Not Quite Hollywood

In 1971, with the introduction of the R-certificate, Australia's censorship regime went from repressive to progressive virtually overnight. This cultural explosion gave birth to art house classics, such as "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and "My Brilliant Career," but also spawned a group of demon-children: maverick filmmakers who braved assault from all quarters to bring films like "Alvin Purple, "The Man From Hong Kong," Patrick," "Turkey Shoot," and "Mad Max" to the big screen. As explicit, violent and energetic as their northern cousins, Aussie genre movies presented a unique take on established conventions. In England, Italy and the grind houses and drive-ins of America, audiences applauded Australian homegrown marauding "rev heads" with brutish cars, spunky well-stacked heroines and stunts -- unparalleled in their quality and extreme danger.