Oz aka Twentieth Century Oz, 1976
Teenager Dorothy (Joy Dunstan) is a groupie for a band she loves, and she is particularly in love with the lead singer (Graham Matters). On route from a gig in the band's van, they get in an accident and Dorothy gets knocked on the head. She wakes up in an alternate reality where she is gifted a pair of red heels and soon meets up with a laid-back surfer (Bruce Spence), a cranky mechanic (Michael Carman), and a cowardly biker (Gary Waddell) who help her on her quest to see a musician called The Wizard (also Matters). But hot on their trail is a psychopathic trucker (Ned Kelly), who blames Dorothy for his brother's death.
I had never heard of this film before stumbling across it on Kanopy, and I have to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit. That's not to say that the film is without its flaws, but it's the kind of movie where the flaws almost add to the oddball energy of the whole thing.
The whole thing has a kind of strange, low-budget tone that I found rather appealing. The translation of the Wizard of Oz story is done in a way that reflects thought, but not a lot of thought ("What if the good fairy was a
fairy, like a gay guy? Get it? Because he's a
fairy? LOL!"), and yet at times it resulted in some really enjoyable moments. In one of my favorite sequences, the Biker rolls up to a gas station and bullies everyone in sight, including telling Dorothy he's going to stab her. But not a minute later she realizes he's all bluff, asks if he's in the women's room because he's illiterate, and slaps the sunglasses off of his face as he meekly protests. Likewise, the interpretation of the Scarecrow as a space-cadet surfer is weird-good, and Spence gives off plenty of golden retriever energy in his role, even as he towers over the other actors.
One element that has both a good and a bad side is the villain of the piece, The Trucker. Displaying some of the "not a lot of thought" aspect of the film, he just wants to corner Dorothy so that he can rape her. Not, um, super imaginative as a take on the Wicked Witch. But the saving grace here--at least for me as a viewer--is that this doesn't really feel like a film in which someone will actually be sexually assaulted (and while the character is like 16, the actress is very clearly in her mid-20s). And I don't know if it's because Kelly was uncomfortable with pretending to threaten someone or just generally uncomfortable in front of a camera, but in one moment he's clearly working hard not to be rough with the actress playing Dorothy. This allows for the confrontation with the Trucker to be genuinely humorous as Dorothy fends off his advances and the men rush to save her instead up icky, and I appreciated that it managed to keep the tone light. The only real downside to this part of the plot is that it uses up runtime for a plot element that clearly has like zero stakes.
Ultimately, though, it's not the defeat of the trucker that's the main point of the film. The real heft--and, yeah, it is a bit surprising when you realize there's some heft here--is all to do with Dorothy chasing after the Wizard just because he's famous. I don't want to spoil the ending by discussing it, but I thought that the last 10 minutes were pretty solid and actually kind of brought some thematic coherence to a film that felt a bit slapdash up to that point. It was also really sweet watching the Surfer, Mechanic, and Biker grudgingly bond with Dorothy and become a sort of support for her.
I imagine that this will bore the pants off of some viewers, but I thought it was overall charming. I will also add that, with the exception of Dorothy and the surfer, no one had pants that fit correctly--why?! Is there something about Australia in the 70s I need to know in terms of jeans styles? Maybe my rating seems a bit high, but I was very entertained and I could see coming back to this one when I need something goofy and light.