The Odd Angry Shot Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Odd Angry Shot Blu-ray Movie Review

'Nam for the entire world.

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf August 29, 2013

The American experience during the Vietnam War has been extensively documented in feature films, leaving audiences with a developed comprehension of the hardships, tragedies, and lost innocence of the men and women who fought for the country. Australia's participation in Vietnam hasn't enjoyed the same cinematic illumination, leaving 1979's "The Odd Angry Shot" a valuable dramatic tool in a larger appreciation of sacrifice and wartime temperament. Writer/director Tom Jeffrey cuts to the heart of the Aussie mentality in this off-kilter picture, electing to represent the narrative through chapters of boredom and militaristic encounters. It's a flavorful movie with stout performances and a distinct cultural atmosphere to help it maneuver through a few passages of stagnant storytelling, but "The Odd Angry Shot" is best appreciated as a snapshot of pride melting into disillusionment, previously imagined as strictly an American perspective.

Bill (John Jarratt) is a naive young man from Australia about to enter the national effort in Vietnam. Leaving behind his family and girlfriend, Bill joins the boys in the Special Air Service, bonding with the likes of Rogers (Bryan Brown) and older soldier Harry (Graham Kennedy), who assumes a leadership/fatherly role in the unit. Dropped into the wet, muddy muck of an alien country, the men struggle to assimilate to their new surroundings, finding the war experience more about camaraderie and beer consumption than a steady diet of battle. However, once in the jungle, the squad comes to understand the true price of battle, watching soldiers wounded and killed, easily replaced with fresh meat for the slaughter. For Bill, the bright dream of combat is slowly washed away by isolation and trauma, helping him to calcify into a warrior who's grown tired of the routine, leaning on his mates for distraction and comic interplay to help dilute the futility he faces every single day.

The dramatic arc promised at the opening of the picture is common, watching Bill enjoy a birthday/bon voyage party with friends and family, enjoying the attention for one last night before he leaves for duty, spending precious moments trying to get into the pants of his longtime love. He's a young man, filled with energy but limited in experience, soon teamed up with the Australian Special Air Service, mentally preparing himself for a tour of duty. While Jeffrey adheres to new recruit formula, "The Odd Angry Shot" soon develops its own personality, somewhere around the time the first can of Foster's is cracked on the plane ride over. It's apparent from the habitual guzzling of brew that the production isn't going to take a mournful view of combat time, landing somewhere inside "MASH" territory with the screenplay's interests in laughs and tears as the fog of war clouds the expectations and instincts of the once keyed up military men.

The tonal balancing act is adequately carried out by Jeffrey, adapting a 1975 novel by William Nagle, who based the book on his own experiences in Vietnam. The film preserves the episodic angle of its literary counterpart, moving awkwardly at times between moments of rest at the mud-slapped base and times of engagement, where the squad trades gunfire with an undefined enemy, occasionally losing a man while carrying out increasingly futile missions. Jeffrey's creating an anti-war movie, but he's reluctant to boldly expose the sentiment, preferring to tackle such frustration in select scenes with Bill, who's growing appreciation of combat shock has aged him quickly over the course of the feature. There's a loss of innocence angle to the material (which includes a visit to a local brothel), but it's not forced on the viewer, instead treated with an atypical remoteness that permits a subtle appreciation for such disenchantment, escalating slowly before reaching a peak of defeat in the finale -- a climax of post-war uncertainty that's earned, but not as profoundly felt as Jeffrey imagines.

"The Odd Angry Shot" is more of a comedy, observing the antics of men desperate to entertain themselves in the middle of nowhere, armed with cards, jokes, and a bottomless supply of beer. Alcohol is practically the star of the movie, slurped down in nearly every scene, reinforcing the alarming constitution of the Australian people, but also their endearing solidarity during this troubling time. The ensemble snaps together effortlessly here, with special attention paid to Kennedy as the ripened Harry, who maintains high spirits and coaxes vulnerability out of the soldiers, showing such ease and depth to his characterization, the focus should remain on him, not Bill. The male bonding scenes are the most interesting the feature, taking the tale to a few strange places, including a showdown with American officers who want to stage a gambling event that pits their scorpion against an Australian spider. There's also a bizarre moment where the gang gifts a departing priest a homemade masturbating machine. Now there's a topic Oliver Stone never touched on.

The Odd Angry Shot Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "The Odd Angry Shot" reveals source material that's in satisfactory shape, though scratches and speckles are present, with horizontal burns and blue dots on the left hand of the frame popping up sporadically. Colors are managed with taste, showing stability with a palette that largely leans toward browns and greens, finding costuming and jungle environments confident, while more eye-catching hues are introduced through smoke grenades and sequences involving civilian life. Skintones are pinkish and pleasant. Grain is efficiently ordered, preserving a filmic look. Blacks only show trouble with low-light encounters, showing slight crush, but for a picture that largely takes place in the daylight, it's hardly a concern. Detail is crisp with facial reactions and military particulars, offering fresh textures on make-up and fabrics, while background events are easily surveyed.

The Odd Angry Shot Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix carries itself with an assertive frontal quality, allowing the listener to navigate dialogue exchanges that are often chaotic, often hearing accents crashing into one another. Voices are purposed with only a few instances of crowding, hitting emotional beats and war cries with satisfactory clarity. Scoring hits some shrill notes, yet the overall musical impression is welcome, adding the right militaristic tone to the picture without overwhelming the action. Soundtrack selections are softer but present. Atmospherics are decent, with a strong lower rumble for helicopter activity, while jungle and firearm nuances are detected. Hiss and pops are minimal, not bothersome.

The Odd Angry Shot Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with co-producer/writer/director Tom Jeffrey, co-producer Sue Milliken, and actor Graeme Blundell is refreshingly conversational, with the three participants sharing an easy chemistry as they walk through memories of the production experience. Discussing thematic intent and filmmaking challenges, the track finds a steady rhythm of information, focusing on the anti-war elements of the story. The best passages of the conversation are reserved for day-to-day recollections, with the trio sharing humorous anecdotes concerning the discomfort of the locations and the trials of equipment and vehicles, with Blundell providing a special perspective on actor temperament and camaraderie. The gang seems very proud of the movie, which fuels this lively track.

• "Stunts Down Under with Buddy Joe Hooker" (6:48, HD) sits down the stunt coordinator and second unit director to discuss his involvement with "The Odd Angry Shot." Hooker doesn't have that much to share, with his professional priorities narrowed down to only a few sequences, but he extends a respect for the production and a love for Australia.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (3:14, HD), which uses a folksy song to sell the feature, is included.

The Odd Angry Shot Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Combat and location atmosphere is present throughout "The Odd Angry Shot." Even while working with a low budget, the production manages to capture the sweltering air and tense mission interaction, hitting recognizable beats of conflict and discomfort as it expounds on Aussie attitudes and fears. It's not a tightly scripted picture, leading to a few bouts of slackness, but it has charisma and a unique viewpoint on established anxiety, making it a fascinating addition to a cinematic inspection of the Vietnam War.