Oz (aka
Oz - A Rock 'n' Roll Road Movie also released as
20th Century Oz in United States) is a
1976 Australian film written, directed and co-produced by
Chris Löfvén.
It stars
Joy Dunstan,
Graham Matters,
Bruce Spence,
Gary Waddell, and
Robin Ramsay; and received four nominations at the 1977
AFI Awards.
The musical score is by
Ross Wilson (frontman for
Daddy Cool and
Mondo Rock).
The plot is a re-imagining of the 1939
The Wizard of Oz film transferred to 1970s Australia and aimed at an older teen / young adult audience. It was released on DVD in 2004 as
Oz - A Rock 'n' Roll Road Movie : Collector's Edition with additional material.
Plot Summary
Dorothy (Joy Dunstan) is a sixteen-year-old groupie riding with a rock band, Wally (Graham Matters) and the Falcons. Suddenly, the van is in a road accident, and she hits her head. She wakes up in a fantasy world as gritty and realistic as the one she came from and learns she killed a young thug in the process. A gay clothier, Glin the Good Fairy (Robin Ramsay), gives her a pair of red shoes as a reward to help her see the last concert of the Wizard (Matters), an androgynous glam rock singer. She is pursued by the thug's brother (Ned Kelly) who attempts to rape her on several occasions. She also meets a dumb surfer Blondie (
Bruce Spence), a heartless mechanic Greaseball (Michael Carman), and a cowardly biker Killer (Garry Waddell).
