Wow! Such a good movie.
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
View MoreThis film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
View MoreThe movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
View MoreHaving just watched this mini-series for the 3rd (and possibly last) time, I'm still gob-smacked by how true to life it is. It's not pretty, or nice, or feel-good - it's ugly and violent and brutal and bloody, and to watch the whole 3-and-a-bit hours in one sitting, as I did today, feels a bit like being kicked in the guts by a very big man!! Firstly, there's extraordinary attention paid to detail, with cars, houses, clothes, hair-styles, being true to the 70's and 80's when this true story is set. The outdoor scenes are SO Sydney that you can almost smell the city itself. The story belts along at a pace which requires the viewer to pay close attention.And then there's the cast: For me, this is Richard Roxburgh's best work ever - he walks, talks, lives and breathes Roger Rogerson, so much so that we dislike him, but have to admire his brashness and even his matiness. Tony Martin's Neddy Smith is very 3-dimensional, and mention must also be made of Gary Sweet as Chris Flannery, and Steve Bastoni as Michael Drury, the straight cop in a barrel of bad apples.Women play only minor roles in this story, but this is because it's a story of male culture in a male-only world. This is the NSW Police Force which evolved from the early days of the NSW British colony, and as such, I'm sure this mini-series will stand up in years to come as a window into the history of Australian male culture, the culture of 'mateship'. One can be forgiven for making parallels with "Goodfellas", but "Blue Murder" is Australian to the core.An extremely well made, documentary style series, which packs punches all the way through.
View MoreA brilliant insight to corruption in the N.S.W Police Force, The "Brotherhood" during the 1970's & 1980'sTheft, Murder, Adultery and that was just the police.See how the police where involved in dealings of smuggling, armed robberies and outright assassinations. Operating hand in hand with known criminals, rigging trials, even ordering hits on honest cops to keep their dealings under raps.This is a must watch movie for all Australians showing the true stories of corruption in the N.S.W Police. As the title suggests. It was Blue Murder
View MoreSimply, and I don't mean to sound like a pessimist, Australia, which I love and live in, rarely produces films of rare quality. If you look over the last 10 years and you see the film that has been judged by the AFI ( who the f.... are these people) as best picture you will see such classics as "Somersault" (2004) taking out the major award. You'll see "Little Fish" winning some recent awards what an absolute joke.Anywho, I've tried for a while to get my hands on this Australian film / mini series called Blue Murder (1995). You can now dig it up, it's finally on DVD. You'll surely note through the film why the Australian Police Force (New South Wales PF in particular) tried their best to ban this film.) Quite simply there is nothing this country has produced that can even be put in the same category as this film.Upon viewing just one time, you'll carry with you for the rest of your days Richard Roxberghs's performance as real life Detective Roger "The Dodger" Rogerson and Tony Martin's portrayal of the high profile criminal and police informant Neddy Smith.This action packed Australian film is clearly in a league of it's own with its brilliant script, it's unremorseful search for the truth and it's portrayal of the Police Force in Australia.Hopefully times have changed since when the film was set in the late seventies and early eighties for the APF to today, but this ugly chapter will always be remembered.Unforgettable. 10/10.
View MoreThe screenplay, by Ian David, is the primary reason why BLUE MURDER is the best TV ever produced in Australia -- in fact, it is better than 95% of the features produced in that country. And, yes, calling it the GOODFELLAS of Down Under is not exaggerating.Other reviews here have detailed the content of this mini-series, so no point going there. I just hope my raving about it inspires people who haven't seen it to check it out and marvel at the sharp characterizations, brilliant performances, Michael Jenkins' intuitive direction and ultra-realistic dialogue.The series captures the Aussie vernacular like nothing else ever has and portrays a "matey" political and social environment within the police force that allowed corruption to fester and become an accepted part of everyday life.One powerful sequence, where a crooked lawyer is indifferently dropped into Sydney Harbor with a stove around his neck, perfectly captures the dark side of the Aussie "She'll be right, mate" approach to dealing with problems.Richard Roxburgh as Roger Rogerson is nothing short of a revelation, but major nods must also go to Gary Sweet (his best performance by far), Gary Day (brilliant), Bill Hunter (solid as usual) and Alex Dimitriades (chillingly real).If you're only retiring to that desert island with one Aussie DVD, this should be it.
View More