Wake in Fright (1971)
Average Rating: 8.6/10
Reviews Counted: 29
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 9/10
Critic Reviews: 11
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 1,677
My Rating
Movie Info
Awe-inspiring, brutal and stunning, Wake in Fright is the story of John Grant, a bonded teacher who arrives in the rough outback mining town of Bundanyabba, planning to stay overnight before catching the plane to Sydney. But, as his one night stretches to five, he 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
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Gary Bond
John Grant -
Donald Pleasence
Doc Tydon -
Chips Rafferty
Jock Crawford -
Sylvia Kay
Janette Hynes -
Jack Thompson
Dick -
Al Thomas
Tim Hynes -
Peter Whittle
Joe -
John Meillon
Charlie -
John Armstrong
Atkins -
Slim de Grey
Jarvis -
Maggie Dence
Receptionist -
Norman Erskine
Joe the Cook -
Buster Fiddess
Charlie Jones -
Tex Foote
Stubbs -
Nancy Knudsen
Robyn -
Dawn Lake
Joyce -
Harry Lawrence
Higgins -
Bob McDarra
Pig Eyes -
Owen Moase
1st Controller -
John Dalleen
2nd Controller -
Colin Hughes
Stockman -
Mark "Jacko" Jackson
Van Driver -
Carlo Marchini
Poker Player -
Liam Reynolds
Miner
ADVERTISEMENT
Wake in Fright Trailer & Photos
All Critics (29) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (30) | Rotten (0) | DVD (1)
Wake in Fright is essential viewing for anyone interested in the roots of male violence.
Top CriticA Conradian parable of a man succumbing to the wild, the film is remarkable for its raw, pointed dithe suggests, and you'll find the beast concealed behind the mask of propriety.
It is powerful, genuinely shocking and rather amazing.
Several decades later, it still chills.
"Wake in Fright" is true horror.
"Wake in Fright" is a monster movie, and the monster is us.
This tale of sun-baked savagery has lost little of its audacity or ferocity while it languished unseen.
The raw, sweaty 1971 film is not a pretty portrayal of life in the outback, where men are crude, hard-drinking mates with no ambition beyond rough-house fun...
Image Entertainment presents Ted Kotcheff's rediscovered near-masterpiece of disjointed identity in the Australian outback with plenty of extras and a solid transfer befitting a lost classic.
Brutal, but in a deceptively causal manner, Wake in Fright submits one the sharpest depictions of Outback life I've come into contact with, imagining the vast land as a sun-baked prison from which there is no escape.
A movie that shows us plenty of unsettling stuff but also knows that what viewers imagine is much more disturbing than what any movie can show.
Animal lovers, beware.
This outrageously overlooked masterpiece is a wake-up call to film scholars who will now have to rethink what came first ‒ this film or Peckinpah's 'Straw Dogs," which basically charts the same territory?
A neglected gem.
"Wake in Fright" works both as an early instance of "Ozploitation" cinema and as a harsh critique of Australian colonialism and the absurdity of trying to bring so-called civilization to this vast arid wilderness.
Kotcheff, working from a novel adapted by Modesty Blaise screenwriter Evan Jones, ratchets up the sick humor and ghastly ribaldry to nail-biting heights.
Orchestrates landscape, music, demonic faces, and lots of blood, sweat, and vomit into a stark bacchanalia of men having fun.
In some ways "Wake in Fright" is like an Australian "Deliverance," except this is one man's journey and he participates in the debauchery and savagery.
Audience Reviews for Wake in Fright
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for Wake in Fright yet.
What's Hot On RT
Trailer for James Franco adaptation
Star Trek is Certified Fresh
Rachel McAdams' time travel romantic drama
Trailer for Tom Hanks thriller
Featured on RT
- Weekly Ketchup: Will Smith to Star in Wild Bunch Remake? 33
- Critics Consensus: Star Trek Into Darkness is Certified Fresh 89
- Red Carpet Roundup: Star Trek Into Darkness Edition 0
- Video Interviews with Katie Aselton & Lake Bell of Black Rock 2
- VIP Access: Eli Roth talks Aftershock 1
- Total Recall: Star Trek Movies 93
- Parental Guidance: Star Trek Into Darkness 18
Top Headlines
-
J.J. Abrams Talks Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Wars, and More
0
-
Vin Diesel Says Fast & Furious 7 Will Begin a New Trilogy
7
-
Mickey Rourke Confirmed for Expendables 3
3
-
Brad Bird Still Mulling Incredibles 2
0
-
Reese Witherspoon, Jena Malone, and Martin Short Join Inherent Vice
0
-
Bruce Willis Makes an Expiration Date
2
-
Drew Pearce Hired for Mission: Impossible 5
0
Fresh Links
Featured
Star Trek Movies Ranked
HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 Star Trek Villains
Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Foreign Titles
- Wake in Fright (DE)
- Wake in Fright (UK)
