Mad Dog Morgan

"I've misssed so much of my life . . ."

A small budget masterpiece driven by another powerhouse performance by "Sir" Dennis Hopper, in my opinion, among the very greatest living actors, and solid acting up and down the line. What we have here is a tragic tale - once again the "have nots" simply crushed under the iron and leather heels of the "haves". A direct and candid visioning of why folks turn to crime and the insensitivity of the brutal wheels of capitalism and the awful legal infrastructure which supports this miserable system of social organization. Perfectly cast Frank Thring (whose claim to fame was that he played Pontius Pilate in Ben Hur) also turns in a massive performance as Morgan's ultimate nemesis - a proud and cynical bureaucrat - a vain capitalist dog-lover, who sanctions torture and killing of his fellow humanity by proxy - while he lines his belly with expensive butchery.
After seeing Mad Dog Morgan, one can rest assured, that human beastiality and stupidity has not changed a wit, nor lost a step, since the 19th century, and probably not for a long time before that. Another to the bone social critique marginalized by the corporate media. February 10, 2008

Funky Cutting / Challenging Transfer

Over the years, after seeing "Mad Dog" in the theater, I picked up various VHS versions and (now) DVD versions of this film. While the Troma version here is better than the worst, it's not a good transfer. More, I keep looking for a better edited version of the underlying elements. This Mora flic has always been choppy, but I keep hoping each new release will tell the tale with a bit smoother presentation. Nothing new here. Maybe this is as good as this low-budget flic gets? Perhaps Phillipe Mora could let us know sometime how close this cut is to his vision? Maybe the (somewhat) psychotic cutting style is the best way to communicate the story of this 'rebel-outlaw?' Hopper certainly fits the part; bursts of fury and anger fill the screen at times. September 29, 2007

..Is this complete anywhere on dvd???

....I was hugely dissapointed in the Troma release of this film..I thought finally after paying more for company dvd with a little more prestige that the usual bargain bin varieties..I'd be getting a complete version of this film finally on DVD!...NOPE..all the nasty tidbits were cut!..the Head getting blown thru at the beginning in the Chinese opium Den..the more graphics aspects of the prison rape..the bucket of animal guts scene...the [...] scene in the Bar..the old man mooning the Bush Cop...even the mention of the word Scrotum!..All cut in the Troma Release!...I'm sticking with my old Thorn EMI VHS!!!!..I'm Pissed!..cuz I love this movie! April 23, 2006

Wrong aspect ratio on Troma DVD transfer

The film was originally shot in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. But this 2005 DVD release from Troma Entertainment presents the film in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio print cropped directly from the "pan and scan" full-screen print that was made for VHS releases. The film has never been seen in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio since its theatrical release. January 3, 2006

A fine movie that deserves a better DVD

Mad Dog Morgan is a real rarity, which is a great shame, because Philip Mora's film has much to recommend it and deserves much better than a dodgy cropped transfer on the Troma label. More a chronicle of the exploits of `Mad Dog' Morgan, the bushranger who inspired Ned Kelly, than a conventional narrative, it's a non-judgemental portrait of an inconsistent, unpredictable man - after going to great lengths to deny he'll ever "be made a murderer," he then becomes one almost immediately when he drunkenly sets his gun off, wounding his host, and then hurrying off to kill the man that he himself has just sent after a doctor. It's very much a seventies film (in the best sense), with a sense of the violence of both the landscape and the people trying to eke a living from it, and it constantly surprises with neat little details such as the magistrate who doles out long sentences simply because there are still so many roads to build. Despite being at the height of his drugs-and-booze lost period, Dennis Hopper gives a pretty good performance as the naïve and contradictory folk hero cum psychopath, even managing a fairly convincing Irish accent. There's an impressive supporting cast of familiar Aussie faces, not least Gulpilil as Morgan's beloved partner in crime and Frank Thring at his most superciliously unpleasant as the Superintendant: few actors could seem more natural when he and his social circle start casually divvying up Morgan's body parts in the final scene (the head for an anthropologist, the scrotum for the Superintendant's new tobacco pouch). Although not overly graphic, it's still fairly strong meat. September 8, 2005

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