| Dallas Doll | |
| Director: | Ann Turner |
| Producer: | Ray Brown Penny Chapman |
| Starring: | Sandra Bernhard Victoria Longley Celia Ireland Rose Byrne David Ngoombujarra Roy Billing Frank Gallacher |
| Cinematography: | Paul Murphy |
| Editing: | Michael Honey |
| Runtime: | 104 minutes |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
Dallas Doll is an Australian black comedy-drama film starring Sandra Bernhard, David Ngoombujarra, Roy Billing, Victoria Longley, Frank Gallacher, Jake Blundell, Rose Byrne, Celia Ireland. It was written and directed by Ann Turner.[1]
Dallas Adair is an American consultant brought to Australia to advise on a new golf course project. On the plane from L.A. she meets Charlie Sommers, the 18-year-old son of one of her bosses when there's a near crash landing, after which Dallas moves into the Sommers bourgeois home. While living with the Sommers, Dallas begins a twisted odyssey to seduce and corrupt the family which includes seducing Charlie, then seducing his father Stephen, a workaholic lawyer who is re-awakened by sexual desire. Dallas even seduces Stephen's frustrated wife Rosalind, where Dallas introduces Rosalind to excitement of living on edge and the female body. Only the Sommer's UFO obsessed teenage daughter Rastus, along with her pet dog Argus, are highly suspicious to Dallas's agenda. Her influence over the Sommers family secured, Dallas begins to chart her final objective by appealing to the local Mayor Tonkin, for assistance in setting up the golf links with her wicked charms. However, fate and destiny finally catches up to Dallas when Charlie returns from his lone spiritual quest in the desert with old scores to settle where he, Argus and a spectacular visitation conspire to cause the downfall and death of Dallas Adair.
Shot in April and May 1993, the film was developed with the assistance of the Australian Film Commission and made with money from the FFC. Sandra Bernhard was imported to play the lead. Ann Turner:
"Dallas Doll" essentially came from being part of and seeing how Australians really worship experts from overseas. I've done some writing workshops where that would happen. An American is brought out – and the willingness for Australians to accept with open arms whatever fraud comes out because they're American, that's absolutely the starting point of Dallas Doll.[2]
The film was released theatrically in 1994 in the United Kingdom and Germany, received mixed reviews.[3] [4] It was released in the United States on 23 June 1995 and had a limited theatrical run.[5]