The Empty Beach
| The Empty Beach | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Chris Thomson |
| Written by | Keith Dewhurst |
| Based on | novel by Peter Corris |
| Produced by | John Edwards Tim Read |
| Starring | Bryan Brown John Wood |
| Cinematography | John Seale |
| Edited by | Lindsay Frazer |
| Music by | Martin Armiger Red Symons |
Production company | Jethro Films Pty Ltd |
| Distributed by | Hoyts |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | A$1.8 million[1] |
| Box office | AU $34,341 (Australia)[2] |
The Empty Beach is a 1985 Australian thriller film based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Peter Corris, starring Bryan Brown as private investigator Cliff Hardy.
Premise
[edit]Cliff Hardy iinquires into the disappearance of a beautiful woman's wealthy husband from Bondi Beach.
Cast
[edit]- Bryan Brown as Cliff Hardy
- Anna Maria Monticelli as Anne Winter
- Belinda Giblin as Marion Singer
- Ray Barrett as McLean
- John Wood as Parker
- Peter Collingwood as Ward
- Nick Tate as Brian Henneberry
- Kerry Mack as Hildegard
- Joss McWilliam as Tal
- Sally Cooper as Sandy Modesto
- Rhys McConnochie as Garth Green
- Steve Rackman as Rex
- Robert Alexander as Bob
- Bob Barrett as Johnno
- Christopher Lewis as Aldo
- Steve J. Spears as Manny
- Kerry Dwyer as Mary Mahoud
- Dean Nottle as Mercer
- Robert Noble as Pinball Manager
- Simone Taylor as Sharon
- Harry Lawrence as Leon
- Alexander Hay as Edgar Montefiore
- Philomena Loneragan as Peggy
- Peggy Wallach as Rose
- Brian Anderson as Clyde
- Deborah Kennedy as Newspaper Librarian
- Robert Shannon as Detective
- John Godden as Detective's Victim
- Rebecca Smart as Little Girl
- Aaron Smart as Little Boy
- Kelly Dingwall as Head Punk
- Barry Leane as John Singer
- Phillip Ross as Bill Winter
- Katherine Summers as Journalist
Production
[edit]The original novel was the fourth in the Cliff Hardy series. It was very successful for an Australian book, selling out its initial run of 7,000 copies with another 5,000 issued.[3] (Hardy books typically wound up selling 10,000 copies and The Empty Beach would sell 30,000.[4])
The novel was adapted for radio on the ABC in 1983.[5]
In the early 1980s Bryan Brown was attached to star as Cliff Hardy in an adaptation of an earlier Corris novel, White Meat. This was to be adapted by Corris, directed by Stephen Wallace and produced by Richard Mason. However no film eventuated. Then John Edwards and Tim Read acquired the rights to the series and approached Brown again.[6] He had played the character in a 1980 Albie Thoms feature film Palm Beach phrior to the filming and release of The Empty Beach.
To coincide with the film release the film's title song was released as a single that summer of 1985 by Marc Hunter (of Dragon) with backing vocals featured from Canadian-Australian based singer Wendy Matthews. Music video of the single also had some moderate TV airplay which features both Marc Hunter and Wendy Matthews.[7]
Corris wrote the first few drafts in consultation with Sandra Levy as script editor.[8][9]
Release
[edit]The film performed poorly at the box office in Australia although it sold widely around the world.[8] There were plans for Brown to appear in further Hardy adventures but this did not eventuate.[6] Ten network first screened the feature film at 8.30pm in early October 1986 on a Wednesday night with a repeat screening again in early 1990s at a much later time-slot and has not screened commercially since.[citation needed]
Corris was unhappy with the final adaptation, although he liked Bryan Brown's performance.[8] He said his book was about deception but the filmmakers wanted "tapes, and corruption and investigations — and they got their way". While he hhoped Bryan Brown would come back as Hardy he wanted a less craggy portrayal of Hardy. "I'd like to warm him up more." [10]
Critical Reception
[edit]Filmnews wrote "Peter Corris' modest narrative line in the original novel has been literally blown out by Keith Dewhurst's screenplay, and the result is an incomprehensible farrago of plots, subplots, and characters, linked by private detective Cliff Hardy's mood riffs — this consists of Bryan Brown looking, by turns, quizzical, worldweary or pissed off — and punctuated by set piece confrontations with big city corruption, monumental in symbolism but cryptic in significance."[11]
The Canberra Times called it "a breath of fresh air to blow away the dust that has settled on the private-eye genre during too many decades of too many bland, inane TV pot-boilers."[12]
References
[edit]- ^ Raffaele Caputo, "The Empty Beach", Australian Film 1978–1992, Oxford Uni Press 1993 p168
- ^ "Australian Films at the Australian Box Office", Film Victoria accessed 24 October 2012
- ^ "Summer Supplement". Tribune. No. 2311. New South Wales, Australia. 30 November 1983. p. 7. Retrieved 25 January 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Books An author bound by a sense of honour". The Canberra Times. Vol. 70, no. 21, 996. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 9 July 1995. p. 22. Retrieved 25 January 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "the good times". The Canberra Times. Vol. 60, no. 18, 279. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 17 October 1985. p. 3 (a supplement to The Canberra Times). Retrieved 25 January 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ a b Dorre Koeser, "Life of Bryan", Cinema Papers, September 1985 p16-19
- ^ Marc Hunter - The Empty Beach, 1985, retrieved 18 June 2023
- ^ a b c David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p232-234
- ^ "Summer Supplement". Tribune. No. 2311. New South Wales, Australia. 30 November 1983. p. 7. Retrieved 25 January 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "It's Saturday Cliff Hardy: defender of values CRIME WRITER". The Canberra Times. Vol. 60, no. 18, 385. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 1 February 1986. p. 1 (Section B). Retrieved 25 January 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "The Empty Beach (Aust, 1984; dist: Hoyts;rt: 90 mins)". Filmnews. Vol. 15, no. 7. New South Wales, Australia. 1 September 1985. p. 16. Retrieved 25 January 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "CINEMA LIFE STYLE TV—ARTS—ENTERTAINMENT". The Canberra Times. Vol. 60, no. 18, 281. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 19 October 1985. p. 12 (SECTION B). Retrieved 25 January 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
External links
[edit]- The Empty Beach at IMDb
- The Empty Beach at Oz Movies
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