Mad Dog Morgan

Director- Philippe Mora

Cast- Dennis Hopper,

Country of Origin- Australia
 

Distributor - Umbrella

Number of discs –  1

Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald

Date- 06/06/2019

    Mad Dog Morgan follows Daniel Morgan an Irish immigrant to Australia. Morgan came to Australia to make a living searching for gold, but found himself almost immediately incarcerated after getting high and committing and act of robbery.  Prison is not easy for Morgan, he is raped, and generally mistreated. Upon release he meets up with Billy (David Gulpilil, Walkabout) and the two go about taking on the authorities that did Morgan wrong.

    Mad Dog Morgan is the debut feature film by Philippe Mora who would become well known in genre circles for his 2 sequels to the Howling, and his own beast gone awry film The Beast Within.   Here he teams up with Dennis Hopper, coming off his failure in the Last Movie, during a period which would be considered Hopper's lost years, as Hollywood was no longer interested him as an actor or director, he would end up in smaller lower budget productions such as this.

    Mad Dog Morgan is truly a wild film, and easy to recommend to fans of wild cult cinema. The film is violent and intense with effects that are over the top, and fit the tone of the film. We have great stunt work from Stunt Rock's Grand Page including a scene where people on fire jump off cliffs. Further, it uses aboriginal music in a way that highlights the tone and place of the film, while simultaneously giving the film a spaghetti western quality. The highlight of the film is Dennis Hopper who is full-on in over the top villain mode here, a style that he would do to perfection as Blue Velvet's Frank Booth.

    Mad Dog Morgan comes to Blu-ray with another excellent transfer from Umbrella Entertainment.  The film is presented in a 4k scanned 1080p 2:35:1 transfer that really brings out the hot and dirty vibe of the film. Colors pop, grain is natural, and detail is excellent. Audio is handled with a DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono track in English that sounds crisp, clear, and without issue.  The disc is packed with extras including 2 commentaries, an older Dennis Hopper interview, interviews with the cast and director, plus outtakes from the famed documentary Not Quite Hollywood. Mad Dog Morgan is a brutal ozploitation western with an insane central performance, and comes highly recommend in its new Umbrella Blu-ray form.