Chase_Witherspoon Unusual biopic of notorious Australian bush-ranger Daniel "Mad Dog" Morgan (played with animation by crazy-eyed Hopper), of Irish extraction who after witnessing a bloody massacre at a gold diggers site, flees into the Victorian countryside where he attempts a robbery, is captured, incarcerated and makes a lifelong enemy of sadistic trooper Bill Hunter. Following an early release for good behaviour, he's soon mistaken for a thief, shot at and left for dead. Aboriginal tracker (Gulpilil) finds, mends and befriends the affable if at times hot-headed Irishman and the pair go on to become the quintessential criminal duo, pillaging the countryside where Morgan becomes a champion for the battler, the bane of the establishment's fragile class structure.Meandering tale is full of memorable scenes, picturesque landscape and quirky dialogue, but never quite gels the components homogeneously. The cast is superb with Hopper's erratic and at times dramatic characterisation nicely balanced by Gulpilil as his smiling, more at ease companion, Jack Thompson as a very serious-looking trooper, and Frank Thring as a brutal superintendent with a macabre legacy in mind. Graeme Blundell has a frivolous cameo as an Italian settler, while Liza-Lee Atkinson is sure to float your boat as a horny bar-maid starstruck by Morgan's wild-boy reputation.Violent and sadistic (e.g. Morgan's sodomy in gaol), there's a Sam Peckinpah quality to the bloody executions, where the blood pumps and spurts out of gaping wounds like sauce from a squeezy bottle. Gory elements aside, there's also plenty of humour, particularly Morgan's delight when he hears of his 'up the establishment' reputation from people he encounters while on the lam. It's a bit amateurish in parts, though it's difficult not to like and the ending's implied gruesome epitaph is both shocking and memorable.

kneiss1 While I really liked the pictures and Hoppers performance, the movie itself couldn not convince me. The whole movie is about the character "Mad Dog"; while he was interesting, he simply wasn't realistic. This movie want's to tell the true story Mad Dog Morgan, a bloodthirsty robber and killer - of the ruthless kind! The movie totally stated it that way. But at the same time, the movie turned Mad Dog heroic! He was a rebel and Robin Hood and Jack the ripper in one person - and even worse, the movie wants to show Mad Dog as a victim! It all wouldn't be so bad, if it wouldn't have been told so unconvincing. The character of Mad Dog contradicted himself, and was way too exaggerated. Some bad acting (and the awful German dub I needed to face), didn't help either.

winner55 The previous reviewer, who complained of the historical inaccuracy of the film, somewhat missed the point. While the film may not be true to the original Morgan's personal story, it is certainly true of the conflict between legal authorities and outlaws throughout the English speaking countries during the 19th Century. The Governor at the end asks for Morgan's scrotum to be used as a tobacco pouch; I don't know if this happened to Morgan - but it happened to Nat Turner. Jesse James' corpse went on tour briefly as a carnival attraction before his family intervened; so did the bodies of Bonnie and Clyde in the 1930s. In Canada, one Indian outlaw was so feared, they used cannon to get at him in his last house rather than face him with small arms. Public hangings came to a halt in Great Britain because the crowd got raucously drunk and lecherous after-wards. The fact is, outlaws became legend because government agencies and private interests, as well as the perversity of the general public, made them so.Like Bonnie and Clyde, part of the function of this film - which is really more a 'docudrama' than an adventure film or simply another crime film - is recording what was said of Morgan once he became infamous. Of course most of it was lies - people want their fifteen minutes of fame, even if it's just for bumping into an well-known outlaw.That said, this film suffers from two major problems. First its low budget - it is clear from certain set-pieces that the film had high ambitions.. It is unfortunately clear, from the quality of the film-stock used (and its unevenness) and the awkward uniforms of the provincial police, that there just wasn't enough money to fulfill those ambitions.The second major failing is that the lead is given over to Dennis Hopper, a 'cult' actor of very limited range. He simply isn't up to it. His dialect is terrible, and he utterly lacks either the panache of a flamboyant outlaw, or the angst of a socially driven one. In fact we end the film not knowing much about Morgan, which makes all the broad lies about him believable. And that's a weakness - he needs to be a factual counterpoint to his own legend. Hopper cannot give us this, it's beyond his capabilities.Nonetheless, its an interesting film to watch, even as merely a curio. It was a risky film to make; Australian film industry had not yet attained 'world-class' status, and the strictly Australian subject-matter is certainly interesting. There is also some interesting cinematography, and the story has an odd draw to it even if its promise is never fully realized.Not a classic, but hardly the disaster some have remarked it as.

Infofreak I've been searching for this movie for years, and now thanks to a recent DVD release here in Australia I've finally been able to see it. And best of all, it's a bloody good movie! 'Mad Dog Morgan' was made in Dennis Hooper's "wilderness" years where his reputation and behaviour meant that mainstream Hollywood was too nervous to employ him. During this period he made some of his most interesting movies, often overseas, with some of his bravest and most honest performances. Movies like 'Tracks', 'Bloodbath', 'The American Friend' and this one. Sadly little seen and rarely talked about. Hopper plays Irish immigrant turned bushranger (that's outlaw to non-Australians) Daniel Morgan, hero to the more famous folk hero Ned Kelly. Hopper, by the look of him in the 25 minute documentary included on the DVD, could out drink and drug Robert Downey Jr and Christian Slater combined and STILL give a remarkable performance. Hopper is helped by a supporting cast of the (then) cream of Aussie acting, most of whom are probably not all that known to overseas audiences apart from Jack Thompson, and maybe David Gulpilil ('Walkabout', 'The Tracker'), Bill Hunter ('Newsfront', 'Muriel's Wedding') and the legendary Frank Thring ('Ben-Hur', 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'). Director, Australian ex-pat Philippe Mora, went on to an eclectic and eccentric career which included cult favourites 'The Beast Within' and 'Communion'. 'Mad Dog Morgan' is one of the most underrated and overlooked movies ever made in Australia and deserves to be rediscovered.