Stir: Special Collectors Edition (1980)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Main Menu Audio Featurette-Tales From The Inside Gallery-Photo Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Money Movers, The Great Bookie Robbery, Turkey Shoot Trailer-Ghosts Of The Civil Dead
Rating
Year Of Production	1980
Running Time	96:16 (Case: 101)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Stephen Wallace
Studio Distributor	NSW Film Corp Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Bryan Brown Max Phipps Dennis Miller Garry Waddell Phil Motherwell Michael Gow Edward Robshaw Tex Morton Ray Marshall Syd Heylen Robert Noble Paul Sonkkila Keith Gallasch
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Cameron Allan

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.70:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

   Stir is based on the infamous jail riots in Bathurst, New South Wales in 1974. The powerful screenplay was written by Bob Jewson who was actually serving time for safe cracking in the minimum-security wing of the prison at the time of its eruption into anarchy. Those events, as he witnessed them, became the basis for this story, even though no direct reference to Bathurst is ever made in the film.

    Stir was the feature film debut for director Stephen Wallace after his short film The Love Letters from Teralba Road (1977), which also starred a young Bryan Brown in his first screen role. Wallace's work since then has mainly been in television, although he again directed Bryan Brown in the absorbing war drama, Blood Oath in 1990.

    Stir was almost entirely filmed in an abandoned prison at Gladstone, South Australia. Finding this location was an absolute godsend for the production. The failure to find a suitable location almost brought the film to an end before it even started. This superb location brings a distinct authenticity to the film that could not have been duplicated using constructed sets.

    The film opens with Norton (Max Phipps) watching intently a television interview of a former prisoner, China Jackson (Bryan Brown). On his release from jail, Jackson went public with comments on the brutal and aggressive treatment of inmates by the warders. We witness the fact that Norton was a major participant in this vicious abuse of power and participated in the bashing of many prisoners, including Jackson.

    The story then moves forward three years. China Jackson is again being returned to prison, this time on a small six-month sentence for shoplifting. Immediately, he has the respect of the inmates, but is singled out for retribution by certain warders. The warder most likely to seek revenge on Jackson has seen the errors of his ways and is privately seeking redemption for his sins. Norton saves Jackson from a series of humiliating situations with other warders by using his rank to over-rule their imposed punishments. But Jackson is not willing to accept Norton's guarded acts of protection and as such, denies Norton the redemption he desperately seeks.

    The methodical and intimidating routine of the warders eventually brings about a violent confrontation with the prisoners, who decide to burn down the jail. This bold and destructive act from the inmates is met with harsh and sadistic retaliation from the warders. The prisoners are initially elated with seeing the prison in turmoil. However, the pleasure of seeing fires burning in the cells and corridors is soon brought down to earth by bullets and batons. As prisoners run a gauntlet of baton bashings in a final act of humiliation, Norton again comes face to face with Jackson. But this time the scrutiny of many eyes are upon him and Norton can't disguise his actions.

    Stir succeeds on many levels, one of which is the performances from a wonderful cast, many of whom are especially mentioned in the interview featurette on this DVD. Apart from the two actors previously mentioned, other featured actors include Dennis Miller, Garry Waddell, Ray Marshall, Paul Sonkkila, Phil Motherwell and Syd Heylen.

Video

    The video transfer for Stir will certainly please fans with dodgy old VHS copies. This transfer is from a new and restored print of the film and looks very good.

    The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.70:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. I cannot confirm this as the film's correct aspect ratio.

    The transfer exhibits good levels of sharpness and clarity in general. A couple of scenes displayed slight softness, but nothing too drastic. Blacks were clean and shadows were excellent, displaying a high level of detail. Some film grain was noticed occasionally, but this wasn't at all problematic.

    The use of colour in this film is not particularly challenging, however the drab palette of colours are well balanced. There are also no problems with over-saturation of colour.

    A few minor artefacts were noticed in the transfer. Reel change markings were first evident at 16:20 and 16:27 and then appeared on a further four occasions at approximate twenty minute intervals. As usual, these were very brief and not overly annoying. A minor instance of telecine wobble was also noticed at 16:24. A compression artefact in the form of macro blocking was noticed at 79:45. Thankfully, this was very brief and not particularly disruptive. Film artefacts were generally infrequent and minor in nature.

    There are no subtitles available on this DVD.

    This is a single sided, dual layer disc. The layer change occurs at the very end of the film, so there is no disruption at all.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio transfer is very good and is faithful to the original mono audio track.

    There is one audio track on this DVD, English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s). This is an excellent example of a quality mono audio track.

    Dialogue quality was excellent, I had no problems hearing and comprehending the dialogue throughout. Audio sync also appeared spot on.

    The original music score is credited to Cameron Allan. His music is suitably atmospheric and complements the film very well.

    The surround channels and the subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Apart from the inclusion of an interview featurette, the extras are quite minimal. This is a little disappointing considering the DVD's label of "Special Collectors Edition".  

Menu

    The menu is very basic and static. It features a looped sample of music and dialogue from the film and is 16x9 enhanced.

Interview Featurette: Tales From The Inside  (48:45)

    This informative little featurette was made especially for this DVD presentation in 2005. It features interviews with Bryan Brown (actor), Stephen Wallace (director), Bob Jewson (writer), Richard Brennan (producer) and Garry Waddell (actor). A wide range of filmmaking topics are discussed in relation to Stir, with special attention paid to the many actors in the film, some of whom are no longer with us. Selected scenes from the film are incorporated to emphasize the comment. In the absence of a decent audio commentary, this is probably the next best thing and is certainly worth viewing.

Stills Gallery

    A mixed collection of fifty three images taken from the film, behind-the-scenes photographs or promotional material.

Theatrical Trailer

    Stir (2:51)

Aussie Trailers

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall