on THE FJ HOLDEN and add your comments about the
movie. HELP GET THE RATING PAST 50% !
This site is a member of
WebRing.
To browse visit Here.
LOCATIONS Revesby, Chullora, Picnic Point, Bankstown
Square and Underwood Road, Homebush ('brickpits').
(Now available for your viewing; locations as they are in
2007 - PHOTOS in YAHOO GROUP photos section.)
VIDEO - Roadshow Home Video in
Australia released a PAL video tape in the 1980s.
Several copies have turned up on eBay. See VIEWERS'
COMMENTS on
this subject.
DVD - Umbrella released the
DVD in late 2005. It is now available (though
difficult to locate unless you order it in) at
AU$29.95 rrp. You'll often find it new on eBay,
usually for around AU$18.
SOUNDTRACKS -
Original vinyl soundtracks as follows. 33rpm 12" longplay
Mushroom - L 36 222
45rpm 7" single Mushroom - K 6748
Kevin,
played by Paul Couzens.
'They're
a Weird
Mob' comments regarding Bankstown - Greenacre
locations
Dear
John
Thanks to your indications, we found the house.
The address is 128 Greenacre Road Greenacre. The
Chinaman's house is 130 and has not changed a bit
from 1964. Some of the houses fronting have been
altered but there is enough there after 40 years
that are good reference points. Number 132, which
is glimpsed in a scene from the movie, has been
pulled down and a two-storey building is
currently being erected.
Again thanks very much for your help and I look
forward to your reviews on IMDB and any further
messages.
Best regards
Giuseppe C
19/09/04 10:16:21 AUS Eastern Standard Time
SCRIPT
TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE Graeme from the Yahoo FJ
HOLDEN MOVIE group writes:
Okay fans, in the absence
of an original script, and for your edification
and enjoyment, I have written a full transcript
of "The FJ Holden" in screenplay
format, and placed it in the Files section of the
Group. The file is called The FJ Holden.pdf, and
you'll need the free of charge Acrobat reader to
view it.
I found this a most
interesting exercise, if only to document the
banality of the dialogue as shot. The movie could
have been subtitled "G'day" because I
counted 26 instances of it. I'd love to see a
copy of the original script to see how much of
the dialogue was ad-libbed, and also how much of
the scenes were fully scripted, as opposed to
made up on the spot as a location suggested ideas
to the director.
Also, with hardly any
post-production looping of the dialogue
soundtrack, some of the lines are extremely
difficult to understand, even after dozens of
playings. There are 2 places where I simply
couldn't work out what was being said. These are
marked as [inaudible]. I'd be very pleased to
replace those with the actual words if anybody
can tell me what they are.
I also spotted numerous
holes in the story logic, some of which had
slipped by me in previous viewings.
Nonetheless, for me at
least, it's still a great movie for what it is,
rather than what the director thought it might
be.
Here's a link: [You'll need to join
the FJ HOLDEN MOVIE Yahoo group to access it. -
editor]
Hope you enjoy it, and if
you spot any typos, etc, please let me know.
Cheers, Graeme (5th October, 2007)
Contributions
by way of opinions
on the movie, personal recollections on the
making of the movie, photos, articles and other
information will be gratefully received,
including notification of any errors.
John T, PO Box 781, Katoomba NSW
2780, Australia
or comments* to
Opsbooks@aol.com *You'll have to copy and past my
e-address into an e-mail form. I've had to unlink
it to cut down on SPAM.
Note that due
to the size of the double spread at the top of
the page, I had to scan it in two sections and
don't have the software to morph into one 'clean'
image.
