Hoodwink

The

Wendy Hughes

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HOODWINK

The New South Wales Film Corporation present[s] a CB Films Production. HOODWINK.1
Š1980 CB Films Pty Ltd. Budget: $1 million. Location: Sydney. Made with the financial assistance of Faywin Investments Pty Ltd and The New South Wales Film Corporation. Australian distributor: Hoyts. Video: Australian Video. Rating: M (June 1981; 2432.88m). 35mm. 89 minS.2

Producers: Pom Oliver, Errol Sullivan.
Scriptwriter. Ken Quinnell. Story inspired by Carl Synnerdahl.
Director of photography: Dean Semler.
Production designer: Ross Major.
Wardrobe: Robyn Schuurmans.
Editor: Nicholas Beauman.
Composer: Cameron    Allan.
Sound recordist: Gary Wilkins.
Sound editors: Andrew Steuart; Penn Robinson (fx); Lindsay Frazer (dia.).
Mixer: Peter Fenton.

Cast

John Hargreaves (Martin), Judy Davis (Sarah), Dennis Miller (Ralph), Wendy Hughes (Lucy), Max Cullen (Buster), Paul Chubb (Reid), Michael Caton (Shapley), Wendy Strehlow (Martin's Sister), Kim Deacon (Marian), Les Foxcroft (Baldy), Colin Friels (Robert), Ralph Cotterill (Shakey), Brian McDermott (Collins), Paul Sonkilla 3 (Lancaster), Geoffrey Rush (Detective 1), Tony Strachan (Chicka), Willie Fennell (Bank Manager), Ray Meagher (Shaw), Neil Redfern (Jimmy), Martin Vaughan (Solicitor).

Hoodwink fits into the romantic-crime genre, focusing on an individual antihero. Most of his behaviour is interpreted in psychological terms, and most strikingly (but not surprisingly) there is little attempt to situate his story in a social context (i.e., sex, class etc.). This could be explained as giving the audience what they want, but it is really nothing less than distorting the social and political practice of cinema in the name of 'entertainment'. ' Hoodwink might have been more than just another 'entertaining' film with 'popular' appeal if its film-makers had tried to tell the story from a different perspective, or had employed a nonconventional narrative form which might have opened it up for more levels of interpretation.

John Hargreaves plays Martin, a con(victed) man who bluffs a number of people into thinking that he is blind to gain a reduced prison sentence. It is a role that would be a challenge to any actor, and Hargreaves succeeds well, giving Martin a rough-diamond physicality and a 'likeable larrikin' presence.

This very characterisation is arguably a reflection of a cultural stereotype linked with
Australia's convict past and she'll-be-right present, and one which many film-makers have gone to great lengths to construct as being part of the national male identity. Whether it is or not is extremely contentious.

The characters of Lucy (Wendy Hughes), Marian (Kim Deacon) and Sarah (Judy Davis) are all reflective of cultural stereotypes of another kind. They are 'threewomen who help create the problems' for Martin. Lucy deserts him for the 'security' of life as a croupier and a flat of her own. Marian, a voluptuous dancer and 'pick up' betrays him. And Sarah, wife of a lay preacher - 'quiet, religious, sexually repressed' - falls in love with him. Love creates the 'biggest difficulty of all'.

Hughes' and Deacon's performances, though suitably executed, are limited by the constraints of a narrative that constructs their characters like cut-out paper dolls - as women are often (mis) represented in film. As for Judy Davis, she proves her ability to develop a character with a quirk, but the role is really too small for her talents and magnitude; she virtually disrupts the film. It is also particularly distressing that the narrative resolves Sarah's conflict and struggle in a very conservative manner.

British director Claude Whattham injects a vaguely British tone in the film's style, mood and pace. As a visitor to this country, he is able to take a fresh look at the Australian
landscape and have it photographed to convey symbolic meaning. This is especially noticeable in a scene in Sarah's house where a picture window neatly frames the splendour of Australia's roaming outback in all its glory.

However, Whatham doesn't seem to make any significant commentary in relation to the cultural specificity of the story. This might be understandable, considering that he did not originate the project, but it has resulted in a film that is great to look at but has little substance.

DAVE SARGENT 4

(1)    The double 'O' in the title is, in fact, interlocking handcuffs.
(2)    Stratton quotes the length at 93 mins, while the video slick states 99 mins.
(3)    Usually spelt 'Sonkkjla'.
(4)    Extracted from Sargent's review iii Citicitii Papers (see References).

References
'Judy Davis', a career interview with the actor by John Ley and Steve Bisley, Cinema Papers, no. 32, May-June 1981, pp, 116-21.
'Hoodwink', a review by Dave Sargent, Cinema Papers, no 34, September-October 1981, pp. 397-8
'Wendy Hughes' , an interview with the actor by Richard Brennan, Cinema Papers, no. 40, October 1982, pp. 428-32.
'Captain of the Clouds', an article (with quotes) on actor John Hargreaves by Gail McCrea, Cinema Papers, no. 56, March 1986, pp. 38-9, 40.