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Dogs in Space

Dogs in Space
Dogs in space poster.jpg
Original 1986 theatrical poster
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
Production
company
Distributed by Hoyts (Australia)
Columbia TriStar Home Video
Umbrella Entertainment
Release date
  • 18 December 1986 (1986-12-18) (Australia)
Running time
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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