Stone

"Anyone gets in our way, we'll kick 'em man. We'll kick 'em to death".

Bikersploitation (yes, that is a genre) doesn't get much more classic than this Australian cult film from the '70s. Despite having only been born in 1980, I grew up with this movie. A friend of mine from a family of motorcycle enthusiasts would constantly talk about it in high school, and as the SBS channel routinely wheeled it out as a rare English-language film in their multilingual schedule, myself and my friends would often tune in to be reminded what all the fuss was about. As a result, it became a part of our culture - we got wrapped up in the cheesy dialogue and over-the-top bikerisms, and would quote it to each other verbatim. Revisiting the film for the first time in nearly a decade, I found it just as entertaining as it was in my teenage years - if not more.

Stone (Ken Shorter) is a police detective who specialises in infiltrating gangs. When a gang of bikers, the Gravediggers, witness a political assassination they find their numbers being picked off one by one by a mysterious hitman. They begrudgingly accept the help of Stone, who wants to become one of their gang so he can get a grounds-eye view of the conspiracy. Every fibre of the Gravediggers' code screams out against having a 'pig' in their midst though, so Stone must endure a series of initiations to prove he is worthy of riding with them. Stone learns about this subculture intimately, but will he ever be able to truly be one of them?

A big part of this film is about loyalty and the biker's code. Any Australians watching will be amused by the way actor-director-writer Sandy Harbutt lectures the audience about the nuances of the biker's lifestyle as if it were a hallowed religion. This in itself isn't that much of a surprise, but there are certain '60s overtones to the idealistic bikie lifestyle here that don't really match the modern Australian biker stereotype. The Gravediggers come across as a mix between pot-smoking hippies and cliched Aussie larrikins who just happen to worship Satan. It's hilarious, and it's hard to tell if Harbutt is being completely serious or not - such is the nature of ozploitation. Either way, the Gravediggers live their lives on the fringes of society, thumbing their nose at the establishment (most potently exemplified by their catcalling during an environmental rally at the film's beginning).


Stone works hard to earn the respect of his new friends, there are shades of '90s Hollywood films like Donnie Brasco and Point Break as the line blurs between his duty to the law and his loyalty to his new friends. Ultimately, as is nearly always the case in these sorts of films, Stone is rejected by the subculture when he shows his true colours. In this case it's brutal, shocking and rather ironic - a great ending to a freewheeling excursion into the '70s Sydney underground.

Sandy Harbutt (who is very much the auteur of this film - director, actor, writer and producer) only really had this one story in him to tell, so he pulls out all the stops and lets it speak directly for his identity as a biker. Here are some of the many highlights to watch out for:

• The biker out of his mind on drugs at the rally during the film's opening, accompanied by a disconcerting soundtrack of white noise and didgerido.
• The Wile E. Coyote-esque decapitation of a motorcyclist by wire.
• The motorbike off-the-cliff sequence.
• The spectacular bikie funeral escort filmed on the Central Coast.
• Bill Hunter's appearance as a surly barman.
• The Gravediggers laughably claiming to be a 'minority religion' because they worship Satan.
• The presence of an Aboriginal biker named Midnight (Bindi Williams).
• The spliff-smoking ring that ends with everybody going skinny dipping at the beach.
• Dr Death (Vincent Gil) using his dying breath to spit blood on a stone angel.
  

Stone has it all - drugs, bashings, graveyard gunfights, political conspiracy, pub brawls and Satanism. What more could you ask for? I'll just leave you with some memorable quotes...

"Get your spannners off our molls"

"Satan! Sweet prince of darkness, here comes one of yours. His name is Go Down and he's going down with you. We want you to take care of him for us".

"The reason we're burying you standing up is so you don't have to take anything from the evil one lying down".

DIRECTOR: Sandy Harbutt
WRITER/SOURCE: Sandy Harbutt and Michael Robinson
KEY ACTORS: Sandy Harbutt, Ken Shorter, Roger Ward, Vincent Gil, Dewey Hungerford, Bill Hunter, Deryck Barnes

RELATED TEXTS:
- Stone Forever, a documentary celebrating the 25th anniversary of Stone's release.
- Some biker movies: Chrome and Hot Leather, Hell Ride, Easy Rider, The Wild Angels, The Black Six, Motorpsycho, The Savage Seven and The Born Losers.
- Also see the TV series Sons of Anarchy.
- Other Aussie action films from the '70s and early '80s: The Man From Hong Kong, Turkey Shoot, Stunt Rock, Mad Max and The Race for the Yankee Zephyr.
- Undercover cop gets too close to the criminal subculture he infiltrates: Point Break, Donnie Brasco, Cruising and The Fast and the Furious.