Australian classics:
Starstruck
(1982)
Starstruck is a rare Australian musical made in
1982 by director Gillian Armstrong about a young girl, Jackie (Jo Kennedy)
who wants to be a famous singer. With the help (or possibly hindrance) of
her cousin Angus, who acts as her manager, she tries to get on the local
music show WOW! (a massive Countdown rip-off if ever there was one, even
down to the gay host). This is against the wishes of her family who want
her to work at their diner. Angus goes about trying to get Jackie noticed,
including through some public stunts, and when she finally gets on WOW!,
it goes badly as the producers dial down her persona. She believes she may
have blown it but Angus has one last trick up his sleeve as he goes about
getting her on the WOW! spectacular at the Sydney Opera House.
You know, as a confessed hater of musicals,
particularly modern ones, I was pretty shocked that I actually loved this
movie. Sure, it's dated a fair bit, but the two leads work so well
together that the film becomes infectious and incredibly hard to dislike.
Shame Joey Kennedy never kicked onto to something bigger, she's a pretty
underrated actress. I saw her in the first ever episode of Stingers (aw
yeah, that's the next old show coming up on the TV side...) and decided to
check out Starstruck on the back of it. Reminds me a lot of a more working
class Nicole Kidman. Ah well...
Jo
Kennedy film clips (collages
below)
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