Word: australian
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Once safely in a 219-mile-high orbit, Discovery's crew members set about inspecting the condition of its cargo, three communications satellites, and promptly ran into trouble. As they were attempting to temporarily open the sunshield on AUSSAT, an Australian satellite, the shield snagged on AUSSAT's antenna and stuck. Although the astronauts managed to nudge the sunshield completely open with Discovery's 50-ft. robot arm, NASA decided it was too risky to close the screen again; if it could not be reopened, the satellite would be useless in orbit...
...Australian western by Hill, Quigley Down Under, has been optioned three times, earning him enough to pay his young son's way through college. Last year at the Cannes Film Festival, it was announced that Quigley was going into production. "At that point a less experienced screenwriter might have started to celebrate," notes Hill, who warily waited 24 hours before breaking out the champagne. Alas, the film was never made, but Hill remains unfazed. "For all the complaining and the frustration," he says, "this beats working for a living...
...Beyond Thunderdome is the third movie in the series featuring Mel Gibson as the ever-infuriated Max, pursuing his private vendetta against the forces of evil in the Australian outback. It is the second film in the series that portrays the post-apocalyptic world. Evil, like everything else, has needed time to recover. In The Road Warrior punk-styled roadsters with homicidal tendencies had organized into tribes. In Beyond Thunderdome, evil graduates to cities...
...actor since the earlier Max films, possessing enough confidence to call this last piece of his work "shit." He has also had enough voice lessons in American English, and gained enough U.S. exposure that a Casey Kasem-like voice does not have to be dubbed over his harsh Australian drawl (as was done in the first Made Max). In any case, there is now a layer of wit stacked over The Concept of Hero as Road Warrior...
...spot the crucial contributions of foreign-born filmmakers to the Hollywood movie. On Oscar night this spring, Czech-born Milos Forman (see box) walked away with a best-director statuette for his work on the laurel-laden Amadeus. This year's first surprise hit, Witness, was directed by Australian Peter Weir; this summer's runaway "Gook" buster, Rambo: First Blood Part II, was helmed by the Greek immigrant George Pan Cosmatos. Indeed, when America wants to cauterize its own psychology or psychopathy onscreen these days -- in Birdy or The Falcon and the Snowman, in The Killing Fields or Alamo...