{{Use Australian English|date=May 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox film | name = The Naked Bunyip | image = | alt = | caption = | director = John B. Murray | writer = John B. Murray<br />Ray Taylor<br>Phillip Adams | producer = John B. Murray<br />Phillip Adams | starring = Graeme Blundell | narrator = | cinematography = Bruce McNaughton | editing = Brian Kavanagh | music = | studio = Southern Cross Films | distributor = John B. Murray | released = {{Film date|1970|11|12|df=yes}} | runtime = 136 minutes | country = Australia | language = English | budget = $35,000<ref name="pike">Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p252-252</ref> | gross = }} '''''The Naked Bunyip''''' is a 1970 Australian documentary film directed by John B. Murray. The film explores sex in Australia using a fictional framework.
==Synopsis==
''The Naked Bunyip'' is a sex documentary and a blend of fact and fiction; "[it] incorporates the fictionalizing of the 'real' that had been a feature of tendencies in French 'new wave' and the American avant-garde narrative cinema." Graeme Blundell plays a shy young man whom an ad agency hires to conduct a survey about sex in Australia. The film consists of "unrehearsed and unscripted" interviews as Blundell's character investigates a variety of sexual experiences, all except for the "normal" heterosexual experience.<ref>{{Harvnb|O'Regan|1996|p=240}}</ref>
Among the interviewed are Dame Edna Everage, Jacki Weaver, Aggy Read, Harry M. Miller, and Russell Morris.
==Production== Phillip Adams and John Murray decided to make the film after much study of the Australian film industry at the time. They noted the popularity of 16mm travel documentaries shown in public halls in the suburbs and the country. They decided to make a comic film about sex as the most commercial option. Finance was provided almost entirely by tyre dealer Bob Jane, and it was shot on 16mm.<ref name="pike"/><ref>[http://www.acmi.net.au/2AE73511596043D3BAD7250AB452790A.htm John B. Murray 'Prelude to a Screening', AACMI website, 2008] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328100156/http://www.acmi.net.au/2AE73511596043D3BAD7250AB452790A.htm |date=28 March 2012 }} Retrieved 20 September 2012</ref>
==Release==
Murray chose to exhibit ''The Naked Bunyip'' himself rather than use a distributor, often using his equipment, hiring theatres directly, and handling his publicity. This proved successful, and the movie ran for two years in cinemas.<ref>[http://melbfilmblog.blogspot.com.au/2008/09/naked-bunyip.html Paul Martin, 'The Naked Bunyip Q and A', ''Melbourne Film Blog'', 21 Sept 2008]. Retrieved 20 September 2012</ref>
It led to director Tim Burstall deciding to use a direct approach for his comedy film ''Stork'' in 1971.<ref>{{Harvnb|MacFarlane|1988|p=23}}</ref> ''The Naked Bunyip'' was the stepping stone for Australian film distribution in the 1970s, leading to Australian films' presence at international festivals and the US release of ''Mad Max'' in 1979.<ref>{{Harvnb|MacFarlane|1988|p=32}}</ref>
===Censorship controversy=== The Commonwealth censors insisted on removing five minutes of footage, but the producers refused, simply blacking out the offending images and bleeping the soundtrack. Murray inserted a picture of a bunyip performing a parody of the forbidden action on the black footage. Murray also previewed the film without cuts to censors, angering the censor. This led to a debate about censorship, which led to a reform of censorship standards.<ref name="pike"/><ref>[http://www.refused-classification.com/censorship/films/1970-to-1971-naked-bunyip.html 'Film Censorship 1970-1971: The Naked Bunyip (1970)', ''Refused Classification: Film Censorship in Australia'']. Retrieved 20 September 2012</ref>
==Footnotes== {{reflist}}
==References== *{{cite book | last=MacFarlane | first=Brian | year=1988 | title=Australian Cinema | publisher=Columbia University Press | isbn=0-231-06728-3 }} *{{cite book | last=O'Regan | first=Tom | year=1996 | title=Australian National Cinema | series=National Cinemas | publisher=Routledge | isbn=0-415-05730-2 }}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0125943|title=The Naked Bunyip}} *[http://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/naked-bunyip ''The Naked Bunyip''] at Oz Movies *[http://sensesofcinema.com/2006/38/naked_bunyip/ John B. Murray, 'Genesis of ''The Naked Bunyip'' ' at ''Senses of Cinema'']
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naked Bunyip, The}} Category:1970 films Category:1970 documentary films Category:Documentary films about sexuality Category:Australian documentary films Category:Films shot in 16 mm film Category:1970 English-language films Category:1970 Australian films Category:English-language documentary films Category:1970 LGBTQ-related films Category:Australian LGBTQ-related documentary films