(1986) Fair Game PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

Another tit for tat movie, with wild life conservationist, Jessica (Cassandra Delaney) butting heads with three wild and uncultivated kangaroo poachers led by Sunny (Peter Ford), with Ringo Radnick (David Sandford) and Sparks (Garry Who). And although Jessica already has a mate herself, of some guy named Ted, he's in another part of the world, forcing her to have to manage the entire wild life sanctuary and fend for herself. Also, another one of her problems is the fact she lives so far away from the city, as well as law enforcement officer.

Another film I was curious about after watching the doc "Not Quite Hollywood-The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!", and as an exploitation film I thought it was fairly entertaining particularly the bad guy Ringo played by David Sandford performing some dangerous stunts dangling behind a truck, as well as running on top of a house while it was being bulldozed by the group's pickup. And you know, the main star, Jessica had an opportunity to wreck the group's pickup after she trap them into a cave, and instead rode away on front of them instead. And it happened after she wrecked their box truck where they store dead kangaroos. The other thing that was baffling was how come Jessica had no rifle or proper hunting knife with her which I thought conservationists need just in case she herself might get stranded in a desert. Anyways as a tit for tat movie, it's entertaining enough.

A woman in charge of a wildlife sanctuary in Australia is terrorized on the road by two men in a beastly pickup truck and another man in a truck with a shark painted on the back doors. They continue to harass her, and she keeps asserting herself against them, even fighting back. They're intent on killing animals and having cruel fun.

Some who've watched the movie think that if she left them alone, they would have left her alone. I doubt it. At a minimum they would have gone on killing more animals, which she would have found intolerable. But I think they were as intent on tormenting her as killing kangaroos.

The woman is played by the beautiful Cassandra Delaney (the future Mrs. John Denver!), who sadly has not done many other movies. She spends the first part of the movie barely dressed in a long shirt and belt and nothing else, or a wrap and belt. Hot outfit for a hot environment.

Essentially follows a rape-revenge sort of plot, although it isn't clear if they rape her. As the video box indicates, they strap her to the hood of their pickup and drive her around. She's later dumped and she takes a shower, so a rape could be inferred, but it isn't integral.

A well-made film, well acted, though not especially deep.

Three kangaroo hunters terrorise an attractive woman, Jessica (Cassandra Delaney), who lives by herself on a wildlife reserve in the outback.

'80s Ozploitation flick Fair Game is like a rape/revenge movie, but without the rape. Some reviews suggest that a serious sexual assault is inferred, but that simply isn't good enough: if a character is going to systematically kill three men, then it needs to be clear that her victims are deserving of their fates. Fair Game fails to adequately establish this fact, and is all the weaker for it.

Sure, the guys are obnoxious sexist assholes, and are guilty of tormenting, abusing and humiliating the poor woman, but that alone is not enough to warrant multiple homicide. Jessica should have continued to pursue a legal course of action, but instead takes matters into her own hands: she antagonises the men by slapping an anti-hunting sticker on their truck, sneaks out at night to weld their guns together, steals their truck, and tries to trap them in an abandoned mine with a rock fall. Had she continued to complain to the authorities after the first couple of incidences, it's doubtful that matters would have escalated to such levels of extreme violence (sexual or otherwise).

Technically speaking, the film is a mixed bag: performances are strong and the cinematography is very stylish (the scenery looks great and the shots of the hunter's truck are very effective, the vehicle taking on a persona more menacing than the men themselves); however, the soundtrack is diabolical: none of the awful '80s music complements the action. The killings are quite tame for this kind of trash, with the impalement of one guy on an anvil (!?!) proving unintentionally funny.

Fair Game was shorn of almost a minute when released on video in the UK: all of the stuff where Jessica is stripped and bound to the hood of the hunter's vehicle like an ornament was removed. Since this is the most entertaining part of the film, that VHS release must have been particularly frustrating for British fans of Ozploitation.

4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.

N.B. Eagle-eyed viewers might spot a male predator far more despicable than any of Fair Game's villains lurking in an advert for paint in the background of the outback convenience store. Can you see what it is yet?