Romper Stomper

Name	Romper Stomper
Caption	Original cinema daybill
Director	Geoffrey Wright
Producer	Ian PringleDaniel Scharf
Writer	Geoffrey Wright
Starring	Russell CroweDaniel PollockJacqueline McKenzieTony Lee
Music	John Clifford White
Cinematography	Ron Hagen
Editing	Bill Murphy
Studio	Film Victoria
Distributor	Village Roadshow
Released	(premiered at the Sydney Film Festival) (premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival) (premiered at the Toronto Film Festival)
Runtime	94 minutes
Country
Language	English
Gross	$3,340,374

Romper Stomper is a 1992 Australian action drama film written and directed by Geoffrey Wright, starring Russell Crowe, Daniel Pollock, Jacqueline McKenzie and Tony Lee. The film follows the exploits and downfall of a neo-Nazi skinhead group in blue-collar suburban Melbourne.

Plot

The film opens with a gang of violent neo-Nazi skinheads from Footscray, Victoria, Australia attacking some Asian teenagers in a subway tunnel. The gang, which is led by Hando (Russell Crowe) and his friend, and second in command, Davey (Daniel Pollock), meets a drug addict Gabrielle (Jacqueline McKenzie) (who they refer to as Gabe), who falls in love with Hando after meeting him the day after her sexually abusive yet highly-affluent father, Martin (Alex Scott), has her junkie boyfriend beaten up.

A few of the gang's skinhead friends visit from Canberra, one of whom has joined the Royal Australian Navy and is home on leave. After a long night of drinking, fighting, and sex, two members of the gang go to their local pub. Unbeknown to them the owner has sold it to a Vietnamese Australian businessman. Upon seeing the new owners and his sons, they rush to go tell Hando and the rest of the gang. When Hando and his gang arrive and see the new owner's two sons they begin to savagely beat them. A third Vietnamese youth phones for help, and several car-loads of armed Vietnamese men descend on the skinheads. The Vietnamese outnumber the skinheads; they force them to retreat to their rented warehouse, where the Vietnamese relentlessly attack and destroy everything inside the building, before setting it on fire.

The skinheads find a new base at a nearby warehouse after scaring off a pair of squatters, and plan their revenge against the Vietnamese. Upon hearing the idea of using a gun to get revenge, two members of the group end up leaving. Later Gabrielle suggests that the gang burgle her father's mansion. They ransack the house, beating Martin up, smashing one of his cars and raiding his wine collection. Gabrielle tells Martin that the burglary is revenge for his years of abuse. Later she reveals to Davey her plan to take Hando away from his violent life. Martin eventually frees himself and uses a handgun to scare away the gang before they can take any of his property. Meanwhile, Davey begins to have doubts about his own violent life style.

The next morning, Hando argues with a frustrated Gabrielle (who has become disgusted with Hando's rude, reckless behavior) and dumps her. As she storms off, Davey stops her and gives her the address of his grandmother, where he will be staying. She goes to a nearby phone booth and makes an anonymous call to the police, and then spends the night with Davey, who reveals that he has doubts about his own beliefs and his own violent lifestyle, having removed the racist patches from his flight jacket out of concern for his grandmother. Later the police raid the warehouse, killing the youngest skinhead when he points a non-working gun at them and arresting the rest of the skinhead gang. Hando, who is away from the rest of the group, watches from a distance and flees.

Arriving at Davey's flat, Hando finds his friend in bed with Gabrielle. Hando accuses her of selling them out, but Davey provides her with the alibi that they were together the whole time. Hando convinces Davey to stick by him, and the trio go on the run. During a service station robbery, Hando murders the Asian attendant by strangling him, much to the horror of Gabrielle and Davey. Driving all night, they stop near the Twelve Apostles. Gabrielle misinterprets a conversation between Hando and Davey to mean they are going to leave her behind, and sets their car on fire. She also admits to phoning the police. Hando attacks her, leading Davey to fight Hando and stab him in the neck with his Hitler Youth knife that he was sold to him by an older skinhead earlier in the film, killing him. The film ends with Davey cradling Gabrielle on the beach, watched by a busload of Japanese tourists while Hando's bloody corpse gazes at the ocean.

Cast

Russell Crowe as Hando

Daniel Pollock as Davey

Jacqueline McKenzie as Gabrielle

Tony Lee as Tiger

Alex Scott as Martin

Leigh Russell as Sonny Jim

Dan Wyllie as Cackles

James McKenna as Bubs

Eric Mueck as Champ

Frank Magree as Brent

Christopher McLean as Luke

Origin

Geoffrey Wright's script was inspired by the highly publicized crimes of leading Melbourne Neo-Nazi skinhead Dane Sweetman. Wright contacted Sweetman via mail in 1991. Sweetman was at that time in the process of serving a life sentence in Pentridge Prison for murder. Wright requested an interview with Sweetman which was unable to be arranged in a timely manner due to prison regulations, subsequently the two men commenced correspondence. Sweetman furnished Wright with a transcript of his murder trial, from which Wright drew influence. This influence is most clearly seen in the line delivered by Hando when scaring off squatters from the warehouse: "I'll chop your legs off". It is a direct reference to Sweetman having cut off the legs of his victim.

There are many aspects of the film that mirrored Sweetman's life, including the characters Gabrielle, Davey, and the punk girls who were all based on associates of Sweetman. Sweetman's name was conspicuously absent in the end credits, however the question was raised in the Australian media during the publicity phase of promoting the film. Russell Crowe acknowledged the origin of his character during an interview on Tonight Live with Steve Vizard in 1992. Wright also spoke of the influence during a radio interview in the same year.

Soundtrack

The film's score was released by Picture This Records. It included the orchestral music and the energetic punk rock music similar to the Oi! genre (recorded by studio musicians).

Awards

The film was nominated for nine Australian Film Institute Awards. It won Best Achievement in Sound, Best Actor in a Lead Role and Best Original Music Score.

Reception

Controversy

The film was highly controversial because of its violent content. In March 2000, British prisoner Robert Stewart, bludgeoned his cellmate, Zahid Mubarek to death with a wooden table leg at the Feltham Young Offenders' Institution. In 2004, Stewart was found guilty of the racially motivated murder of Mubarek and was jailed for life. Stewart compared himself to Hando in Romper Stomper as well as Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange. An inquiry heard that Stewart had watched Romper Stomper two days before the killing. A member of the inquiry team said he was a prolific letter writer, and much of his correspondence contained racist and violent content: "He sees himself in the correspondence starring in the film Romper Stomper as a racist thug attacking gooks," the inquiry was told. The Anti-Nazi League protested the film's London premiere.

Box office

Romper Stomper grossed $3,165,034 at the box office in Australia,.

See also

Cinema of Australia

References

External links

Romper Stomper at the National Film and Sound Archive

Category:1992 films Category:1990s drama films Category:Australian drama films Category:English-language films Category:Coming-of-age films Category:Films set in Australia Category:Films shot in Melbourne Category:Gang films Category:Race-related films Category:Criminal behavior inspired by films Category:Skinhead Category:Teen films Category:Village Roadshow films