Kitty amd the Bagman

(1983)

Kitty and the Bagman is a 1983 bawdy comedy/drama set in 1920s Sydney (but bizarrely filmed in Melbourne) about Kitty O'Rourke (Liddy Clark), wife of a bounder who's being arrested by the Bagman (John Stanton), a powerful local cop with his finger in every pie. Kitty's husband is given 5 years jail and poor Kitty is left all on her own. She meets a barmaid Doris (Colette Mann) who helps her get a job as a barmaid. Doris tells Kitty that she must assert herself to get a man now that she's on her own and in the process, she pisses off local entrepreneur Big Lil (Val Lehman). She meets Cyril, a local big noter, who falls for her and has big plans to build his own bar come brothel with Kitty. Just before opening the brothel, the Bagman steps in and solicits control over to Kitty as this is the only way he'll let the brothel open. Now Kitty is about to become a big shot, up against Big Lil, pissing off Cyril who falls for a prostitute Sarah (Kylie Foster). Then, her husband turns up. Oh, and the Bagman has a crush on Kitty. Sound familiar? It will if you watched the latest series of Underbelly: Razor as the plots are mighty similar. Sure, Kitty and the Bagman is nowhere near as sleazy as Underbelly, but neither is it as watchable. Most of the bawdy comedy has dated and is barely funny, but the attention to detail of the period is quite good (this is from the director of Caddie, another film from the same time period about a put upon woman cum barmaid). Not a great film, but if you like a bit of bawdiness, the new widescreen DVD might be worth a look.

Kylie Foster film clips (see below)

Liddy Clark film clip (see below)

K Kylie