THE LAST WAVE (1977)

STARS: Richard Chamberlain, David Gulpilil, Olivia Hamnett, Frederick Parslow, Vivean Gray.

DIRECTOR: Peter Weir. DURATION: 106 mins.

SYNOPSIS: An inexperienced lawyer is troubled by dreams linked to an aboriginal end of the world prophecy while representing members of the ancient tribe accused of murder.

RC PLAYS: David Burton.

Freak weather conditions, mysterious goings-on and aboriginal rituals: Three factors not usually associated with Richard Chamberlain movies. But then, The Last Wave isn't exactly your typical Richard Chamberlain movie.

The actor made quite a risky decision when it came to accepting a part in a script which before shooting began he described as "indeterminate," but became involved because he "liked the director's work so much, it was worth the gamble."

At the time, Peter Weir was one of Australia's new breed of directors. All his movies are strangely unique in some way, including this one and his more famous projects, including Picnic at Hanging Rock, Witness and The Truman Show. The Last Wave certainly deserves to stand among them if only for its intelligence and atmospheric qualities.

For Richard, the most memorable aspect of making the film was working with the indigenous actors. "I get the sense, being with the aborigines, that there were worlds of knowledge and connection that they knew about and felt I didn't know anything about at all," explained Chamberlain. "They say they know how to sing a man to death. Sometimes they lose you in their thinking - an aborigine boy told me, 'When you walk alone at night on the beach, the moon takes you up and you meet the father.' Their connection with the earth was fascinating to me - partly because the film was about the way man has lost his connections with the planet, with space, with the moon, with his friends and family. We've become so isolated that it was time for this kind of great cleansing wave of nature to come up and wipe us out and start over again."

And that final sentence is in a nutshell what The Last Wave is all about.

The production was well received by critics, but it was never the kind of film which would break box office records. At this point in his career, Chamberlain realised he was not going to become a major movie star and so decided to give up trying - despite making one last big-budget project: The Swarm.

MOVE TO:

HOME / FILMOGRAPHY / PHOTO GALLERY / BIOGRAPHY / NEXT FEATURE FILM