Sounds like my kind of movie! BTW there is something very different about many Australian films. And part of the reason may be because of these aboriginal spiritual presences. For example, On the Beach, Japanese Story, even Mad Max.

Of the two I always thought Last Wave was a much more interesting film than Hanging Rock, although I liked that one too. I didn’t realize that Last Wave had been less successful than Hanging Rock – that’s really a shame, as it is a wonderful film. One thing you didn’t mention about it is the score, which I think makes brilliant use of that era’s synthesizer technology; I tend not to like scores of the era that use synths because of their gamelike sound but this one is very different. The scene where the water starts to come down the stairs is accompanied by one of the most subtle cues I’ve ever come across. Fantastic music, and pretty minimalist in its presence, given how much impact it has and how much it adds to the film.

I saw this movie years ago with a friend. It was pouring rain outside, and from time to time, during the movie, we’d hear momentary deluges, thunder. It was terrifying. This movie is beautiful and haunting.

I remember seeing this film around the same time as Nicholas Roeg’s Walkabout. It seemed to be a time of amazing movies about Australia.

i saw this at the old Harvard Square theater with a lot of other cinematic anomalies…but i guess the subtleties went over my head…Richard Chamberlain was a hot commodity after all the made for TV epics like Shogun,and i always wondered why he made,or was picked for this movie..i know this was a few years before them,but not exactly a “name” actor at the time

I have really liked the Peter Weir films I have seen, especially Picnic at Hanging Rock and Gallipoli. The former film’s enigmatic ending lingers long after viewing so I will definitely place this on my to-watch list.

Am a big fan of Peter Weir’s and became one after seeing LAST WAVE and HANGING ROCK. I have always liked Australian films.

Alright, now you guys are playing in MY universe, MY beloved homeland Australia!:)
I was born in Wollongong, a little big town :) on the South Coast of NSW, about 90km south of Sydney. I grew up there in tghe “roaring 70s” and later moved with my family to Europe where I now work as an ESOL teacher. I go back to OZ (or Down Under:)) very often and every time I have to return to the E.U. I feel homesick….a MAGICAL kind of homesick, may I add. You can never understand the magic of OZ unless you grow up there. It’s like living in another dimension (so says my Italian GF who always travels with me). Peter Weir is Aussie and knows very well about this magic (ref Picnic at Hnging Rock:). Many people talk about Area 51 and Roswell as if that kind of ‘magic’ is the only form of its kind on the planet. Nope, we in OZ have our own little and very unknown “Area 51″ called PINE GAP, a very secretive Australian/U.S. project area!! Our fine Aboriginals are one of the most magical races on the planet. Want to know more? Just take a trip Down Under and feel the secretive magic the moment you land at mascot International Airport.

Thanks for refreshing my memory with a very interesting post Greg.
I saw The Last Wave upon release, in 1977 (when I was 18), in my hometown of Melbourne.
I’ve only had an interrupted second viewing on television quite a few years after that, but the film sits quite fondly in my memory.
It certainly suffers from the “second album” syndrome, due to the fact that Picnic At Hanging Rock was such a successful film, and seemed to be universally well liked, here and abroad. We have a cultural phenomenom here in Australia called the ‘Tall Poppy Treatment’ which is, simply put, a form of public criticism or derision dished out to someone who has recently enjoyed public praise and/or financial success, and its meted out (usually by the media) so the party concerned ‘doesn’t get too uppity or too much of a swelled head’. I believe TLW and Weir both copped this when the film came out, from Australian film critics of the day, eager to give Weir some stick.
I like TLW’s enigmatic qualities, and its unusual extrapolation on the nature of Aboriginal Dreamtime, and Chamberlain’s casting was the right choice. To go off on a short tangent – back in the late 70s and early 80s one of the conditions of govt. film funding was to have at least one overseas ‘star’ in an Australian film, so local (and overseas export) audiences would recognize at least one actor in it!
The Last Wave comes from a time when the modern Australian Film Industry was struggling to get to its feet, and all sorts of stories seemed possible, not just mainstream entertainments, but films that would reflect ourselves in some way. Unfortunately, that’s prettymuch all gone now. Greg, those elements that you find so attractive in The Last Wave most Australians, I feel, couldn’t care less about now. Its a film that would never be made now, but I sure wish they were, thanks for bringing your attention to it.

P.S. Would you believe I’m yet to stumble across a DVD of this film yet?

changeling69: do you keep up with “Hamish and Andy” podcasts to stay in touch with your homeland? Good on ya.
I’ve always wanted to visit Australia/NZ but as close as I’ll ever get is to see it in films.

I’m on the flipside of changeling69′s equation, my partner hails from Perth, and I was able to accompany her back home a couple of years ago for one of the most memorable trips of my life. Among the highlights was a trek through Kakadu, in the Northern Territory, accompanied by an aboriginal guide who’d grown up there, tearing down red dust roads in his trusty Toyota truck (a bigger status symbol than a BMW or Lexus in that part of the world). He took us well off the beaten track on a number of occasions, and showed us ancient rock paintings whose meanings are up to interpretation, but he explained how they’re often misunderstood by anthropologists. I knew a bit about the Dreamtime prior to my trip, but our guide really explained how folklore and culture are tied into the amazing landscape, which is constantly full of surprises.

Someone beat me to a Walkabout reference earlier (which provided David Gulpilil with his first screen role), but there’s also Fred Schepisi’s The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, which shows what happens when white and aboriginal cultures collide, with brutal results. Less well-known is 2006′s Jindabyne, a sort-of murder mystery about a group of white men who discover the body of an aboriginal girl while on a fishing trip in a remote part of the wilderness. I say “sort-of murder mystery” because the film is more about the repercussions of the body’s discovery than it is about what happened to the young woman, but once again the uneasy coexistence of aboriginals and white Australians makes for an engaging drama.

Sorry, I’ve been busy on other projects and my daughter’s been home sick from school. I’m thrilled to see so many positive responses to the film. I really miss movies that feel less rushed in their editing styles like this one. It has a great dreamlike feel throughout.

Devlin, Chamberlain had made THE MUSIC LOVERS for Ken Russell years before this as well as THE THREE MUSKETEERS. He was definitely big enough to fit the requirement David mentions in his comment.

I especially appreciate the love of Australian film because it encourages me to see more. I haven’t seen nearly as much as I should but from what I’ve seen, I share Susan’s love for it: The look, the mood, the physical qualities. It’s like the American west in many ways with that same desolate but beautiful quality.

Just like to add to swac44′s recommendations Rolf de Heer’s TEN CANOES. This film conveys the sense of long continuity of Aboriginal life from ancient times to recent times, as well as their cultural points of view, and perception of time; all before white men arrived, not quite 250 years ago.
Set in Arnhem Land in northern Australia, and made with the descendants of the tribal groups in the film, there is a distinct otherworldly feel to the film and a non Aboriginal audience will have a glimpse, and perhaps have some understanding, of a way of life that existed for several thousand years before white settlement.

It’s so good to see that so many film buffs luv everything OZ has to offer…..becasue we have LOTS to offer. Like America years ago, Australia is a very young nation and has only to the future to look at, just like America still does, and that means that the entertainment industry is still in its nappies actually, even though we’ve come a long way since the Number 69 soap opera-Paul Hogan Show-Rolf Harris-Homicide days. Actors and actresses like Rod Taylor, Olivia Newton-John, Paul Hogan, etc. have emerged and are now big time in the U.S. 2:)…dream on in Dreamtime:).

Absolutely loved Ten Canoes (and it didn’t hurt that I got to see it projected in 35mm either). A beautiful and moving film experience. (And David Gulpilil’s in it too.)

As for comparing Australia to the American West, there are lots of films that fit that description, most notably The Proposition which I’ve heard called a “Vegemite western” even though it actually takes place in the outback, and isn’t remotely like Italian filmmakers using Spain to replicate Texas. Even Quigley Down Under is worth a look, it makes you wish Tom Selleck had been given some better leading role opportunities, and you’ve got Alan Rickman as the bad guy which makes it an instant must-see.

We’ve got a whole shelf devoted to Australian films, expanded not too long ago by the flood of so-called “Ozploitation” films that were reissued following the fun Not Quite Hollywood documentary which chronicled the early growing pains of the Australian film industry in the ’70s, where a penchant for sex and violence made for some highly entertaining genre pictures. Not all of them have aged well, but a few like Turkey Shoot and Road Games still pack a punch.

I often think of this movie, in particular, when I bemoan what has been lost in horror movies over the last 40 years. It’s just so intelligent and so free of attitude, posturing, and cant. I rate this one slightly higher than Picnic at Hanging Rock, which is eerie, to be sure, but somewhat soporific to me. And there’s more of an investigatory process going on in The Last Wave, which keeps me beguiled from beginning to end, even after repeat viewings.

Ten Canoes is now high on my list of movies to see (it’s a looooooong list). Also, Not Quite Hollywood, with which I am completely unfamiliar.

And there’s more of an investigatory process going on in The Last Wave, which keeps me beguiled from beginning to end, even after repeat viewings.

The Last Wave works as a suspense thriller as well, almost a kind of subdued procedural with Burton as the detective on the case. I also like very much that they didn’t attempt some big special effects sequence at the end, either using optical overlay or miniatures to show us a giant wave approaching Sydney. If this ever gets remade, that’s the first thing they’re going to do, play up the disastrous weather aspects of it.