| Blue
Murder is a two-part ABC TV film based on the activities
of the Roger Rogerson/Neddy Smith coterie. It is written
by Ian David from interviews and two books: Neddy by
Arthur Stanley Smith with Tom Noble and Line of Fire.
The biography of Michael Drury by Darren Goodsir. (Michael
Drury is the undercover policeman whose near-fatal shooting
precipitated the unravelling of `The Club'.)
Blue
Murder is banned in NSW and the ACT pending the trial
of Neddy Smith. I was fortunate to catch a viewing
of this excellent film while visiting relatives in
New Zealand.
From
my knowledge of the events in the 1980s via the media,
Blue Murder is an accurate representation of what
really happened, what these people were really like.
There
is no argument about life imitating art here; this
film, with no need for artistic licence or exaggeration
or artifice of any kind, is far more exciting and
gripping than any shoot 'em up, rubber-burning cop
show from the almighty US of A.
Like
a forerunner of the ABC TV series, Wildside, the viewer's
attention is captured right up to the last frame.
There is nothing cryptic about the film which is straightforward
story-telling of the highest order.
The
mateship within the NSW Police Force is terrifying.
The flies stick to Roger `The Dodger' Rogerson, the
flypaper (or is it excreta which is difficult to remove
from the blanket?). The easy rapport between the most
highly decorated police officer in the NSW Force and
NSW's most notorious criminal blurs the definitions.
To have a best friend who understands one as well
as these two understand each other is a treasure.
Drinking mates, laughing mates, wenching mates, hatching
mates, covering mates, they are definitely best mates
until the friendship is challenged by irrefutable
evidence in the hands of those not intimidated by
the mateship. NSW is in the grip of the Rogerson/Smith
Push until the players realise their plans for a fail-safe
air importation of half a ton of heroin have fallen
into the wrong hands. Those who live by `The code'
die by `The Code'; but break it and one is history.
It
is rather telling that I was a little lost at times
trying to work out who were law enforcement officers
and who were criminals. Such is the truth of police
corruption.
These
cops and crims played hard and worked hard; good at
what they did, they were arrogant in their confidence.
The
harmonious domestic scenes at Roger `family man' Rogerson's
home and Michael Drury with his wife and children
leading up to the shooting of Drury by Christopher
Dale Flannery are skilfully orchestrated, creating
nail-biting anticipation. Using a `nice' suburban
home, Drury's wife's reaction, the cries of his children
and the look of utter bewilderment on his face, we
immediately feel sympathy, shock and horror at this
outrageous act.
Everybody
involved in producing this film must take a bow. Indeed,
Blue Murder won several nods in 1996 at the Logie,
AFI, ATOM and Writers' Guild awards.
The
casting of the actors is a coup de grāce. Performances
are exemplary, characterisations so real I now see
Tony Martin as Neddy Smith rather than the man himself;
likewise Richard Roxburgh playing Roger Rogerson.
Their portrayals are uncanny.
Special
mention must also be made of Gary Sweet playing the
flamboyant, hot-headed Christopher Dale Flannery,
the renta-kill man. Handsome and impeccably turned
out, Gary Sweet captures the miasma of a man completely
inured to the value of human life. (There is another
Australian film predating Blue Murder, a 1994 production
called Everynight Everynight by Alkinos Tsilmdos which
is dedicated to Christopher Dale Flannery. It deals
with the brutalisation of a prisoner, incarcerated
for a petty crime which he may or may not be guilty
of, at Pentridge Jail, implying that Mr Renta-kill
may have been a decent human being before his induction
into the system.)
A
superbly coiffed Ray Martin plays himself interviewing
the Dodger and in another piece of inspired casting,
Sasha Huckstepp, daughter of Sallie-Anne whose body
was found floating in a lake in Centennial Park, plays
the nurse who cares for Michael Drury recovering from
his gunshot wounds. Steve Bastoni is Michael Drury,
an uncorruptible police officer, the kind of man we
would like to staff the NSW Police Force.
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