Casual mentions of Australia in films

[worbod]

The Isolation Blues are leading me to try gathering some random info. I'm trying to discover movies in which Australia is mentioned but the mention of Australia is not crucial to the plot. For example:

Educating Rita: Towards the end of the film Michael Caine tells Julie Walters he is being sent to Australia to teach due to his transgressions at the university.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: When they are trapped by the Bolivian Amy in the small barn, Butch suggests to Sundance that after they shoot their way out of trouble they should flee to Australia to make a new start.
Rain Man: the airport scene where Tom Cruise tells Dustin Hoffman that every airline has had a crash. Hoffman explains that Qantas has never crashed, where upon Cruise tells Hoffman they would have to travel to Australia to catch a Qantas plane, prompting Hoffman to rattle off a few facts about Oz.
Grease: At one point John Travolta is surprised to see Olivia Newton-John, claiming he thought she had gone back to Australia.



These are all casual mentions of Australia but the plot does not revolve around the mention of Australia. Obliviously some Australian films might reference Australia but I'm more interested in any non-Aussie films.

 

[Kram]

 

[Kram]

Kill Bill 2 "Daddy, I told Tommy that you were in Perth mining for silver"

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/d8f2e973-5f67-4f04-a053-75174cb728a9#JtLFKr7iyY.copy

 

[worbod]

The Hustle makes mention of Australia in relation to Rebel Wilson. There might be more of her films where this happens as she seems to play Australians in her Hollywood films from what I have noticed.
I think The King's Speech has mention of Australia in relation to Geoffrey Rush's character.

 

[Andre]

The Princess Bride - The battle of wits.

Westley:
You've made your decision, then?

Vizzini:
Not remotely! Because iocaine comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.

 

[IKnowtheDog]

Point Break and the ‘Fifty year’ Storm

 

[worbod]

On Wikipedia's "List of films set in Australia", they are listing Independence Day among them. I have not seen this film since it came out in 1996 but I do not recall any Australian references or connection with the film's plot? Is this one of Wikipedia's blunders?

 

[Trucker Tiger]

Brisbane, pronounced incorrectly, is referenced in Jaws.

 

[Royces Hart]

On Wikipedia's "List of films set in Australia", they are listing Independence Day among them. I have not seen this film since it came out in 1996 but I do not recall any Australian references or connection with the film's plot? Is this one of Wikipedia's blunders?

Wasn’t Sydney shown being blown to s**t?

 

[Millky95]

Wasn’t Sydney shown being blown to s**t?

Sydney

Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. During the War of 1996, the city was targeted for destruction by the Harvesters. Fortunately, during the July 4th counteroffensive, the City Destroyer was intercepted by the RAAF as it approached Sydney and...

independenceday.fandom.com

It got stopped before it could take out Sydney

 

[Royces Hart]

Sydney

Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. During the War of 1996, the city was targeted for destruction by the Harvesters. Fortunately, during the July 4th counteroffensive, the City Destroyer was intercepted by the RAAF as it approached Sydney and...

independenceday.fandom.com

It got stopped before it could take out Sydney

That’s a shame

 

[spinynorman]

Looks like it crashed into the eastern suburbs at least.

 

[brutus76]

Superman II Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor is happy for the 3 super villains to run Earth as long as he gets "Australia" as part of helping them find and destroy the "Son of Jor-El"

 

[TigerCraig]

The Hustle makes mention of Australia in relation to Rebel Wilson. There might be more of her films where this happens as she seems to play Australians in her Hollywood films from what I have noticed.
I think The King's Speech has mention of Australia in relation to Geoffrey Rush's character.

Geoffrey Rush's character was Australian

 

[Bostonian]

Django Unchained.

The Australian Miner scene.

 

[Bostonian]

St Kilda in Funny People.

 

[DIG]

Maybe not that casual but the flight in Inception where while he’s asleep everything happens goes to Sydney.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Independence Day and similar movies have the opera house or harbour bridge getting crashed into/blown up.

 

[Fwoy]

The Princess Bride - The battle of wits.

Westley:
You've made your decision, then?

Vizzini:
Not remotely! Because iocaine comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.

was the first one that came to mind

 

[WireHawk]

The film 'Rough Night' starring Scarlett Johannson had Kate McKinnon
playing an Australian friend of Scarlo. Kate was the funniest character in the film.

 

[NSWCROW]

Maybe not that casual but the flight in Inception where while he’s asleep everything happens goes to Sydney.

Watched it last week , it's Sydney to LA.

 

[Roobs321]

It just becomes too common once you've seen enough films. It tends to be used as a conceptual idea than an actual living breathing place, or maybe just somewhere random to fill out a backstory. Maybe some random like a long lost brother or ex or associate moved there a while back. Maybe it is advertised as a travel/immigration destination. Occasionally it is seen as a place of intellectual stupor and without culture. Or token disaster movie mention.

I'll just mention a few that instantly leap to mind:

The Sacrifice: bad, dumb Australia
The Seventh Continent: billboard Australia
How Green Was My Valley: Relo migrant-worker Australia

The first two might not be casual enough for you, but it is a superficial Australia which is more of a concept and something never even remotely visited.

 

[Deathray]

Michael Caine playing ‘Chips O’Toole’ at the end of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

 

[Crimson Azure]

Point break. 50 year storm happens only in Australia, bells beach.

edit: already mentioned, repartition for emphasis.

 

[phantom13]

Tarantino has a bit of a thing for Australia. From memory he’s mentioned it in a few films and Django has him playing an Aussie (with an awful accent) next to John Jarrat.

I am legend was on the other day, had a random reference to Australia developing a cure from memory (in a flashback scene).

Also MI2 (the real s**t one) has half the film set in sydney for no discernible reason at all.