''High Rolling'' (also called ''High Rolling in a Hot Corvette'') is an Australian buddy comedy directed by Igor Auzins and written by Forest Redlich.

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

Award winners Joseph Bottoms and Judy Davis are among the cast. The soundtrack for the film was provided by the Australian band, Sherbet. The film was released in Australia on 4 August 1977.

Plot

Tex (Bottoms) is an American working at a carnival in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. At the carnival he befriends a boxer, Alby (Taylor) and they decide to travel together to

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on the Gold Coast. They hitch a ride with Arnold (Clayton) but problems arise when Arnold makes unwanted advances towards Alby. Alby beats up Arnold and he and Tex flee with Arnold's suitcase and car. However, the case is full of cash and the car is stocked with

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

. So it comes as no surprise that Arnold and his friends want them back. Tex and Alby later give a lift to a sixteen-year-old hitch-hiker, Lynn and try to pick up two women, Barbie and Susie. Tex gets thrown out of a night club and beaten up by a bouncer so Alby takes both girls to bed. Arnold sends thugs to get them so they end up hijacking a tourist bus. They escape and go off into the sunset with Lyn.High Rolling (1977)
The Digital Fix. Retrieved on 8 June 2011

Cast

* Joseph Bottoms as Texas * Grigor Taylor as Alby * Wendy Hughes as Barbie * John Clayton as Arnold * Judy Davis as Lynn *Susie Macgregor as Susie * Simon Chilvers as sideshow boss * Gus Mercurio as Ernie *Robert Hewitt as Frank * Roger Ward as Lol * Peter Cummins as bus driver * Gil Tucker as shooter * Christine Amor as teenage girl * Chantal Contouri as bus hostess * Sean Scully as policeman * Marilyn Vernon as teenage girl

Production

This was Judy Davis' feature film debut. The film was written by Forrest Redlich and described as an Australian ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid''. Redlich had two other scripts for Hexagon, ''Body Count'' and ''Dede and the Gunman''.

Reception

Tim Burstall later said of the film in 1979:

One couldn't describe ''High Rolling'' as a success, though it will finish breaking even four or five years after its release. I am very fond of ''High Rolling'' although in some ways it doesn't come off. There is a slight problem in Jo Bottoms' performance, which goes over a bit, and the bonding aspect works only fitfully. Still, I think Igor Auzins is a fine director and the film only narrowly misses capturing the spirit of a good AIP film. ''
Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It centres on a series of post-apocalyptic and dystopian action films. The franchise began in 1979 with '' Mad Max'', and was followed by three sequels: ...
'' is certainly handled better, but one can easily see the progression from ''Stone'' to ''High Rolling'' to ''Mad Max''.Scott Murray, 'Tim Burstall', ''Cinema Papers'' Sept-Oct 1979 p577

David Stratton David James Stratton (born 1939) is an English-Australian film critic and historian. He has also worked as a journalist, interviewer, educator, television personality, and producer. His career as a film critic, writer, and educator in Austral ...

wrote that "the film is strangely unsatisfactory, even on the most basic entertainment level; it was one of the weakest non-endings imaginable."David Stratton, ''The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival'', Angus & Robertson, 1980 p37

Home Media

''High Rolling'' was released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in January 2013. The DVD is compatible with region codes 2 and 4 and includes special features such as the theatrical trailer, interviews with Igor Auzins and Robin Copping, and a bonus feature-length film titled The Love Epidemic.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0076144, title=High Rolling
''High Rolling''
at Oz Movies 1977 films 1970s buddy comedy films Australian buddy comedy films Films directed by Igor Auzins 1970s English-language films English-language buddy comedy films