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Sweet Talker

Critical review And Bibliography

By Alfredo Gutierrez

Part 1: Film Information

Cast & Credits
Full Cast
Bryan Brown .... Harry Reynolds
Karen Allen .... Julie Maguire
Justin Rosniak .... David Maguire
Chris Haywood .... Gerald Bostock
Bill Kerr .... 'Uncle' Cec
Bruce Spence .... Norman Foster
Bruce Myles .... Mayor Jim Scraper
Paul Chubb .... Billy
Peter Hehir .... Giles
Don Barker .... Sgt. Watts
Bruno Lucia .... Mr. Thomas
Benjamin Franklin .... Larsen
Andrew S. Gilbert .... Harold Lewis
Garry Waddell .... Bluey
Brian McDermott .... Officer
Rob Steele .... Officer
Werner Fritz Miersch .... Coin Dealer
Edmund Pegge .... Businessman
Michael Kozuki .... Businessman
Jim Morressey .... Bus Driver
Michael Kitsche .... Junkie
Melissa J. Hannan .... Salesperson
Gabrielle Watkins .... Salesperson
Imogen Annesley .... Salesperson
Clare Chilton .... Salesperson
Peter Nikolas .... Taxi Driver

Credits
Director …. Michael Jenkins
Producer …. Ben Gannon
Original Story …. Bryan Brown
Tony Morphett
Director of Photography …. Russell Boyd
Editor …. Neil Thumpston
Composer …. Peter Filleul
Richard Thompson
Screenwriter …. Tony Morphett
Production Designer …. John Stoddart
Casting …. Liz Mullinar
Art Direction …. John Wingrove
Costume Design …. Terry Ryan

Production Companies
Australian Film Commission
Confidence Productions
New Town Films Pty. Ltd.
New Visions Picture
Distributors
GUO
New Line Cinema
Pioneer Entertainment
Roadshow Home Video
Seven Arts pictures
Also Known As:
Confidence (1991)
Runtime: 86 min
Country: Australia
Language: English
Color: Color
Sound Mix: Dolby
Certification: Australia:PG / Norway:11 / USA:PG

Release Dates and Box Office Information
For this movie the information regarding box office figures were somewhat limited. The only info I could find was that the film grossed $382,510 (USA). And the release dates are as follow:
USA – May 10th 1991
Australia – November 7th 1991
France – March 16th 1994

Filmmakers Interviews
I could not find much about the director of this film other than its place and year of birth, New South Wales, Australia, 1946. I also managed to find a list of his career work in directing. What was very noticeable was the fact that for the most part all of his previous work was done for TV only.
1. "Young Lions" (2002) TV Series

2. "Wildside" (1997) TV Series
3. "Blue Murder" (1995) (mini) TV Series
4. Heartbreak Kid, The (1993)
5. Leaving of Liverpool, The (1992) (TV)
6. Sweet Talker (1991)
... aka Confidence (1991)
7. "Police Rescue" (1990) TV Series

8. "Dirtwater Dynasty, The" (1988) (mini) TV Series

9. Emerald City (1988)
10. Shark's Paradise (1986) (TV)
11. "Gillies Republic, The" (1986) TV Series
12. Rebel (1985)
13. "Scales of Justice" (1983) (mini) TV Series
14. "Five Mile Creek" (1983) TV Series

15. "One Day Miller" (1979) TV Series
16. "Bailey's Bird" (1977) TV Series
17. "Pig in a Poke" (1977) TV Series
18. "Rush" (1974) TV Series
19. "Certain Women" (1973) TV Series

20. "Bellbird" (1967) TV Series
The Co-writer of this film, Tony Morphett, has a very extense filmography to better illustrate this here are some of his latest projects.
1. Balmain Boys (2002) (TV)
2. "MDA" (2002) TV Series (writer)
3. "Young Lions" (2002) TV Series (writer)
4. "Above the Law" (2000) TV Series (writer)

5. Don't Look Behind You (1999) (TV) (teleplay)
... aka Du entkommst mir nicht (1999) (TV) (Germany)
6. 13 Gantry Row (1998) (TV)
7. "Kings in Grass Castles" (1997) (mini) TV Series
8. "Water Rats" (1996) TV Series (creator) (writer) (episode "As Fast as You Can") (writer) (episode "Closed Circuit") (writer) (episode "Dead in the Water: Part 1") (writer) (episode "Dead in the Water: Part 2") (writer) (episode "Deadfall") (writer) (episode "The Drill") (writer) (episode "The Gingerbread Man") (writer) (episode "I'm Home") (writer) (episode "In the Family Way") (writer) (episode "Let the Dead") (writer) (episode "Mr. Medium") (writer) (episode "New Kids on the Block") (writer) (episode "Recalled to Duty") (writer) (episode "Red Ice") (writer) (episode "Reunion") (writer) (episode "The Shaft") (writer) (episode "Shroud Lines") (writer) (episode "Smile") (writer) (episode "Switchback") (writer) (episode "V.I.P") (writer) (episode "Wrecked")
9. "Mirror, Mirror" (1995) (mini) TV Series
10. "Heartbreak High" (1994) TV Series (writer)
11. Seventh Floor, The (1994)
12. "Sky Trackers" (1994) TV Series (co-creator)
13. "Blue Heelers" (1994) TV Series
14. Crimebroker (1993)
15. "Secrets" (1993) TV Series (writer)
16. "Tracks of Glory" (1991) (mini) TV Series
17. Sweet Talker (1991) (story)
... aka Confidence (1991)
18. Sky Trackers (1990) (TV)

19. "Bangkok Hilton" (1989) (mini) TV Series (story)
20. Boys in the Island (1989)

Critical Reviews
For this movie finding any kind of reviews has been extremely difficult. The movie obviously did not stir much excitement when it was released, hence, the lack of reviews. Despite the fact that it was hard to find reviews due to the lack of the movie's online presence I found a couple of reviews professional and non-professional.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103015/usercomments
http://www.filmsondisc.com/dvdpages/sweet_talker.htm
http://www.deseretnews.com/movies/view/1,1257,1787,00.html
http://www.dvdlaser.com/search/detail.cfm?id=1999
(No actual reviews were posted on these site, just wanted to make a point, which is the lack of reviews and info)
http://www.amctv.com/show/review?CID=60451-EST
http://www.killermovies.com/s/sweettalker/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/SweetTalker-1036127/preview.php
Research Method
My research was done through the help of the World Wide Web. I thought the web would be the only source in which I could find something regarding the film I chose since the movie had no nominations of any kind and was overall very poor movie, plot-wise. First I searched the traditional film search engines, Yahoo, IMDB and Google. Most of them lead to the same information, which for the most part was the same that I found in IMDB. Reviews of any kind were extremely scarce, but still managed to find a couple. Another Method that I found somewhat more effective was reading papers that were previously written for this class, specifically the bibliographical information, and from there just type in a different search. I didn't think that any information would have been found in any kind of published media, since the web showed lack of information for this particular film, so I saved some time by not looking in this particular type of media.
Part 2: Critical Review of Film and its Literature

Synopsis
(as given by filmsondisc.com website)
Bryan Brown stars as con-man Harry Reynolds in this clever conceit from Down Under. Recently released from a stint in prison with an older con, Cec, played with his usual spunk Aussie mainstay Bill Kerr, Harry pilfers Cec's "scheme of the century" before jovially sauntering out of prison and on to the con at the quaint but dilapidated seaside village of Beachport. At Beachport Harry boards with divorcee Julie and her son David. Karen Allen is charming and appealingly energetic as Julie, providing Harry with some love to get in the way of the con. Harry's bonds quickly with David, gets the low-down on the village from him, and spends plenty of quality time spinning tales and catching fish with the savvy ten year old boy.
The scheme may be lightweight, but the execution is consistently brisk. Harry has everybody and their uncle looking to invest in the raising of a long lost Portuguese treasure ship. With the uncovering of the ship, Harry's vision includes a rebirth of Beachport as resort, a Disney World of the South Seas.
Bryan Brown is a cunning Harry. There's excellent chemistry amongst all the players. Justin Rosniak is fine as David and the supporting characters of Beachport add to the joy of the film. It looks like this was a delightful production for all concerned.

My Opinion

Despite the fact that the film was extremely predictable it was somewhat entertaining. The over used formula where good triumphs over evil makes the story line very boring mostly because it is so easy to predict. As a consequence of this the audience, me and maybe 100 more people who have seen this movie, looses interest quickly. But even though the movie was very predictable the two main characters Harry and Julie had a very nice screen chemistry that made the plot more bearable. I could see that the writers tried very hard to make the secondary characters, most of the townspeople, "funny" to some extent. I assume that they tried to do this in order to move the attention from the actual plot to the characters' "funny" actions and peculiar characteristics. They also tried giving importance to characters that in the end weren't really important. In their attempt to make the story as whole more important they ended up creating characters which attempted to be funny but in the end were really dumb, furthermore by trying to bring more characters into the storyline they oversaturated the plot of the story and then finished it with a quick unfulfilling resolution.

Critical Uptake
To be honest there is none, for the exception of a couple of reviews that I found in the web. Half of the reviews that I found were not even professional reviews they are given by users in the IMDB website. The reviews though had different views on the film. The two professional reviews were on the same page. They both agreed that the movie from the begging had "set its sights on a modest target" (Filmsondisc.com). This meant that the movie from the begging was meant to be a B-class film. This film was not expected to be critically acclaimed or huge in the box office but more of a summer fun movie that could be enjoyed by the entire family. And even though the story was not very creative and interesting the production as a whole was very enjoyable. You could appreciate the great scenery shots, the music score (which had a very Australian touch to it), and the acting skills of the main characters. On the other hand the reviews given by users in the IMDB website agreed and disagreed. They both agreed that the movie was a B-class movie that used the good versus evil formula to develop its plot. Furthermore, they criticize the fact that the movie was a cheap remake of the 1962 The Music Man. The reviews written by the IMDB users went something like this; even though the theme used for the movie is somewhat overused and not very creative you can not criticize the way the story line is executed because the production is good overall.

Production and Release Info
Production and release information was no where to be found for this film. I searched in the usual spots to try and find any release plan that was intended for this film, but found absolutely nothing. I went to IMDB and all I could find was the cast, credits, production company and that was it. Then typed "Australian Cinema" in yahoo many results came up, but none of them seemed to address my specific query. The Australian Film Commission didn't have the film in its archives and UrbanCineFile.com didn't either. I tried many other web sites but nothing came up. So I'm assuming that there is nothing to be found.

Prior Work of Filmmakers
In the list with all of the director's prior work, which was previously shown, it is very obvious that the director had little experience when it came to feature movies. He had plenty of experience when it came to TV series but almost none when it came to features. Before directing Sweet Talker he had only directed to other movies, Rebel (1985) and Emerald City (1988), but even though he had little experience in with feature length films he did a great job directing Sweet Talker.
For Bryan Brown however it was a different story. For Brown this was not only a movie in which he had the leading role but also one in which he participated in as a writer. He co-wrote the film with Tony Morphett, an experienced TV series writer. This was Browns first attempt to write a movie, and even though the movie was not very successful the story was well written. But the lack of experience that Brown had in writing he made up with his 23 already filmed films he had participated in before this production.
Tony Morphett on the other hand started his writing career in 1969 with the TV series Delta. By the time he wrote Sweet talker he had written about 30 different productions, this included feature movies, mini series and regular TV series. So unlike Brown, Morphett had many years of experience when it came to writing.

Current Place in Australian Cinema
This is a hard question to answer since this movie is nowhere to be found in the Australian film landscape. Hopefully Australian cinema will never be compared with this film in particular. This movie, even though enjoyable, is far from good compared to the good Australian comedies such as The Dish, The Castle, and The Panel. Unlike the previously stated films it fails to use the true Australian humor which for the most part is a very black, satirical, and cynical (to some extent) kind of humor. Even though this movie tries to evoke a visual humor, which is the most obvious type of comedy (like clown humor), it even fails at doing this. So I hope that this movie is not considered when it comes to Australian comedies because it would truly give this genre a bad reputation. If this movie had to be situated in any kind of genre I would definitely situate in the comedy genre, but not in the Australian comedy genre more in the American comedy genre. Why? Because this film seems to address all of the characteristics that American comedies always have. Also because the movie is a remake of the American film The Music man. So in my opinion I think that this movie even though Australian should not be considered when talking about Australian comedy.