Walkabout (1971)

There's probably a poignant film in the footage they shot. Maybe they were hitting the bong a little too hard in the editing room. Because the result is a choppy, disjointed, self-indulgent mess. But that's not why I'm reviewing this movie. Since the clowns who run this site eliminated the discussion boards I'll register here my amusement over the self-described geniuses, aesthetes and other self- important reviewers who were mortally offended by the nudity like it was some kind of kiddie p-rn crime. A marginally interesting film to see once. Too shallow to be memorable.

In 1971, I was walking down Hollywood Blvd one lazy afternoon, and came upon a theater marque that was advertising "Walkabout". I went in the outside lobby area to view the movie poster, glanced at my watch, and decided to kill a couple of hours watching this movie. At the time, I was barely old enough to get in as it was rated R. I remember leaving the theater thinking that Jenny Agutter was an attractive sexy young girl. She was 18 at the time of filming, but was playing a 16 year old HS student in the film. However, After seeing the movie I had no doubt in my mind leaving the theater that the reason for making this movie was exploiting the nudity of the teenage girl playing the lead. I was so young and dumb, I was completely oblivious to the fact that I had just watched scores of beautiful animals being slaughtered for the sake of a movie.Then fast forward 46 years, and I get curious to see the film again, because I read all the compliments here about it, and I wanted to see why.I certainly have no problems with nudity, but this director used it in poor taste, especially considering the implied age of the the lead actress.On my second viewing via DVD, I especially didn't like the super close ups of the breasts of the Aborigines women as they were inspecting the wreckage of a burned out automobile near the beginning. It reminded me of a soft core porn movie with absolutely no reason other than to exploit the fact that the tribeswomen were topless. The closeups were full screen mammary glands, which instantly placed this movie far from the "masterpiece" level.There are only two spots where Jenny Agutter should have been naked. Once when the Aborigines boy is stalking her because he discovers her dressing, finally loses control of himself, and goes into a tribal dance to woo her. The second time her nudity is relevant is the very last flashback shot in the movie, when all three are seen sun bathing nude, having fun, and swimming. The rest of Agutter's nude scenes were gratuitous, and would never pass censorship standards today.However, what really angers me about this movie is the animal abuse. Wild animals indigenous to Australia (including Kangaroos) were beaten, clubbed, stabbed, speared, shot and butchered. You will see no caption anywhere in the credits saying: "No animals were harmed in this motion picture". It is just horrific. I was so sick after viewing the DVD, I stomped it into pieces, and threw it in the trash. I understand that this is a movie about a "walkabout", meaning survival and killing in order to live, however, the senseless real life slaughtering of all of these animals for the purpose of making this or 'any' film is downright disgraceful. If you love animals, PASS ON THIS MOVIE.

Nick Roeg's 'Walkabout' is a highly unusual film. A pair of English children, lost in the Australian outback after the death of their father, are looked after by a young Aborigianal who is apparently completely unfamiliar with people of European descent. Cue lots of close up photography of wildlife, not a lot of dialogue, and a decidedly trippy view of the psychology of being lost in the desert. What really didn't work for me in this movie was the performances of Jenny Augutter and the director's son Luc and as the English children: they're both pretty stiff, and neither the terror of their situation, and their presumed grief, are well conveyed. The emotionless nature of their experience reduces the impact of the film's inherently tragic ending. 'Walkabout' was made in 1973; and overall it feels bold but dated, a product of its time.

This film has just appeared on the BBC Iplayer. For its age I thought it was quite good and stood the test of time quite well. It is however totally let down by the voyeuristic content, primarily, but not limited to, Jenny Agutter. She may have been 17 when filming this but why on earth does she wear such a short skirt, why does the director dwell on her legs so much much (i started to get concerned when there was the view of her getting the picnic out of the car) - she is presumably playing a schoolgirl and these shots are totally inappropriate and add nothing to the film whatsoever. I get the swimming scene and what these add, but it too is far too long and the shots dwelling on her bottom are a total disgrace. It really made me feel quite concerned. I'm not a film buff and have joined IMDb today just to register my comments. Some of the nonsense on these posts supporting the film in this regard are really quite deluded.The UK film board had an opportunity to ban this film and that was a missed opportunity.