Skip to main content

Elephant Men: Operation Dumbo Drop (1994)

 


Operation Dumbo Drop (1994), which celebrates – albeit with muted fanfare – its 30th anniversary this year, is based on the true story of American soldiers who helped transport an elephant across enemy territory to a small village during the Vietnam War. Because the film is a live-action Disney product of the 1990s, it brushes only very faintly against the darker realities of the Vietnam War – as might be expected from the writers of Police Academy 3 and 4 and Snow Dogs, among other credits – and stars Danny Glover, Ray Liotta and Dennis Leary, all headliners in more corrosive entertainments, are amiable but sedated, all rough edges sanded down. 

Of films from recent memory, George Clooney’s The Monuments Men – about military personnel in World War Two retrieving stolen art back from the Nazis – is Operation Dumbo Drop’s closest companion. But Operation Dumbo Drop is the better film and Australian director Simon Wincer a less heralded but far more consistent director than Clooney. For one thing, he has repeatedly defied the proverbial mandate to never work with children and animals – evidenced here, Free Willy, Phar Lap, and elsewhere – and generally elicited solid performances from both. 

Of the four Wincer films I’ve discussed on Down Under Flix – see also The Lighthorsemen, Lightning Jack, and The Cup – I wouldn’t necessarily peg one as better than the others, which speaks again to his consistency but also lack of special sauce. Nonetheless, as 1990s Disney programmers go, this is enjoyable and boasts dome skillful location shooting by Wincer’s Phar Lap DP Russell Boyd.

Ben

 


Popular posts from this blog

John Hargreaves double feature: Hoodwink (1981) and Sky Pirates (1986)

Published 2017 on Down Under Flix Discounting the film  Blackfellas , in which he plays a minor role as a racist policeman, I’m surprised it’s taken this long to cover any John Hargreaves films on Down Under Flix. A six time AFI Award nominee (including for  Hoodwink ) and triple winner, Hargreaves is one of the best leading men to emerge from the Australian New Wave, and I have particular regard for his work in  Don’s Party,   Long Weekend , and  The Odd Angry Shot . Hargreaves was a natural performer: gifted and charismatic, but not unnecessarily flashy; handsome, but not movie star handsome, and slightly crumpled like a creased jacket. He was a quintessential Australian everyman ala Jack Thompson and Bryan Brown, though he’s less familiar to young filmgoers today, partly due to his untimely passing in 1996 at age 50. This article looks at one of Hargreaves’ best films… and one of his other films… 
Read more

Macbeth (2006)

Published 2016 on Down Under Flix Director : Geoffrey Wright Stars : Sam Worthington, Victoria Hill, Gary Sweet, Lachy Hulme It’s fascinating that in the short space of ten years, two Australian filmmakers have adapted William Shakespeare’s  Macbeth . While the Bard’s play is an all-timer, and has been adapted in the past by master directors like Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, and Roman Polanski, film adaptations haven’t exactly been abundant. So the fact that two Australians would choose to steer it to the screen less than a decade apart is a weird anomaly, though not inexplicable. One could conjecture at length about the 400+ year old “Scottish” play’s relevance to contemporary Australian identity, the timelessness of its depiction of ambition, greed, conspiracy, regicide, guilt, and hubris… but really, it’s just a terrific, badass piece of source material. I really wanted to like Justin Kurzel’s 2015 adaptation of  Macbeth  starring Michael ...
Read more

Dead Heart (1996)

Published 2016 on Down Under Flix Director:  Nick Parsons Stars:  Bryan Brown, Ernie Dingo, Aaron Pedersen, Angie Milliken I first watched  Dead Heart  back in 2000, as part of a course at university. In recent days I’ve been thinking back on all the other Australian films I studied at university (in a degree comprising various screen and literature courses, including one specifically on Australian cinema, there were quite a few) and pondering where those films have landed, culturally speaking, in subsequent years.  Wake in Fright , which we watched on a scratchy, dog-eared print, has enjoyed a critical and cultural resurgence in recent years and is soon to be  adapted for television by the director of  Red Dog . Other films, such as  A Sunday Too Far Away  and  Two Hands , have sort of plateaued, remaining constant in their standing. And others like  Dead Heart , then only a few years ...
Read more