Alvin Purple

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Alvin Purple
Directed by	Tim Burstall
Written by	Alan Hopgood
Starring	Graeme Blundell, Abigail, Lynette Curran, Jill Forster, Dina Mann
Release date(s)	1973
Running time	95 mins
Language	English
IMDb profile

Alvin Purple was a 1973 Australian comedy film starring Graeme Blundell, written by Alan Hopgood and directed by Tim Burstall.

Despite largely negative reviews from local critics, it was a major hit with Australian audiences and it became the most commercially successful Australian film ever released up to that time, breaking the previous box office record set by Michael Powell's pioneering Anglo-Australian comedy feature They're a Weird Mob, which had been released in 1966.

Director Tim Burstall had worked extensively in film both in Australia and overseas in the 1960s and in the late Sixties he was closely involved in the foundation of the famous La Mama Theatre in Melbourne, established by his wife Betty Burstall. La Mama was a major focus for the new wave of Australian drama that was emerging at that time, showcasing many new plays, performance pieces and films by people such as Jack Hibberd, Alex Buzo, David Williamson, Bert Deling and Burstall himself.

Burstall's first feature film, 2000 Weeks was an ambitious contemporary drama about a writer, starring Scots-born actor Mark McManus (of Taggart fame) and Australian actress Jeannie Drynan, which was very notable at the time, being the first all-Australian feature film produced since Charles Chauvel's Jedda in 1954. Although it was reportedly well-received overseas, 2000 Weeks was panned by local critics and it failed disastrously at the box office. The experience affected Burstall strongly and also influenced other directors and producers, including John B. Murray and Philip Adams, who observed the hostile reaction to 2000 Weeks and who as a result took their film-making in a more populist direction, as Burstall soon did himself.

This was followed by a low-budget surfing feature Getting Back To Nothing (1970). His second feature, the contemporary comedy Stork (1972) was much more successful. As well as launching the career of actor Bruce Spence, who played the title role, it was the first of many successful film adaptations of plays by renowned Australian dramatist David Williamson. Stork was adapted from his play The Coming of Stork, which had premiered at La Mama.

In 1972 Burstall became a partner in a new film production company, Hexagon Productions. The brief for its first project was to make an "Australian Decameron", and Burstall chose a screenplay by actor and playwright Alan Hopgood. Hopgood had enjoyed considerable critical success in the early 1960s with his AFL football satire And The Big Men Fly and he was well-known to TV audiences at the time for his long-running role as the town doctor in the ABC's Bellbird.

The score and title theme were composed by iconic Australian singer-songwriter Brian Cadd.

A 1974 film sequel Alvin Rides Again toned-down the sex scenes and nudity, adding more camp comedy. There was also a 1976 television sitcom version titled Alvin Purple. Blundell reprised the title role in both, as well as in the 1984 movie Melvin, Son of Alvin.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film is a sex-farce which follows the misadventures of a seemingly-ordinary, naïve young Melbourne man, Alvin Purple (Blundell) who women find irresistible. He must try (unsuccessfully) to resist legions of women who want him. Much of the film consists of chase scenes in the vein of Benny Hill.

Alvin is so worn-out he seeks psychiatric help to solve his problems. His psychiatrist is, of course, a woman, with predictable results.