Dogs in Space
| Dogs in Space | |
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Original 1986 theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Richard Lowenstein |
| Produced by | Glenys Rowe |
| Written by | Richard Lowenstein |
| Starring |
Michael Hutchence Saskia Post Nique Needles Chris Haywood Deanna Bond Tony Helou Laura Swanson Emma de Clario |
| Music by | Michael Hutchence |
| Cinematography | Andrew de Groot |
| Edited by | Jill Bilcock |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Hoyts (Australia) Columbia TriStar Home Video Umbrella Entertainment |
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Release date
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Running time
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103 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | A$2 million or $3 million |
| Box office | A$367,351 (Australia) |
Dogs in Space is a 1986 Australian film set in Melbourne's "Little Band" music scene in 1978. It was directed by Richard Lowenstein and starred Michael Hutchence as Sam, the drug-addled frontman of the fictitious band from which the film takes its name.
Dogs in Space centers on a group of young music fans sharing a house in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond. Sam (Michael Hutchence) and Tim (Nique Needles) are the key members of a band called Dogs in Space, and share a house with a variety of social misfits, including Sam's girlfriend Anna (Saskia Post), a university student called Luchio (Tony Helou) and a transient and apparently nameless teenager known only as The Girl (Deanna Bond).
The film's minimal plot traces the day-to-day existence of the characters, particularly the relationship between Sam and Anna, and is largely made up of a sequence of party scenes involving live music and drug use. In between, there are trips to Ballarat (at the time, the closest town to Melbourne with a 24-hour convenience store) and humorous encounters with an aggressive neighbour (Joe Camilleri) and one character's fast-talking, chainsaw-wielding uncle (Chris Haywood), who simply turns up one afternoon with his family (the baby in this scene is Lowenstein's niece Robyn). There is also a minor incident in which the characters burn some rubbish in a plan to claim it as a piece of Skylab for a local radio station. In the end, the group's dysfunctional and hedonistic lifestyle claims a victim when Anna dies from a heroin overdose. Footage of Sputnik 2 is intercut with the narrative, focused largely on Laika (the first dog in space), and can also be seen on television in the background of several scenes.
The script was based on Lowenstein's personal experiences of living in a share house in Melbourne in the late 70s. Prior to making the film, Lowenstein had made a series of promotional clips for songs from the INXS album The Swing and wrote the lead role with singer Michael Hutchence in mind. Funds were raised through the Burrowes Group.
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