Wake in Fright (1971)

The Story

Brutal, uncompromising and stunning #WakeInFright​ tells is the story of a young teacher, John Grant, who arrives in a rough outback mining town planning to stay overnight before catching the plane to Sydney. But, on this one hot night in Bundanyabba, Grant decides to go into a smoky, crowded pub... However, one night stretches to five, in which he discovers gambling, ruins himself financially and plunges headlong toward his own destruction. When the alcohol-induced mist lifts, the educated John Grant is no more. Instead there is a self-loathing man in a desolate wasteland, dirty, red-eyed, sitting against a tree and looking at a rifle with one bullet left... There is no Australian film quite like Wake in Fright. Nominated cinema's ultimate prize, the Palme d'Or, at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival and still as raw and fresh today as it was then, rediscover this lost cinematic masterpiece.

Rating

M

Duration

109 min

Country

Australia, USA, UK

Cast

Donald Pleasence, Jack Thompson, John Meillon, Gary Bond, Chips Rafferty, Sylvia Kay

Director

Ted Kotcheff