Wills & Burke

Wills & Burke (also known as The Wacky World of Wills & Burke and Wills & Burke: The Untold Story) is a 1985 Australian black comedy film about the Burke and Wills expedition. It opened a week before Burke & Wills, a serious drama about the expedition.[3]

Wills & Burke
DVD cover
Directed byBob Weis
Written byPhilip Dalkin
Based onBurke and Wills expedition
Produced byBob Weis
Margot McDonald
StarringGarry McDonald
Kim Gyngell
Nicole Kidman
CinematographyNino Gaetano Martinetti
Edited byEdward McQueen-Mason
Music byRed Symonds
Paul Gabrowsky
Production
company
Stony Desert Productions
Distributed byGreater Union
Release date
  • 1985 (1985)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetA$1.75 million[1]
Box officeA$54,000 (Australia)[2]

Plot

In 1860, Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills are chosen to explore the Australian continent from south to north and back again. Just before the expedition departs, Burke proposes to young actress Julia Matthews, who has trouble remembering who he is.

John Macadam tries to sustain public interest by staging a musical play about the expedition. Julia demands the lead role and grows a beard to prove she can play Burke. The play opens around the time Burke and Wills die in the desert. John King survives the expedition and is found by a search party in 1861.

Cast

Production

Philip Dalkin first wrote the story as a stage play, which Bob Weis read in 1978. He enjoyed it and at one stage thought of making it as a television miniseries before deciding on turning it into a feature film. It was shot over six weeks in and around Melbourne on a budget of $1.7 million.[4]

Release

The film was not a success at the box office,[5] returning A$54,000 (Australia)[6] on a A$1.75 million budget.[7]

References
  1. Keith Connolly, "Wills & Burke", Australian Film 1978-1992, Oxford Uni Films, 1993 p180
  2. "Australian Films at the Australian Box Office", Film Victoria accessed 24 October 2012
  3. Nick Roddick, "History Lessons", Cinema Papers, November 1984 p22-24
  4. "Facts and Figures", Cinema Papers, May 1985 p64-65
  5. David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p34
  6. "Australian Films at the Australian Box Office", Film Victoria Archived 9 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine accessed 24 October 2012
  7. Keith Connolly, "Wills & Burke", Australian Film 1978-1992, Oxford Uni Films, 1993 p180
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