Turkey Shoot

Turkey Shoot (1982)

Experience The Year 2000...And Hope To Hell You Can Escape!

In the near future, after an unspecified holocaust, survivors are herded into prison camps. There, they are hunted for sport by the leaders of the camp. Paul, one of the newest prisoners, is determined not to go down as quietly as the others.

Date of release
1982-03-25
TMDB
5.4 / 10 (105)
Runtime
1h 33m
Genres
Science Fiction, Action, Horror
Director
Brian Trenchard-Smith

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Box office: $1.4M
  • Budget: A$2.5M

Turkey Shoot is a 1982 Australian dystopian action film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith. Its ensemble cast—an eclectic mix of international stars, Australian soap opera veterans and character actors—is led by Steve Railsback, Olivia Hussey, Michael Craig, Noel Ferrier, Carmen Duncan, Roger Ward and Lynda Stoner. The film marks the first of three directorial collaborations between Trenchard-Smith and producer Antony I. Ginnane—the others being The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989) and Arctic Blast (2010)—although the director had previously made promotional reels and trailers for Ginnane's earlier films.

Production

According to Brian Trenchard-Smith, the film was always meant to be a satire.

The original script was sort of like I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang meets "The Most Dangerous Game", with 70 pages of Chain Gang and "Most Dangerous Game" lasted about 35 pages. I didn't think that was good balance. Also it was set in the depression era Deep South. We had tax based financing in place on condition that it was supposed to be set in Australia. So I suggested we set it in the future, and make it more universal.

Turkey Shoot was produced during the Australian film tax exemption scheme 10BA. Under 10BA film costs were subsidised by the Australian government, and directors tended to cast foreign leads in the hope of boosting success in Europe or the Americas.

The movie was shot in Far North Queensland near Cairns. According to Trenchard-Smith, the schedule was slashed from 44 days to 28 just prior to filming. David Hemmings was one of the executive producers and shot some second unit scenes, which Trenchard-Smith says caused some tension:

He did not think much of me. He knew that a Completion Guarantor had me waiting in the wings to take over an earlier film [Race for the Yankee Zephyr] Hemmings was directing if he continued to remain behind schedule. He was having an on again off again affair with a member of the cast. When he made fun of me in front of my wife and new born son once in the production office, I poured beer on his head.

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