The Last Wave **** (1977, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett, David Gulpilil) – Classic Movie Review 11,185

Peter Weir’s 1977 Australian apocalyptic thriller The Last Wave is intriguing, disturbing and beautifully done. Richard Chamberlain gives one of his finest performances as a lawyer wondering why the weather been strange.

‘The dream that became a nightmare. His was a premonition of doom. Hasn’t the weather been strange… could it be a warning?’

Director Peter Weir’s serious-minded 1977 Australian apocalyptic thriller The Last Wave is a slightly elusive chiller, but it is always intriguing, disturbing and beautifully done, and it provides a very useful role for Richard Chamberlain, giving one of his finest performances as David Burton, a tax lawyer living in Sydney, Australia.

They have a lot of bad weather Down Under and lawyer David Burton (Chamberlain) is wondering why, when he dreams about an Aborigine whom he later meets when defending a ritual murder case in a trial of five Aboriginal men accused of murdering a fellow native. The lawyer is introduced to an Aboriginal elder who offers clues to David Burton (Chamberlain)’s ancestry and an old tribal prophecy about a flood, and he finds he has a strange, mystical connection with the accused Aboriginal men.

The puzzle is far less irritating than the one in Peter Weir’s previous film Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), though arguably the film would still have been even more enjoyable as a straight thriller. Yet The Last Wave is a special film, merely starting as a straight legal thriller but entering ‘Aboriginal Dreamtime’, the foundation of Aboriginal religion and culture, dating back 60,000 years, when the Spirits created the land and the people.

The Last Wave is certainly special, unique even, and, arguably, it is still Peter Weir’s best film.

This might seem a strong claim as Weir’s the director of Gallipoli (1981), The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), Witness (1985), Dead Poets Society (1989), and The Truman Show (1998). Some of these might be more enjoyable, and more accessible, but there is a case for The Last Wave as his finest achievement.

Also in the cast are Olivia Hamnett, David Gulpilil, Frederick Parslow [Fred Parslow], Vivean Gray, Nandjiwarra Amagula, Walter Amagula, Roy Bara, Cedrick Lalara, Morris Lalara, Peter Carroll, Athol Compton, Hedley Cullen, Michael Duffield, Wallas Eaton, Jo England, Greg Rowe, and John Frawley.

Peter Weir said he explores the question: ‘What if someone with a very pragmatic approach to life experienced a premonition?’

Filming started on 24 February 1977 in Adelaide and Sydney. It was released on 13 December 1977.

The cast

The cast are Richard Chamberlain as David Burton, Olivia Hamnett as Annie Burton, David Gulpilil as Chris Lee, Fred Parslow as Reverend Burton, Vivean Gray as Dr Whitburn, Nandjiwarra Amagula as Charlie, Walter Amagula as Gerry Lee, Roy Bara as Larry, Cedrick Lalara as Lindsey, Morris Lalara as Jacko, Peter Carroll as Michael Zeadler, Athol Compton as Billy Corman, Hedley Cullen as Judge, Michael Duffield as Andrew Potter, Wallas Eaton as Morgue Doctor, Jo England as Babysitter, Greg Rowe, and John Frawley as Policeman.

The Last Wave is directed by Peter Weir, runs 106 minutes, is made by Last Wave Productions, Ayer, McElroy & McElroy, The South Australian Film Corporation and The Australian Film Commission (AFC), is released by United Artists (1977), is written by Peter Weir, Tony Morphett and Petru Popescu, is shot by Russell Boyd, is produced by Hal McElroy and Jim McElroy [James McElroy], is scored by Groove Myers [Charles Wain], and designed by Goran Warff (Production Design) and Neil Angwin (Art Direction), with special effects by Robert Hilditch and Mont Fieguth.

Richard Chamberlain (March 31, 1934 – March 29, 2025)

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,185

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