
Bruno Lawrence
Actor · 1941 – 1995 · Worthing, West Sussex, England, UK
Born David Charles Lawrence in Worthing, West Sussex, England, he migrated with his family to New Zealand in 1946, settling in New Plymouth before moving to Wellington in 1948. Lawrence spent most of his life in New Zealand, but also worked extensively in Australia. He was a renowned jazz and rock drummer, playing drums in many bands, including Max Merritt & The Meteors, Quincy Conserve, Blerta, and The Crocodiles. His last recording was with Bernie McGann, Larry Gales and Jonathan Crayford on "Jazz at the St. James" in 1989. In the early 1970s, Lawrence founded Blerta ("Bruno Lawrence's Electric Revelation and Travelling Apparition"). The multi and theatrical co-operative toured New Zealand and in parts of Australia. Blerta saw him performing alongside many people he would work with later as an actor, including director Geoff Murphy, and actors Martyn Sanderson and Ian Watkin.
Movies24
Movie6.6DramaScience FictionAfter a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.
The Quiet Earth
1985 · 659 votes
Movie5.4ComedyDramaWallace is an efficiency expert, managing the high-profile downsizing of a major auto parts factory. But when he is hired to evaluate a small moccasin factory which seems from another era, Wallace has to reconsider the rapid modernization he advocates, as he is confronted by the human faces such plans hurt.
Spotswood
1992 · 38 votes
Movie4.6Science FictionActionIt's the 21st century, the Oil Wars have made a mess of the planet and the land outside major cities is lawless. After Hunter comes to the aid of Corlie, who has run away from the villainous Straker, he takes her to the peaceful community of Clearwater. Unfortunately for the citizens of Clearwater, Straker fully intends to get Corlie back.
Battletruck
1982 · 37 votes
Movie5.9ActionAdventureIn a lake high in the mountains of New Zealand, hunter Gibbie Gibson discovers a plane wreck from WW2. When word gets around, a gang of crooks turns up and threatens him and his daughter, because they know there is 50 million dollars of gold in the wreck. Gibbie, his partner and helicopter pilot Barney, and his daughter Sally, are caught up in a race for the Yankee Zephyr.
Race for the Yankee Zephyr
1981 · 36 votes
Movie5.1DramaRomanceA small town in Australia, in the late 1950s: Brownie and Lola are deeply in love. But because they are under-age, their parents are against their relationship and try to separate them.
The Delinquents
1989 · 28 votes
Movie5.5ThrillerAdventureAfter the death of his mother, teenage Danny visits his father Matt Malloy on a lonesome farm in Australia, where he lives with a girlfriend and her daughter Stevie. The farm has been going bad lately, so Matt starts smuggling Marijuana for a drug connection. When Danny joins him on one of his flights, the two-seater crashes in the middle of nowhere. Since his father is wounded, he has to conquer the jungle alone in search for help.
Initiation
1987 · 5 votes
Movie4.5HorrorScience FictionA kid is hypnotized by a scientist to kill his parents and ends in a mental institution. As a grown up he returns to seek revenge over the scientist.
Death Warmed Up
1984 · 37 votes
Movie4.4ActionComedyRikky and her brother Pete struggle to keep their lives from spinning out of control in small town Australia.
Rikky and Pete
1988 · 8 votes
Movie5.0MysteryThrillerA schoolteacher (John Waters) becomes obsessed with the idea that his wife (Joy Bell) did not die in a car accident, as everyone else thinks.
Grievous Bodily Harm
1988 · 10 votes
Movie6.3DramaThrillerAl Shaw's life revolves around motor racing and his back country junkyard, the "Smash Palace". His French wife, Jacqui, doesn't appreciate the lack of attention due to Al's obsession with cars. When Al finds her in the arms of another man, he takes his daughter, Georgie and heads for the bush, desperately hoping to hold on to the only family he has left.
Smash Palace
1981 · 33 votes
Movie9.0DocumentaryTV MovieNumero Bruno is a warts and all biography of widely popular actor, musician and counter-cultural hero Bruno Lawrence. Lawrence's intense, charismatic screen presence was key to ground-breaking Kiwi films, Smash Palace, The Quiet Earth and Utu. Directed by Steve La Hood, this documentary features interviews with family and friends, and liberal excerpts from Lawrence's film and musical work, including performances by 70s alternative Aotearoa icons Blerta and clips showcasing his seminal collaborations with Geoff Murphy.
Numero Bruno
2000 · 1 votes
Movie4.6WarDramaSister Honour Langtree (Wendy Hughes), is in charge of a military hospital for psychiatric patients. She however transgresses boundaries by developing a sexual attraction for a new patient.
An Indecent Obsession
1985 · 7 votes
Movie5.0HorrorThrillerJack and Dora, abandoned by their parents as babies, are desperate to find each other after years of adoption. Jack's young life has been spent with a sadistic family. Dora, whose life has been somewhat better, has developed extra-sensory powers which tell her that Jack's in danger and drives her to search for him.
Jack Be Nimble
1993 · 22 votes
Movie5.5DramaTV MovieDramatisation of the sinking of the Greenpeace ship 'The Rainbow Warrior' by French agents in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1985.
The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy
1988 · 3 votes
Movie7.0WarAdventureIn New Zealand in the 1860s the native Māori people fought the British colonials to keep the land guaranteed to them by treaty. The warrior Te Wheke fights for the British until betrayal leads him to seek utu (revenge). The settler Williamson in turn seeks revenge after Te Wheke attacks his homestead. Meanwhile Wiremu, an officer for the British, seems to think that resistance is futile.
Utu
1983 · 33 votes
Movie6.0ComedyScience FictionA surfer abandoned in the middle of the Australian Outback encounters an alien who time-travels in a ship that looks like a 1950s greasy spoon restaurant and embroils the hero in a chase that involves him sorting out a time paradox so that he can wind back time to prevent the Japanese winning World War II.
As Time Goes By
1988 · 8 votes
Movie4.2DramaHorrorKids on an outing in the forest come up against a mysterious hermit who lives on the other side of a bridge, and he is definitely not happy to see them.
Bridge to Nowhere
1986 · 5 votes
Movie6.7AdventureComedyGerry hires a car in Kaitaia with a stolen licence and travels to Invercargill with John, whose wife has just left him. The ultimate New Zealand road trip adventure.
Goodbye Pork Pie
1981 · 28 votes
Movie5.4TV MovieDramaPeter Wilcox, as skipper of the 'Rainbow Warrior', a Greenpeace ship, docks in Auckland, July 1985, preparing for a protest against French nuclear testing in the south pacific. When a bomb rips open the vessel, killing a crew member, he must convince the police superintendent that this is an act of terrorism. Determined not to allow outside forces to threaten their harbor, the police embark on a pursuit of the persons responsible. The events that follow nearly bring down an allied nation's government.
The Rainbow Warrior
1997 · 5 votes
Movie4.4DramaChilling story of a farmhand who realizes his popular boss has been committing incest with his daughter for years.
Heart of the Stag
1984 · 7 votes
MovieDocumentaryTV MovieDirector Geoff Steven's personal perspective on the Kiwi cinema renaissance of the 1970s. It traces the development of the local film industry from the ‘she'll be right' days when filming permits were unknown, and all that was needed to get a picture up were a Bolex camera, enthusiasm and ingenuity.
Movie5.3After her father’s death, Anna Peterson moves with her family from Australia to a run-down ranch in New Zealand, where they face an unwelcoming community. Drawn to horses, Anna becomes captivated by a wild stallion being hunted by a neighboring rancher.
The Rogue Stallion
1990 · 6 votes
Movie6.8ComedyDramaTwo brothers take their father into the city for the weekend for a rugby game and a night on the town. However, the old man dies in their hotel and the boys need to smuggle his body back to their farm and make it appear that he died there to satisfy a clause in his will or else they won't inherit the property.
Carry Me Back
1982 · 2 votes
MovieDocumentaryMaking of documentary on the set of New Zealand's first epic Utu (1983), working with little money and dealing respectfully with matters of cultural protocol. Merata Mita discusses complex issues of inter-cultural conflict.
Making Utu
1983
Series2
TV7.7ComedyFrontline is an Australian comedy television series which satirised Australian television current affairs programmes and reporting. It ran for three series of 13 half-hour episodes and was broadcast on ABC TV in 1994, 1995 and 1997.
Frontline
1994 · 7 votes
TV7.7CrimeDramaOn 21st April 1976, gunmen held up more than 50 members of Melbourne’s venerable Victorian club, escaping with several million dollars in untraceable cash. The robbery had been so brilliantly planned and executed that police were left without a single clue–and so strict was the robbers’ code of silence that not even the underworld was aware of their identities.
The Great Bookie Robbery
1986 · 3 votes