Police Rescue

Police Rescue is a movie length version of the TV series of the same name of which Michael Carson directed nine episodes between 1991 and 1993.

Unlike movies, television is driven by the more exigent commercial requirements of matching the expectations of its target audience. As a film Police Rescue is marred by precisely those requirements – across the board it is stock characters doing stock things in the least subtle of ways (the pie-eating scene involving Mickey and the police investigator is particularly ill-judged in this respect).

Gary Sweet plays Mickey McClintock the alpha-male head of Sydney’s Police Rescue squad, who has to deal with new member Lorrie Gordon (Zoë Carides) whose now-dead policeman boyfriend (his demise opens the film) dealt drugs on the side. The investigation branch wants Mickey to observe Lorrie, something which offends Mickey’s amour propre (a lot of fuss is made about the need for Lorrie to be trustworthy although its none to clear why her suspected grifting on the drug squad would make her so unreliable to the rescue squad) but, of course, romantic sparks fly and after a few ups and downs, well, you know the ending.

Yes, Police Rescue is predictable and heavy-handed stuff displaying all the hallmarks of Australian 1990s televisual style, including starry camera-work with a soap-opera-ish use of close ups to illustrate the actors’ loudly-signalled responses and prominent music cues to emphasise key dramatic points. It is likely to remain a footnote in Australian history only because it provides the first feature film role for Cate Blanchett who appears as the child-care worker in the climactic hostage scene.

 

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