Geoff Murphy: A Life on Film - I'm taking this bloody car to Invercargill

by Geoff Murphy

The majorly entertaining memoir from a major entertainer - Geoff 'Goodbye Pork Pie' Murphy tells it like it really was in this director's cut of his life and times."I'm taking this bloody car to Invercargill!" It was the line that had cinema audiences cheering.  Goodbye Pork Pie became an instant classic, and announced the arrival of a major new talent in director Geoff Murphy. With his next two films, Utu and The Quiet Earth , he cemented his reputation as a pioneer of New Zealand cinema, eventually arriving in Hollywood as a gun-for-hire in the super-charged world of studio politics and superstar egos. He'd come a long way from his days as a struggling school teacher, and then a member of a madcap band of merry pranksters known as Blerta, founded by his great friend and collaborator Bruno Lawrence. But it was the same sense of adventure -with a healthy dose of Kiwi ingenuity - that defined every stage of his career. In this candid and funny memoir, Geoff Murphy looks back on a life in (and on) film - from do-it-yourself shoots in the 1960s to epic work on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy - and delivers the director's cut of a truly remarkable life.

466 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2015

Reviews

[Jon Pheloung · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting stuff on his early scrappy years (Blerta and Pork Pie), dull on later Hollywood experiences. Practically silent on working with Peter Jackson, although it occupies an entire chapter.

[A Cesspool · Rating 3 out of 5]

primary takeaway: A better subtitle might integrate: Boobs & B'holes.

Second-unit-advanced-to-the big game-director: Geoff Murphy's memoir is as uncomplicated as it is illuminating. Murphy's gun-for-hire (status) within major studio's political regime yields plenty of fascinating anecdotals: those incompetent executive decision-making & egotistical megalomaniac-wannabe-Joel Silvers/Harvey Weinsteins the New Zealand native frequently grappled with, principally as the competent studio helmer with little clout.

Checked out exclusively for the making of Andrew Davis' Under Siege sequel, Dark Territory (1995).
Ab·so·lute·ly worthy summation of events; especially since Jon Peters exploited his friendlies at L.A. Times to muddle his identity, and termination-yielding shenanigans (off the Seagal/Warner Bros. feature). Even after those Peters blithely pointed the finger at (as chief instigators), reached out to aforementioned LAT journalists themselves, with their "official" accounting of Peters buffoonery and resulting replacement; Peters' stooge, LAT's Judy Brennan, still only reported select snippets (still favorable to Peters).

Murphy's accounting of the Dark Territory production offices is easily the most reasonable and reliable version -- Unfortunate no one bothered to inquire with him previously.


full disclosure: DNF. select features:
• The Quiet Earth (1985)
• Young Guns II (1990)
• Freejack (1992)
• Blind Side & The Last Outlaw (both '93)
• Dark Territory (1995) &
• The Magnificent Seven S01E01 The Ghosts of the Confederacy (1998)

[Benedict Reid · Rating 2 out of 5]

As is often the case with autobiographies, this was at it's most vivid in recounting the early years. Jazz, Berta and TV series in the 70s are all presented here in a very interesting way, albeit from what seems now to be a very macho worldview.
From Geoff's directing of Goodbye PorkPie onwards it starts to simply be a sketchy recounting of loosely connected anecdotes, many of which do not leave you with a good impression of Geoff Murphy himself. He is particularly cowardly in attacking the one woman in his life who was dead by the time he wrote this book. The other women in his life are no doubt lucky to have outlived him.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Little bit of interst following his commune living at Waimarama

[Stuart Mcgrigor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always liked all three of Geoff's 80s movies....so I was drawn to this memoir.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's nice too read a bit about New Zealand history from different angles.