STARSTRUCK
Australia, 1982, 104 minutes, Colour.
Jo Kennedy, Ross O’ Donovan, Margo Lee, Max Cullen, Pat Everson, John O’ May, Dennis Miller, Melissa Jaffer, Ned Lander, Mark Little, Geoffrey Rush.
Directed by Gillian Armstrong.
Gillian Armstrong had made an impact with some short films in the 1970s and then her first feature, My Brilliant Career, with Judy Davis and Sam Neill. Starstruck was her next film, a bright and breezy show business affair with some garish colours, costumes and lots of music.
The film has a great deal of verve with Jo Kennedy as the lead (she was to win Best Actress in Berlin in 1985 for Wrong World). A gallery of Australian character actors are in support including comedian Mark Little and Geoffrey Rush in a very early role.
Gillian Armstrong was to go on to Hollywood to make Mrs Soffel as well as The Fires Within. She was very successful with her version of Little Women. In Australia she was also successful with High Tide and The Last Days of Chez Nous. She made international features like Oscar and Lucinda, Charlotte Grey and Death-Defying? Acts. She also made a series of successful documentaries tracing the history of four girls from Adelaide: Smokes and Lollies, Fourteen’s Good, Eighteen’s Better and Bingo, Bridesmaids and Braces.
1. Successful and satisfying entertainment? For what audience? lively comedy musical? The conventions of the musical, techniques, stereotypes for plot and characters?
2. The age-old musical comedy material (filtered through Hollywood musicals)? The star is bore' type? 'The show must go on'? The satire on theatrical agents? The pub could be lost? How well did the film adapt these conventions to the Sydney scene?
3. The appeal to the adolescent audience? To adults? The background of television pop music programmes? Visuals, sound, glamour, style, excitement? The pop world, music and dance? Exuberance and involvement?
4. The film styled itself a 'comedy musical' – the relative emphases? The songs and their atmosphere? The focus for characters and incidents? Starstruck at the beginning in Angus' fantasy and as the climax? I'm All Right at the Lizard Lounge? Jackie singing Temper, Temper? The big pub number, She's Got Body? The duet with Robbie? The tough song and its satire on Australian macho images? Angus and I Want to Live in a House? Angus' songs and their comic lyrics? The conventional lyrical song for the Wow programme? The Monkey in Me for Jackie's finale? The incidental music especially during the opening credits with the aerial shots of the cars in the Sydney streets? The old songs – Who's Sorry Now, etc.? The influence of such films as Fame, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Bette Midler songs, Punk? The presentation of the bands, instrumentals? Style and quality?
5. The film's use of Sydney: the credits, the pub and its location under the bridge, the harbour and the beach suburbs, the high-rise skyline of Sydney, television studios, hotels, the Opera House? The bright and breezy presentation of the city? Cars and trains? The special world under the bridge, the old fashioned pub and its dying? The sub-culture of that part of Sydney? The sub-culture of the adolescent pop world? Ephemeral . glamour? The picture of a period?
6. The pub and its social standing, its clientele, their working backgrounds? The children and possibilities, dreams, expectations? The lack of boarders except for the lady with the cats? Reg and Pearl and their trying to keep things going? Nazza and company and their regular patronage? The dinner hour, the drinks, the fights, the songs, getting more change from Nana? The pressure from the brewery? The symbol of an old lifestyle and people hanging on? The aura of the Australian pub – talk, singing, the family management? The background to the Christmas party, Nana's crystal ball and the hopes for the future?
7. The contrast with the new world and the pop world: the contrast of drabness and glamour, Angus at school and his dream, the short school sequence and the discussion about careers, Angus and his bulldozer in lights? The dyeing of the hair blue, the darkness and the Punk atmosphere of the Lizard Lounge? Robbie's world and the band? TV studios, personalities, style of the media? The gay sub-culture in the hotel sequence? The contrast between the old world and the new? Tinsel and phony tinsel?
8. The focus on Angus and his comedy, his push? The diminutive Aussie male? Dream, ambitions, reaction to his blue hair, pushing Jackie, writing songs, buying the kangaroo outfit and going in it, exhilaration at the Lizard Lounge, his phone calls to Terry, his thinking up Jackie's stunt, watching it come to success, the police station, his wagging school? His staying with his aunt and uncle? his father turning up every couple of years and borrowing money back from him? The discovery of his father robbing the safe? The details of life in the pub – his room and posters, pressure on Jackie, his imitation of dying in the street? His reaction to Jackie's failure on the television show? The song about the house at the television studios? The Christmas dinner and the family joy? His maneuvering them to success at the Opera House? The comic touch with the girl on the steps at the end? A variation on the Australian comic larrikin?
9. Jackie in comparison with Angus? The hotel background, education, working in the hotel? Eighteen? Her singing and her verve? Punk style? The kangaroo suit? Success at the Lizard Lounge? The night with Robbie and the casual moral attitudes? Robbie's infatuation with her? At work? Singing Angus' songs – in Bette Midler style? Her relationship with her parents? With Nana? The build-up to the stunt? Her being interviewed on the tightrope? The police station? Her mother going for a holiday and returning with the 'She's Got Body' number? Jackie as an 18-year-old with television hopes? The infatuation with Terry? The mix-up at the television station and her singing the glamour number? Her sense of failure? The tough song? Her disillusionment with her infatuation with Terry? Change of heart? Reconciliation with Robbie, especially with the duet in the darkened pub? Christmas party? Her verve and talent in the final song? A Star is Born?
10. Pearl and her toughness, money, building up to the holiday, wary of Nana giving too much change, her friendship with the woman with the cats, her attitude towards the customers? Reg and the plate in his head and her tolerance of him? The infatuation. with his brother coming down from Queensland? Care for Jackie, concern for Angus and his going to school? The return from holidays? Flirtation, the robbery? The pressure by the brewery? The Christmas party and giving her dress to Jackie? The happy ending?
11. Reg and Wally – Reg nice but the plate in his head? His devotion to his cockatoo? The ineffectual male around the hotel? The contrast with his irresponsible brother who had charm? Nana's response to him? Flirting with Pearl? His casual attitude towards Angus? Shooting through with the money?
12. Nana and her niceness, hosing the footpath, washing Angus' hair, giving too much change, enjoying all the excitement, the television presentation and giving her purse to Jackie, her teeth, the Christmas party, her crystal ball at the end? The genial presentation of a grandmother?
13. Terry Lambert and the presentation of the meoia ,DOp music type? His reaction to Angus' phone calls? The publicity stunt? Nis assistant and his being photographed? His participation in the body dance? His double-dealing with the television show and persuading Jackie to sing the song? His friend at the hotel and the singing of Tough? His reaction to Jackie at the end? The comment on homosexuality in Sydney society – presentation, tolerance' acceptance? The satire in the presentation of Tough and the jibes at the tough lifesaver image?
14. Robbie and his band, attachment to Jackie, the night together, playing for her and singing for her, jealous about the studio production, happy at her failure, reconciliation?
15. The gallery of characters at the pub – the cat lady, Hazza and his going to the television studio, the range of people participating in the songs?
16. The picture of adolescents and their enthusiasm, pressurised by the media? Fame, response, dreams?
17. 'The show must go on' in suburban Sydney – the contribution of this film to the '70s-'80s Australian renaissance? Australian capacity to produce a musical?
