AUSTRALIAN ACTION MAN Part One

CALLAN (1974: Dir. Don Sharp)

After Errol Flynn, filmmaker Don Sharp is the second most famous person to be born in Hobart, Tasmania, and like his swashbuckling countryman, Sharp was also identified with flamboyant action and stunts, albeit from behind the camera. Beginning his career in Britain as a director of B-movie programmers and early episodic television, Sharp was eventually hired by Hammer Films to oversee a trilogy of quality genre films: Kiss of the Vampire (1963), The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964), and Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966). At the same time maverick producer Harry Alan Towers chose Sharp to direct the first two films of his Fu Manchu series starring Christopher Lee. All of these projects demonstrated Sharp's strong eye for visual composition and pace, whisking the audience along despite plot absurdities and limited production resources. Working in these rip-roaring genres, Sharp rapidly built a reputation as an action specialist, particularly in his role of second unit director on two logistically complicated features, directing both the vehicular mayhem in Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines (1965), and the comedy spy antics in Bang, Bang, You're Dead (1966), as well as the heart-stopping Amsterdam boat chase in the narcotics crime thriller Puppet On A Chain (1971). Assignments like these made him a natural to bring scale and excitement to the cinematic incarnation of creator James Mitchells' popular TV spy series Callan (1967-1972). Starring a magnetically intense Edward Woodward, David Callan is a street smart agent/assassin whose disdain for authority coupled with his sang froid and skill with small arms always draws the most unsavory jobs from his British Intelligence superior, code-named Hunter. The original series although highly acclaimed was hampered by its cost-cutting videotaped mise-en-scene, mostly taking place in cramped, seedy offices or dull flats. Adapted from the original pilot episode, the movie version of Callan re-introduces the character, this time in a more expansive though no less gritty, big-screen format. In an effort to compete with the new realism coming from Hollywood in the early Seventies, Sharp uses atmospheric locations in and around London, where he efficiently stages nerve jangling car chases, forceful fisticuffs, and non-gratuitous gun-play. Essential to the mythos of the series, are the characters of  Lonely (Russell Hunter), "a smelly little man" who is Callan's cringing criminal contact, and fellow agent Toby Meres (Peter Egan), Callan's younger jealous associate, always ready to stick the knife in to get ahead. Both actors are superb in their roles, particularly the utterly believable Hunter, although one pines for actor Anthony Valentine, TV's original oily Meres, more of a coiled cobra than Egan's impetuous toffee-nosed school prefect. Being the off-shoot of the most compelling espionage series ever made for television, director Sharp had much expectation to contend with, but with his steady hand at the wheel, audiences were assured of a smoothly entertaining ride, with all of the suspense and drama of what was, and is Callan. DVD REGION 2