THE MOVIE

The Odd Angry Shot is an Australian film set in the late 1960’s. The film revolves around a group of Australian soldiers and their experiences during the Vietnam war. The Odd Angry Shot was adapted to the screen by Tom Jeffrey, who also directed and produced this film. It is based on William Nagle’s novel of the same name.

The film opens at Bill’s (John Jarratt) birthday party. Next thing we know he’s on a plane with numerous other soldiers who are all on their way to Vietnam. Bill is somewhat naïve and he also appears a little anxious to shoot his machine gun. He is answerable to a hard edged SAS corporal called Harry (Graham Kennedy) who is serving his second tour of duty in Vietnam. Rogers (Bryan Brown), Dawson (Graeme Blundell), Bung (John Hargreaves) and Scott (Ian Gilmour) are some of the other Australian soldiers serving alongside Bill.

Things are pretty uneventful in the first few days. There’s lots of rain, card games, drinking and plenty of laughs. All that is about to change though. Soon the first gunshot rings out and the reality of war hits home when some of Bill’s mates are killed. For the most part, however, this film shows the interactions between the different characters at base camp. There aren’t really all that many scenes showing the soldiers in action.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

The Odd Angry Shot is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen and it is also 16:9 enhanced. The visual transfer is pretty good, especially given the age of this film (The Odd Angry Shot was released in 1979). Shadow detail is not the best, this is evident during the night time card game that takes place in chapter 2 (9 minutes). This scene also has quite a bit of background noise. Mind you, some of the on location shots that have been filmed in natural light look fantastic. Check out the soldiers in the field during chapter 9 (70.17 minutes).

Colours in this film are quite good. There are some nice bright colours to be found during the opening of the film at Bill’s birthday party. The red and blue smoke during chapter 9 (61.38 minutes). This transfer also has several incidences of highlight overload, one example occurs when the bombs go off during chapter 2 (9.40 minutes). I couldn’t find any MPEG artefacts although you can expect to find quite a bit of film grain throughout the film.

Audio:

This DVD comes with two Dolby Digital 2.0 channel soundtracks, one featuring production audio, the other featuring an audio commentary (see below for more details). The default soundtrack is satisfactory. Dialogue is clearly audible throughout the film and there didn’t appear to be any audio synch problems. The music by Michael Carlos is quite good, it has an appropriate military feel about it, although I must admit I found it to be somewhat comical at times (I was reminded of Dad’s Army). The sound effects didn’t seem quite right either. The machine guns sounded a little like toy guns to me, but then again perhaps I’ve just been watching too many Hollywood films, I’m probably used to the big brash “bang bang” sound rather than the “rat-a-tat-tat” sound. Interestingly, I think the parts of this film devoid of dialogue and music are the most interesting. These silences (an example can be seen during chapter 4, 23 minutes) work really well and help build suspense very effectively.

THE EXTRAS

Audio Commentary
The commentary track features producer Sue Milliken, writer/director/producer Tom Jeffrey and actor Graeme Blundell. Interestingly, Sue Milliken also served as the production manager as the budget was only $600,000. These three also talk about the controversy surrounding the book and how the film was received in different parts of the country. They also discuss shooting on location at Canungra, and how the actors underwent training to make the film more realistic. Graeme also reminisces about the drinking and partying that went on each night at the Gold Coast.

Dossier - The Odd Angry Shot
Selecting this feature loads a submenu that lists six different options; The Source, The Movie, The Production, The Music, The Publicity and Picture Gallery. The third option (The Production) is quite good, it includes a number of crisp digital stills of budgets, maps, call sheets, scene indexes, memos, location notes, etc. The fifth option (The Publicity) is also a nice inclusion, with original advertising posters and some of the newspaper reports that were written around the time this film was released.

Script to Screen
Here you will find a screen where you can compare the original script with the final edit of the film for two scenes (Vung Tau and Buddist Temple) from the film. The script slowly scrolls up the screen while the film plays in a small box in the top right hand corner of the screen. Upon completion, another menu loads where you can choose to view the scenes again, with the script or full size. Total running time is approximately 6 minutes.

Original Theatrical Trailer
This is quite a unique trailer. I say this because the narrators words rhyme. The trailer is presented in 1.33:1 full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. The trailer is also much longer than normal, running for 3.26 minutes.

Profiles - Cast and Crew
Biographies and filmographies for actors Graham Kennedy, Bryan Brown, John Hargreaves, John Jarrett, Graeme Blundell, Ian Gilmour and Richard Moir. Writer/director/producer Tom Jeffrey, producer Sue Milliken, director of photography Don McAlpine and composer Michael Carlos are also considered.

SUMMARY

The Odd Angry Shot is set in the late 1960’s and it deals with the Vietnam war. The film stars Bryan Brown, John Hargreaves, John Jarratt, Graeme Blundell, Iam Gilmour and Richard Moir. If you’re into films about war then this might appeal to you, otherwise I’d give this a miss. On a more technical note, this DVD does have a rather good transfer for its age (The Odd Angry Shot was released in 1979).