Kennedy Miller Presents - The Memorable TV DVD Review

Over the last couple of month's Roadshow have released some of the best mini series ever seen on Australian television, at the heart of them are six sets from the producers Kennedy Miller, a company who blazed a trail with their movie debut Mad Max in 1979 and entered into TV in the early 1980's. Right from their first production, The Dismissal, it was obvious that all the hallmarks of quality were there, high production values, fantastic casting and above all a brilliant story. Throughout the 1980's they produced five more mini-series, all multi stranded and intriguing stories that reflected Australian concerns. Of all the Australian shows we cover on Memorable TV these six mini series have been among the most talked about and easily the most popular when it comes to DVD wish lists. Roadshow have come up with the goods and below we take a look at each individual set.
THE DIRTWATER DYNASTY 3 Disc Set \| 450 mins \|M15+ Back in the 80's Hugo Weaving was a bit of a legend, he headlines in three of these 6 series, the Dirtwater Dynasty though is the biggie, an epic tale spanning 50 years in the life of Richard Eastwick who moves from industrial England in the late nineteenth century to the Australian outback and attempts to carve out a dynasty for himself and his offspring, however it would seem that hardship and tragedy beset him at every turn, you do sometimes wonder if Eastwick could possibly have any more bad luck but he does, Weaving is fantastic in the central role and Victoria Longley does a good job playing three different generations of the same family and the location filming is by turns gorgeous and harsh. A major epic that takes a lot of out of you emotionally but rewards you with its fantastic story.	THE DISMISSAL 2 Disc Set \| 270 mins \| PG The Dismissal was the first of the Kennedy-Miller productions for TV, its a tightly told story of the amazing true life political upheavals of the mid 1970's when the governor general dismissed Gough Whitlam's Labor Government, this is brilliant drama with a top notch cast that includes John Meillon, Ruth Cracknell, Bill Hunter, Ed Devereaux, Max Phipps, John Stanton and John Hargreaves. At the time The Dismissal was the most expensive drama series yet made in Australia and was a huge popular and critical success and it tracing the story as it does from the early days of the Whitlam government offers great insight into the political shenanigans of the day. The cast, playing real people all still alive, are just superb. Still highly relevant today The Dismissal is stunning drama.
BODYLINE 3 Disc set \| 330 mins \| PG Definitely one of the most popular Australian productions ever Bodyline tells the controversial story of the 1932-33 ashes cricket series between England and Australia when the English players led by Douglas Jardine (a superb performance by Hugo Weaving) developed a super aggressive style of bowling which aimed directly at the Batsman's body rather than the stumps, christened Bodyline by the media the English team had developed the style to contend with the performances of the legendary Don Bradman (played by Gary Sweet). This is truly thrilling stuff, very very watchable and not a jot dated.	BANGKOK HILTON 2 Disc Set \| 270 mins \| M Devastating story that is going to carry echoes for a lot of people today of a certain real life case, Bangkok Hilton stars a pre Hollywood Nicole Kidman as a young naive girl who is the patsy in an attempt to smuggle drugs out of Thailand, she languishes in a hellish prison while her father (brilliantly dishevelled portrait by Denholm Elliott) and her lawyer (Hugo Weaving again) attempt to bring the real smuggler to justice. This and the movie Dead Calm (which she had filmed just prior to this) thrust Kidman into international notice and a certain Mr Cruise and it was obvious even then what a major talent she was/is.
THE COWRA BREAKOUT 2 Disc Set \| 270 mins \| M Based on a true incident during world war II about a group of Japanese POW's languishing in a camp in the NSW town of Cowra who stage a mass breakout, this drama follows the lead up to the break out by focusing on two of the main characters, the Japanese Junji and Australian soldier Stan Davidson. Kennedy Miller had built their own studios in Kings Cross and much of the interior shots of the serial were filmed there as well as location filming at Singleton Army Barracks. More intense than other Kennedy Miller productions The Cowra Breakout could be seen as something of a distaff to Bridge on the River Kwai and as usual there are some great names amongst the cast including the likes of Norman Kaye and Max Cullen, Hugo Weaving was busy apparently when they filmed this one ;-).	VIETNAM 3 Disc Set \|437 mins \| M Another Nicole Kidman headliner Vietnam charts some of the most turbulent years in the history of Australia, the Vietnam war. Kidman plays Megan Goddard, an active anti Vietnam campaigner even though her brother Phil is fighting in the war and her father Douglas is a senior Canberra public servant, seen through the eyes of the Goddard family Vietnam is a stunning piece of television, easily one of the best Australian drama series ever. By focusing on the family we truly get to see the human cost of the effects of war. These 6 Kennedy Miller mini series put out by Roadshow are essential purchases to anyone interested in the golden age of Australian television, in fact these 6 serials would be close to being right at the top of the list. Do yourself a favour and don't miss them.