Walkabout (1971)

Director:

Nicolas Roeg

Writers:

Edward Bond (writer)
James Vance Marshall (novel)

Release Date:

1 July 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

A boy and girl face the challenge of the world's last frontier. Dangers they had never known before... A people they had never seen before...

Plot:

Two young children are stranded in the Australian outback and are forced to cope on their own. They...

Plot Keywords:

Mini Skirt | Lost | Very Little Dialogue | Female Nudity | Actual Animal Killed

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jenny Agutter	...	Girl
Luc Roeg	...	White Boy (as Lucien John)
David Gulpilil	...	Black Boy (as David Gumpilil)
John Meillon	...	Man
Robert McDarra	...	Man (as Robert McDara)
Peter Carver	...	No Hoper (as Pete Carver)
John Illingsworth	...	Young Man
Hilary Bamberger	...	Woman
Barry Donnelly	...	Australian Scientist
Noeline Brown	...	German Scientist (as Noelene Brown)
Carlo Manchini	...	Italian Scientist

Directed by
Nicolas Roeg

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Edward Bond		writer
James Vance Marshall		novel

Produced by
Anthony J. Hope	....	associate producer
Si Litvinoff	....	producer
Max L. Raab	....	executive producer

Original Music by
John Barry

Cinematography by
Nicolas Roeg

Film Editing by
Antony Gibbs
Alan Pattillo

Production Design by
Brian Eatwell

Art Direction by
Terry Gough

Makeup Department
Linda Richmond	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Grahame Jennings	....	production manager
Irving Zeiger	....	associate production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kevin Kavanagh	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Barry Brown	....	location sound mixer
Gerry Humphreys	....	dubbing mixer
Kevin Kearney	....	boom operator

Camera and Electrical Department
Dean Goodhill	....	still photographer
Peter Hannan	....	focus puller
Mike Molloy	....	camera operator
Anthony B. Richmond	....	special photographer (as Tony Richmond)
Dean Goodhill	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Brian Mann	....	assistant film editor

Music Department
Phil Ramone	....	music producer
John Barry	....	conductor (uncredited)
Sidney Margo	....	music contractor (uncredited)

Other crew
Annabel Davis-Goff	....	continuity
Barbara Burleigh	....	production coordinator: on location (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Si Litvinoff Film Production

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1971) (USA) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (1997) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Criterion Collection, The (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Siren Entertainment (1999) (Australia) (DVD) (Special Edition)
• Siren Entertainment (1999) (Australia) (VHS) (Special Edition)
• Media Cooperation One (MC-One) (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• 4 Front Video (1999) (UK) (VHS)
• AV Channel (2001) (Australia) (DVD)
• Broadway (2004) (Japan) (DVD)
• Cable Hogue Co. (2004) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2008) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Madman Entertainment (????) (Australia) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures (2000) (UK) (DVD)

Runtime:

100 min | USA:100 min (1997 reissue) | USA:95 min (original version)

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 (video rating: 2000) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:GP (re-rating on appeal) | USA:R (original rating) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia

Company:

Si Litvinoff Film Production

Trivia:

The poetry quoted by the narrator at the end of the film is Part 40 of A.E. Housman's "A Shropshire Lad": Into my heart an air that kills From yon far country blows: What are those blue remembered hills, What spires, what farms are those? That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, The happy highways where I went And cannot come again.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The girl asks to be taken to the city of Adelaide, the children's destination in the novel. However, the city shown at the start and end of the film is clearly Sydney, which is several thousand kilometers (and two states) away from Adelaide.

Quotes:

The Girl: Put your shirt on.
White Boy: He hasn't got his shirt on!
The Girl: He hasn't got a shirt.
White Boy: He can have mine.
The Girl: It wouldn't fit him.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 50 Films to See Before You Die (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Gasoline Alley

Beautiful lead character and a film with a subtle message

I first remember seeing this film as a late teenager in about 1979. Therefore what most vividly stuck in my mind was the lead character played by a beautiful blonde English girl, Jenny Agutter, Specifically the nude scenes of her swimming and washing.

On a less superficial level it is a film with a point-something along the lines of the graciousness of Aborigines and their ability to live in harsh surrounds, and the destructive nature of suburban life in a flat in a major city.

I think it would be a film, like Jedda, that will always be on reference for the Australian Outback, Aboriginals and the modern society which brought a European civilisation to their land.