Hercules Returns

Part One – Film Information

Principal Cast and Crew

Crew

Director                       … David Parker

Writer                          … Des Mangan

Executive Producer     … Phillip Jaroslow

Producer                      … Peter Winter

Cinematographer         … David Connell

Editor                          … Peter Carrodus

Cast

David Argue                … Brad McBain

Michael Carman          … Sir Michael Kent

Mary Coustas             … Lisa

Bruce Spence              … Sprocket

Brendon Suhr              … King

Des Mangan                … Hercules/Samson/Machismo/Ursus/Testiculi (voice)

Sally Patience              … Labia, Murial, Fanny, Delilah (voice)

Released Date: 23 September 1993[1]

Distributor: Village Roadshow

Production Company: Philm Productions

 

Synopsis

The movie Hercules Returns is an adaptation of a stage show performed by a duo called Double Take consisting of Des Mangan and Sally Patience. Double Take use old movies and re-dub the voices themselves. The movie centres around Brad who opens a small theatre and decides to run it the old fashion way. On opening night, it is discovered that the movie to be shown has been switched with the original version - in Italian and with no sub-titles. Brad decides that he, his publicist Lisa and projectionist Sprocket must dub the voices themselves.

Interviews

 

Mary Coustas most well known for playing the character Effie on the Television series Acropolis Now Spoke to TV Week about her character in Hercules Returns stating:

            “Lisa is quirky and on the edge, a bit of a nutcase. She is a publicist after all!”[2]

Coustas also liked the change of role from that which she is normally type cast into,:

“Its great to be playing a character that’s not a wog”[3]

She says speaking comparatively about her character Effie on the television series Acropolis Now for which she is widely known.

Discussion in books and journals

In Scott Murray’s book Australian Film 1978 – 1994, Jim Schembri in writes on the framing story around Hercules Returns

“Now the important question arises: Why bother setting all this up? It is obvious that the dubbing of the old film has been painstakingly worked out, factoring in camera moves and acting gestures, so presenting it as if it is being improvised by way of explanation is simply dumb”[4]

Reviews in Newpapers

The Age’s review of the film saw it:

“At its best, when the intentional silliness of the lines perfectly counters the unintentional silliness of the action”

but goes on to state:

“Hercules Returns’ is an excessively limited set of variations on one idea”[5]

David Stratton reviewed the movie for The Weekend Australian saying:

“This is not by any means a new concept … but it works well, thanks to some raucously ridiculous dialogue and bizarre Aussie slang”[6]

Stratton also states he was to make a cameo apperance in the film alongside his Movie Show collegue Margaret Pomeranz if not for scheduling commitments.

Sydney Morning Herald’s reviewer Lynden Barber refers to the origans of Hercules Returns stating that:

“Hercules Returns is essentially a line by line repeat of the team’s most successful live shows”

also stating speaking of the two sections of the movie:

“Having erected this awkward structure the film-makers fail to extricate themselves from it without pain”[7]

‘Hercules Returns’ Online

Hercules Returns does not have a large internet presence. Other than the Internet Movie Database and Urban Cinefile there are only a few reviews, fan sites and biographies of people listing the film in their favourite movies. Through the Movie Review Query Engine, three reviews are located giving mixed evaluations, from one star through to ten. Also there are several websites which offer the film soundtrack for sale.

Research methods

Hercules Returns proved a difficult movie to research owing largely to the fact that it is an independent production and is not a mainstream movie. I started by searching the more modern methods first. I looked for Hercules Returns on the internet. I found many fan sites but not a lot of critical discussion on the film. After taking information from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) and Urban Cinefile I moved onto more traditional methods. The Murdoch library reference collection provided several articles that supplied useful information on the production as well as background into the writers and origins of the movies concepts.

I contacted both the Australian Film Commission and the distributor of the movie, Village Roadshow. However they had little data on the movie. I then used microfiche to look at past reviews and features on the movie. This turned up several reviews on the movie. As a last effort I searched the back catalogues of TV Week as well as other cinematic articles and papers at the Alexander Library. As this movie was not a mainstream production nor a highly publicised movie there was little useful material available. Information on this movie was scares and difficult to access

Part Two - Critical Review

Hercules Returns is not one movies but two rolled into one. The first involves Brad McBain who tires of his job working for the ‘Kent cinema corporation’, a corporation that sells mainstream movies to the masses. Brad decides to leave his job and open a small abandoned cinema called the ‘Picture Palace’ and turn movies into an event again. Brad entices his best friend Sprocket away from his job as the projectionist at the x-rated theatre. Sprocket caves in after Brad’s offer of bad wages and being able to live in the cinema. He also hires an aggressive in both in the business and physical sense named Lisa the ‘Picture Palace’ is on it’s way.

The trio decide to open the cinema screening the last movie shown before the cinema closed 30 years ago. The movie turns out to be an Italian feature called Hercules, Samson, Maciste and Ursus are Invincible; also know as Hercules, Samson, Maciste and Ursus: The Invincible Ones (Ercole, Samsone, Maciste e Ursus gli invincibili). When the opening night approaches success is almost assured with a full turnout and a packed cinema, it is then found out that the copy has been switched with an un-dubbed original Italian version without subtitles. Without any other option they decided to live dub the voices themselves.

This leads into the second movie Hercules, Samson, Maciste and Ursus are Invincible. Originally the four muscle man fought against an evil oppressor. However because of the dubbing Hercules is now a half-witted cabaret singer trying to get a gig and because of a prophecy trying to win the heart of Labia. Samson is changed into a downtrodden husband. Machisimo is now a flamboyant, out of the closet homosexual, and Ursus is an angry, drunken Scottish bouncer.

The two sections of this movie each represent a different aspect of Australian culture, society and it’s stereotypes at the time in different way and levels. Hercules Returns was produced in early nineties, Brad’s quest to open an old style cinema can be seen as a backlash against the business tycoon era of the 1980’s. Brad wants to get out of his job not for the money but a passion and vibrancy of what he thinks cinema should be. This is starkly apposed to the Kent Corporation view.

Within the Hercules section of the movie the cultural references become more abundant. The ‘muscle men’ characters have changed into typical stereotypes of the early nineties. Samson, the downtrodden husband represents the rise of the strong female in society during the period. Whist Samson’s wife Delilah is head of the household and bosses him around. Hercules, the cabaret singer who’s sexuality is brought into question is stereotypical of some male pop singers of the nineties. Labia’s role in the movie has been completely reversed, she is now straight-forward and headstrong in contrast to the pure virgin girl of the original movie. Machismo, the openly gay man is a stereotype which was becoming more socially acceptable during this period.

The characters and atmosphere of both sections of the movie can be related back to 1990’s Australia having not only characters but also situations that are typical of the time period. From the blatant stereotypes of the Hercules saga to the most subtle break away from the corporation view of the 1980’s in the Australian section of the film.

Critical Uptake

Many reviewers that looked at this movie talk of how humorous it could be if it wasn’t for the inter-cutting of the two stories and how often the cutting happened.

In Jim Schembri’s article he states:

“The idea would have been much better served by simply showing the film cold with its new voice track. …There should have been some faith that the Double Take idea would hold its own. For as that other comedy saying goes: ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Well it wasn’t broke and they tried to fix it, and they messed it up big.”[8]

This view point or the lack of justification for the framing story itself seemed to be the critics major problem with this movie. However The Age’s reviewer disagreed stating:

“It is a pity that Mangan and his colleagues did not provide more cutting back and forth between the mini-epic and the contemporary story”

Critics also compared the movie to the British Carry On series of film of the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s and the Woody Allen film What’s Up, Tiger Lily. The Carry On films know for not only the genitalia and homosexual jokes but also its slap stick style and the Woody Allen feature was a re-dubbing of Japanese spy movie made in 1966.

Cast and Crew’s Work Before and After ‘Hercules Returns’

Like the movie itself, Hercules Returns’ crew is a meld of people from many different production backgrounds and previous works.

Director – David Parker: Hercules Returns was David Parker’s first film as a director. He is principally a cinematographer, writer and producer. Working primarily in the comedy genre, Parker has been the cinematographer on all of Nadia Tass’ films which include Malcolm, Amy and Mr. Reliable. Parker has since directed the romantic comedy Diana and Me.

Writer – Des Mangan: Hercules Returns was Mangan’s first and only movie. His comedy act Double Take that consisted of Mangan and Sally Patience, which spawned Hercules Returns toured Australia and internationally before settling in Melbourne. Aptly Mangan now present the cult movies on SBS as well as reporting for Eurovision.

Cinematographer – David Connell: Although Australian born most of Connell’s credits are Hollywood movies or series. Most notably are The Never-ending Story Part II(George Miller, 1990), the1998 production of Moby Dick (Franc Roddam, 1998) and Robinson Crusoe (Rod Hardy:George Miller, 1997). Currently he is working on the Stephen King series Kingdom Hospital.

Producers - Philip Jaroslow and Peter Winter: Hercules Returns was Jasoslow and Winters only film. Jasoslow, an American now living in Melbourne, formerly the owner of the Jarrah coffee brand acquired the rights to the Italian film and Mangan’s script and then began work on Hercules. According to urban cinefile his production company, Philm Productions is working on a sequel to the film.

Lead Actor – David Argue (Brad): Argue has acted in several movies and television programs both before and since Hercules Returns generally playing the same sort of character. His most recent performance was in the 2000 mini series On the Beach starring Bryan Brown.

Actor – Bruce Spence (Sprocket): Out of all those involved with Hercules Returns Bruce Spence has been the most successful. Spence has worked on several Australian and Hollywood productions since Hercules Returns. Starring most recently as the trainman in The Matrix Revolutions (Wachowski Brothers, 2003) and lending his voice to Chum, one of the sharks in Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton, 2003). Prior to Hercules Returns Spence had acted in The Cars that Ate Paris (Peter Weir, 1976) and both Mad Max sequels: Mad Max: The Road Warrior (George Miller, 1978) and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (George Miller, 1985).

Actor – Mary Coustas (Lisa): Coustas got her break playing Effie in Acropolis Now. However the actress is more versatile than one character. Before Hercules Returns she starred in Blowing Hot and Cold (Marc Gracie, 1989) and Nirvana Street Murder (Aleksi Vellis, 1990). Since Hercules Returns Coustas has taken Effie to television in an adaptation of the British chat show The Kumars at No. 42 and the non-Effie role in the Television show Grass Roots.

Hercules Returns’ Value

Hercules Returns place in Australian film is hard to judge. The film did not fair well at the box office, Hercules did not even make the top ten films released in it’s month of opening. Critically the movie was both hailed for its humour and criticised for being a meld of movies, not the voice track over the Italian film but the melding of the Hercules story and the Australian story. However the movie has been somewhat of a cult hit, generating interest through its uniquely Australian sense of humour. Hercules Returns’jokes maybe low brow and the stereotype outdated however the film still generates laughs when watched. The film also manages to maintain its sense of Australian culture even when most of the time it is not Australia or Australians on screen.

Hercules Returns is a comedy in the most classic sense of the genre. The not a minute goes by where a joke of some description is not told. This can be seen as both a positive and a negative as the plot suffers because of the structure of the movie. Many reviewers stated that the film would have been better off improving the framing story involving Brad’s cinema quest or leaving it out all together. These problems have damaged the films mainstream success. Overall however, the film has achieved a cult status thanks to the original concept of Double Take and Mangan’s writing.


 

Bibliography

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[1] Steven M. Sammi Cinema. 2004, http://www.sammicinema.cjb.net (15 April 2004).

[2] Jenny Cooney, “Mary Muscles In On Hercules” TV Week, 9 October 1993, Pg 22-23

[3] IBID

[4] Jim Schembri, “Hercules Returns”, In Australian Film 1978 – 1994: A survey of theatrical features, Scott Murray, (Oxford University Press: Melbourne, 1995), Pg 361

[5] Author Unknown, “Thin idea stretched to breaking point” The Age, 23 September 1993, Pg 18

[6] David Stratton, “Multi-titled epic a hit and myth affair”, The Weekend Australian 25-26 September 1993, The Weekend Review Section Pg 14

[7] Lynden Barber, “Doubled up with entendre”, The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 September 1993, Pg 24

[8] Jim Schembri, “Hercules Returns”, In Australian Film 1978 – 1994: A survey of theatrical features, Scott Murray, (Oxford University Press: Melbourne, 1995), Pg 361