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Les Patterson Saves the World

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1987 Australian film
Les Patterson Saves the World
DVD cover
Directed byGeorge T. Miller
Written byBarry Humphries
Diane Millstead
Produced bySue Milliken
StarringBarry Humphries
Pamela Stephenson
Joy Westmore
Thaao Penghlis
CinematographyDavid Connell
Edited byTim Wellburn
Music byTim Finn
Production
company		Humpstead Productions
Distributed byHoyts Distribution
Release date
  • 1987 (1987)
Running time98 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetA$7.3 million
Box officeA$626,000 (Australia)

Les Patterson Saves the World is a 1987 Australian comedy film starring Barry Humphries as his stage creations Sir Les Patterson and Dame Edna Everage.

Plot

The uncouth Sir Les Patterson teams up with Dame Edna Everage (both played by Barry Humphries) to save the world from a virulent bioterror attack ordered by Colonel Richard Godowni (Thaao Penghlis) of the Gulf State of Abu Niveah.

Cast

Production

The film was co-written by Humphries with his third wife Diane Millstead, and directed by George Miller of The Man from Snowy River fame.

The film was originally meant to be made by Thorn EMI in Britain but was eventually established in Australia with entirely Australian money.

Filming began 18 August 1986.

Box office

Les Patterson Saves the World grossed $626,000 at the box office in Australia. "It was a disaster of major proportions", said Jonathan Chissick of Hoyts, who distributed the film in Australia. David Stratton wrote in 1990, "The gala opening was an embarrassing occasion, and it is still rumoured in the industry today that the Federal Treasurer Paul Keating, who attended, was so angry that he decide to end rorts in the film industry."

The movie was released to British cinemas in 1988 but was not successful there either.

Critical reception

Australian film critic Michael Adams later included Les Patterson Saves the World on his list of the worst ever Australian films, along with Phantom Gold, The Glenrowan Affair, Houseboat Horror, Welcome to Woop Woop, The Pirate Movie and Pandemonium.

Filmink argued the film "would have been successful – had it been grounded in some kind of reality" but it "add a pure movie-movie plot... a riff on spy movies, complete with fictitious Arabian countries recreated on the backlot a la some racist British comedy of the 1950s. Edna had left the land of verisimilitude to morph into more of a showbiz in-joke – which was admittedly still funny and worked a treat on stage and television, but not on film, as she didn’t have Barry McKenzie as an anchor. Instead, the film was driven by Sir Les Patterson, who was an even broader figure than Edna."

See also

References

  1. "Australian Productions Top $175 million", Cinema Papers, March 1986 p64
  2. "Features A good year for Australian cinemas 'Crocodile Dundee' puts the bite back into the film industry". The Canberra Times. Vol. 61, no. 18, 723. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 7 January 1987. p. 16. Retrieved 28 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. Vagg, Stephen (31 December 2019). "Top Ten Australian James Bond Homages". Filmink.
  4. "Les Patterson Saves the World". Empire. Archived from the original on 30 April 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  5. ^ David Stratton, The Avacado Plantation, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p308
  6. Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office Archived 23 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Michael Adams, Showgirls, Teen Wolves, and Astro Zombies : a film critic's year-long quest to find the worst movie ever made.New York : Itbooks, 2010. ISBN 978-0-06-180629-2 (p.144)
  8. Vagg, Stephen (23 April 2023). "Barry Humphries – The First Proper Film Star of the Australian Revival". Filmink.

External links

Films directed by George T. Miller
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