End Play
From The Deuce
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Also Known As
- Endplay (USA)
Taglines
- The loved can only hope to live...The victim can only wait...The dead can only be revenged...
- And just when you believe there is nothing more to fear, you will begin to experience the ultimate terror of the END PLAY
- More than just a motion picture, It's a heart-stopping experience!
Main Details
- Released in 1976
- Colour
- Running time: 109 minutes
- Production co: Hexagon Productions
Cast and Crew
- Written, Directed and Produced by Tim Burstall
- Starring George Mallaby, John Waters
- Based on the novel by Russell Braddon
- Cinematography by Robin Copping
Film Review
A young blonde hitchhiker in denim hotpants thumbs for a ride on the side of the road. After being passed by a couple of times, she smiles as a unseen driver stops to pick her up. He doesn't waste any time in kissing her. His hand moves over her breasts and down to her lap, across her legs and then up to the glove compartment. He takes something out. We find out before too long that it was a stabbing implement. We don't see her being stabbed, but we feel it from her shocked face.
So begins End Play, a tense two-hander adapted from a bestelling novel. George Mallaby and John Waters play brothers in amidst a murder investigation. Not until the end is there overt suspense, but it's not really overt suspense that Burstall seems to want. The whole film has this suspense boiling below the surface. Dialogue is loaded with subtext and impressive performances convey that whilst the characters are engaged in small talk on the surface, there's a lot more going on underneath the surface. Shot classically by Robin Copping, this film is not characteristic of its prolific director, Tim Burstall, known mostly for Alvin Purple. But it is nonetheless an enjoyable experience. Particularly for its use of the theme song sung by Linda George and Peter Best's effective score.
Reviewed by Angel (30 August 2008)