Things You Learn From Talking to Someone Who’s Seen Boytown Confidential
*It’s pretty darn funny.
*It’s about 90 minutes long, which probably means it would’ve only fitted on a 2-disc DVD release (considering there’s all that sing-along stuff taking up space on the current one-disc release)
*It’s mostly interviews with the (in character) cast. There aren’t a lot of visual gags, it’s not full of snappy editing or anything – Tony seems to have just sat down with each cast member and just improvised a whole lot of stuff.
*Tony Martin does his “rock DJ” voice throughout.
*The version seen by our nameless friend was basically finished – presumably some polishing would have been done, but everything else – opening titles, closing credits, heart-breaking “thank yous” listing amongst others Mick and his brother, and the Molloy Boy copyright tag – is present.
*There’s a lot of music references, some of which are kinda derogatory and might have caused legal problems (or just been bleeped out) if it had been released.
*While the “Meet Marty Boomstein” clip on the released Boytown DVD isn’t part of BTC, all the BTC easter eggs on the DVD do come from the full version of BTC. And if you had to pick five clips from BTC to keep, you’d probably pick the ones used on the released DVD.
*Once again, it’s pretty darn funny.
*What it isn’t, is a stand-alone film. It’s a really, really good DVD extra, but it doesn’t stand alone (nor is it meant to). It does reportedly make you want to watch the original BoyTown again though, and taken together the overall result is supposedly a lot funnier than they are separately. If you were a lunatic with too much time on your hands and a total disregard for copyright, you could probably edit the two together to create the best Australian comedy film of… well, the second half of the first decade of the 21st century. Hey, it’s still BoyTown.
*From everything we’ve heard, it’s not the best work of Tony Martin’s career – it’s not the best work of anyone involved’s career (apart from Gary Eck’s*) – but it’s still petty darn funny.
[for those arriving late, BoyTown Confidential was the DVD extra filmed by Tony Martin that was left off the released edition of Mick Molloy’s film BoyTown, resulting in a rift between the two long-time work partners. Legal action means it is extremely unlikely that it will ever be made available for public viewing in any form, though a lucky few have seen it over the last few years. No, we can’t help you see it.]
*(no, we didn’t like You Can’t Stop the Murders. Or, for that matter, his work on The Nation. His non tv / movie work remains largely outside our view)
Eck – really, who needs to elaborate when you have a name like that.
I found what Tony Martin said, in one of the radio interviews where he mentions this production, about learning to work with actors in a completely different method very interesting, as Martin has seemingly only worked with fairly tightly scripted material before, and was really cutting his teeth on working with actors in a purely improvised sense. I think that’s why Tony Martin’s so proud of this effort, it was a learning curve for him too and he learnt a lot from doing it by the sounds of it. It’s a pity that all of this happened and that we’ll never see it.
Mick’s work is pretty weak without an ensemble to prop him up and Eck and Akhmal sure as hell never did him any favours. And the fact that he’s now cavorting only with sports commentators pretty much has completely compounded the problem. Mick still has his moments but for me they’re non-sports related ones.
I would agree with this. I’ve seen it. It’s hilarious. Very well put together (although the editing process wasn’t finished). It’s not a stand alone piece, but like you said, but it’s not meant to be. It’s a great companion piece. I don’t think it’s the best thing Tony has done, but it’s certainly great. Personally I prefer Tony’s radio work, but I guess it’s all to do with personal preference. It’s sad that it wasn’t included as a Boytown companion piece, because it would have been such a great addition!
It’s full of daggy music references and nerd jokes, but that just makes it funnier! That’s what it’s meant to be. In reference to the film, and in its own right. A great watch if you can see it! Though sadly only 3 copies exist.
Jealous 🙁