Greta Scacchi in 1985

Johnny's comments:

The Coca-Cola Kid is a comedy where an intense corporate hot shot from Coca-Cola in America, Becker (Eric Roberts) comes to Australia with a mission: To get Coca-Cola sold in the only part of Australia where it isn't being sold. That place is Anderson Valley, a small isolated township that is owned by eccentric millionaire T. George McDowell (Bill Kerr), who makes his own variant on Coca-Cola, McCoke. He has an unexpected insight into the place from his assigned secretary Terri (Greta Scacchi), who takes a liking to Becker and seems to know a lot more about Anderson Valley and T. George McDowell than she is letting on. Becker manages to ingratiate himself to the eccentric millionaire by saying that he'll help spread McCoke around the world but really he's trying to complete his mission. Becker slowly falls for Terri but she lives a complicated life with a young daughter (Rebecca Smart) and a persistent ex (Chris Haywood). But when Becker brings Coca-Cola to Anderson Valley, all hell breaks loose. Strange, wacky tale full of that certain type of Australian humour that doesn't travel well even though the movie is directed oddly enough by a very European director. Eric Roberts is an odd casting here but he kinda works as a very American fish-out-of-water and Scacchi is also fine with her ditzy character who gets to do a fair bit of physical comedy. Turns out Scacchi hated Roberts according to an interview on the DVD so it's interesting that this doesn't really come across in the movie. An early role for child star Rebecca Smart too and she's fairly precocious here mixing it up with Roberts. The film's plot is never not odd. I just don't understand why Coca-Cola would give a shit about it's product not being sold in a small area covering less than 1% of the nation. Why does Terri keep trying to get Becker to like her even after he unceremoniously fires her? And because it's an odd, wacky Australian movie, you can guarantee David Argue turns up as he does here as a newspaper salesman but he barely offers a joke. Just a strange mess of a movie, some good but quite a bit that doesn't work.

Burke & Wills is a drama about the most famous exploration in Australia, made in 1860-1861 by Robert O'Hara Burke (Jack Thompson) and William John Wills (British actor Nigel Havers). Before leaving, Burke courts and then marries opera singer Julia Matthews (Greta Scacchi) but signs are ominous before they leave Melbourne as neither man seems prepared for the trip and Wills' father warns Burke that his son might not be up to it before he leaves. Things go alright to begin with although Burke gets into constant fights with camel herder Landers (Barry Hill) to the point that Burke sacks him from the trip. They come across Indigenous people along the way but all encounters between them are awkward although not hostile. Despite being considered lost by the media, Burke and Wills get to their destination in the top of Australia, the Gulf of Carpentaria (later found that they were actually 20 miles short of the top most point of Australia) before coming back and relying on half rations which soon leads to disaster. A search crew led by Brahe (Drew Forsythe) is sent to find them and all they find is one near death member of the exploration, John King (Matthew Fargher), who is being looked after by a local Indigenous tribe. I remember there being a big thing about Burke & Wills in the mid-to-late 80s but I never realised how much of a disaster their exploration was until much later. They seem to be celebrated despite failing badly (not the only Australian explorers that this happened too) but this movie seems to be fairly accurate if mostly uninteresting telling of the exploration. I suppose it's hard to make walking for 18 months interesting so there are interludes where Burke remembers his time with Julia and Wills keeps having the same nightmare about not getting out of a maze in time. The end speech from a barely recovered John King at the end of the movie is probably the best part of the movie and gives a rather dark account of what actually happened although he still gives praise to Burke & Wills who nearly got him killed. If anything I think more should've been made how the Indigenous tribes tried to help the explorers near the end but all bar King either refused or didn't take heed of any help or advice given but even then I don't think it would've made this movie worth watching. It's just hard to tell this type of tale in an interesting way.

I capped The Coca-Cola Kid from the new Bluray and honestly it's not high quality but that is more that there doesn't seem to be a high quality print of the movie around. The Umbrella DVD isn't great either but actually seems more presentable plus is has some good DVD extras if you're into that. Burke & Wills is from the bare bones Umbrella DVD, not great but better than nothing. Scacchi mentions on the The Coca-Cola Kid extras that she seemed to only be up for roles that required nudity during this period and funnily enough she even briefly shows her breasts in the PG rated Burke & Wills.

The Coca-Cola Kid

1985, 1080hd

Greta Scacchi film clips (collages below)

Burke and Wills

1985, DVD quality

Greta Scacchi film clip (see enlarged capture below)