IT TAKES ALL KINDS

Australia/US, 1969, 97 minutes, Colour.
Robert Lansing, Vera Miles. Barry Sullivan, Sid Melton, Penny Sugg.
Directed by Eddie Davis.

It Takes All Kinds is a conventional thriller, of historical interest because it was one of several films made with American/Australian co-production in the late 60s. Colour Me Dead, directed by Eddie Davis also, and the Girl from Hong Kong are the other main examples. The setting is Sydney and Melbourne; backgrounds are not so much exploited except the typical scenes of Sydney. American actors take the main roles with Australians in support. It did not seem at the time that the Australian film industry would have such a revival in the 70s. Average entertainment.

1. The appeal of thriller entertainment, mystery, police, danger and action, criminal characters? Heroes and heroines? A good example of its kind?

2. The importance of the Australian setting, the photography of Sydney? Americans in Australia? The Australian supporting cast?

3. The thriller conventions: the tough hero and his being tricked and wanting to vindicate himself, the adventuress and her greed and betrayal, the underworld and their support of the hero, sailors and loyalty, the rich criminal, the attractive heroine - insurance investigator? The conventional sequences of fights, seduction, robbery, betrayal, vengeance? The appeal of this kind of entertainment? Any specially different effects, eg. the fashion-show auction, the granary?

4. How credible was the basic plot, for a thriller? Tony and his leaving the ship and the fight, Laura and the explanation of her need for someone to be used for a crime, her persuading Tony to be involved, her greed and link with Benton as a respectable criminal, the police work, the insurance work, the detection? Is this a real world of criminals?

5. Tony as hero - tough and laconic, the fight about the cat, the liaison with Laura? The pressures on him and his response to stealing the chalice? His reaction to being left in the University - and the adventure of his getting out in time? His leaving the overalls? His being followed by J.P. Duncan? His tracking down of Benton with the help of Benjie? The final heroics and shoot-out? The confrontation with Laura and his refusal to shoot her? Interesting, credible hero?

6. Laura as villainess? Initial sympathetic presentation, her smiling during the fight, her picking up Tony, seduction? Her staging the police interview? Her hold over the criminal group? The stealing of the window, the liaison with Benton and visiting the granary - and the information given which was to lead to her death? Her reaction at the auction, attempts to shoot Tony, her challenging him to shoot her, her berserk greed in robbing Benton, the ugliness of her death? A credible adventuress?

7. The supporting cast - Benjie and his genial work in the underworld, J.P. Duncan and her following Tony, an attractive insurance agent, sharing the dangers, the happy ending with the marriage? Swede and the other sailors? The other men involved in the criminal escapades? Benton and his set-up respectable cover and his own special body guard? His greed and collection?

8. The action of the film - fights, robbery, police chases, the auction, shootout, Laura's death?

9. Themes of right and wrong, personal relationships, greed, crime, respectability?