TOUCH AND GO

Australia, 1980, 85 minutes, Colour.
Wendy Hughes, Chantal Contouri, Carmen Duncan, Brian Blain, John Bluthal, Jon English, Barbara Stephens.
Directed by Peter Maxwell.

Touch And Go is the second Queensland Film Corporation-sponsored feature. (The first was Ross Dimsey's very poor thriller Final Cut). It is a potential commercial success, deservedly so. There have been umpteen crime capers in the '70s, but Peter Yeldham's screenplay is quite fresh, runs smoothly, gets us into the robberies with quite a few laughs. Australian cinema is strong in its actresses, so it was wisely feminist to have a group of lady burglars (for charity!). Wendy Hughes, Chantal Contouri, Carmen Duncan, all have good roles dominating the laugh providing men: John Bluthal caricaturing a Barrier Reef hotel owner, Brian Blain an obtuse husband, Jon English a bludging gardener. Nicely entertaining. Peter Maxwell has directed quite a number of Australian telemovies, Is There Anyone There?, Polly Me Love.

1. The popularity of the crime caper comedy? The number of these throughout the history of the cinema, particularly the 1970s? Familiarity from television series? The potential for stale material? How fresh and original the presentation here?

2. The use of New South Wales and Queensland cities and landscapes? The Barrier Reef? The beauty of the locations, their being worked into the plot? The skill of the editing for pacing? The musical score, Jon English's music and songs?

3. The decision to have lady burglars? The feminist points being made? The humour about feminism, the attack on male attitudes?

4. The initial robbery, the discovery of the motives, presuppositions about taking money from the wealthy e.g. shops and firms and hotels and giving to charity? The ladies and their charity meetings and all the formalities? Puns and humour about crime, men and women? The continued humorous tone throughout the film?

5. The presentation of the charity and the needy, Julia and her work with the children, her lending the van, the humour about crime, the children from the Far West in the flat at the end, the scene at the beach?

6. Eva and Wendy Hughes' style? Suave manner, her radio work, the parody with her being the Kookaburra voice? Her manner in interviewing Anatole, photographing the whole hotel, her presentation of the information to the women? Her strength in leading the group? Seeing him again at the Barrier Reef? The humour of pretending to be French? Her participation in the robberies? In the ending?

7. Carmen Duncan and her comic style as Millie? The glasses, the love for the policeman, her skill with locks? Her apprehensions and fears? Seeing her at work, her skill with the safes? Her drinking at the end?

8. Chantal Contouri as Fiona? Her home, her husband and the humour of married life and the attacks on her husband? Her clashes with Frank? At home, interviewing the potential helpers at the gymnasium, her crashing the car? Her quick thinking at the end?

9. The other girls and their work at the gymnasium, with the telegraph lines? Their being briefed, participation on the job? The ending and the hurry to the garbage tip?

10. George and Frank and the humour on the Australian male? George and his fussiness, his chauvinism, his work, attitudes towards Fiona, overseas travel? The encounter with the women at the end, his taxi? Frank and his bludging, his work, comments, criticisms of the upper class? The humour at the end and his discovery of the money, his being robbed?

11. Anatole and John Bluthal's skill at parody, the television ad, his boasting, showing Eva around the hotel, his being robbed? The personnel at the hotel? The lady who managed the bank and her attitude towards potential rape?

12. The lifestyle in the Barrier Reef hotels?

13. The humour of the women talking amongst themselves, their meals, bickering, parody of the woman's touch? The presentation of the initial robbery, the robbery of the sports store, the elaborate preparation for the final robbery, the skill in the execution, the alarm going off, the trawler and the attack on the men, the final escape? The feminine wiles with the police in order to get through? Waiting for the van, for the car, the garbage tip sequence, the taxi? The frantic pace of the ending?

14. How enjoyable a light comedy? Its use of Australian social themes with the light touch?