{"id":9730,"date":"2009-10-01T11:40:23","date_gmt":"2009-10-01T18:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=9730"},"modified":"2021-01-28T10:30:39","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T17:30:39","slug":"plumber-the-1979","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=9730","title":{"rendered":"Plumber, The (1979)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;It&#8217;s what you can&#8217;t see that counts in plumbing; always remember that.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Plumber-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Plumber-Poster-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-66552\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Plumber-Poster-210x300.jpg 210w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Plumber-Poster-90x128.jpg 90w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Plumber-Poster-189x270.jpg 189w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Plumber-Poster.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA working-class plumber (Ivar Kants) terrorizes the wife (Judy Morris) of an anthropologist (Robert Coleby).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Australian Films<\/li>\n<li>Cat-and-Mouse<\/li>\n<li>Class Relations<\/li>\n<li>Peter Weir Films<\/li>\n<li>Psychological Horror<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nMade by writer-director Peter Weir for Australian television, this darkly humorous thriller is an unusual and strangely compelling treat. Judy Morris (as Jill) and Ivar Kants (as Max) are perfectly cast as opposites who immediately clash with one another when they&#8217;re forced into close proximity. Kants (effectively creepy) is deeply insecure about his working class background, and makes his scorn of intellectual Morris known immediately; after insinuating himself into her house (are there <em>really<\/em> plumbing problems in their pipes?), he proceeds to harass and mess with her, making snide comments about her lifestyle which she&#8217;s (initially) too polite to do anything about. It&#8217;s both ironic and strategic that Jill (a cultural anthropologist) is studying the &#8220;bizarre&#8221; cultural rituals of a Guinean tribe while simultaneously trying to deal with the equally inscrutable mystery of Max the Plumber. Will he harm her? Does he have ulterior motives? Or is Jill really going off the deep end? (Indeed, there&#8217;s a layer of feminist subtext to the plot, given that Jill has just recently chosen to give up her day job and stay at home.) Weir&#8217;s satirical brilliance lies in his ability to bring to the surface latent class tensions we&#8217;ve all felt at one time or another in our lives, as we&#8217;ve encountered people either more or less moneyed or educated than ourselves. Fortunately, he resists turning <em>The Plumber<\/em> into a traditional horror film, instead focusing on Jill&#8217;s increasingly paranoid reaction to Max, a feeling which no one around her &#8212; neither her distracted husband (Robert Coleby) nor her best friend (Candy Raymond) &#8212; seems to share. At just 77 minutes, <em>The Plumber<\/em> leaves you curious about its outcome until the very end; all film fanatics should check it out at least once.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Judy Morris as Jill<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/plumber-morris.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/plumber-morris.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9731\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ivar Kants as Max<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/plumber-kants.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/plumber-kants.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9736\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A humorously creepy screenplay<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/plumber-creepy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/plumber-creepy.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9732\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Rory O&#8217;Donoghue and Gerry Tolland&#8217;s score<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a most effective and unconventional thriller. Listed as a Sleeper and a Personal Recommendation (I agree) in the back of Peary&#8217;s book.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Good Show<\/li>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0079727\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1981\/12\/01\/movies\/peter-weir-s-the-plumber.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/reviews\/8085\/cars-that-ate-paris-the-plumber-the\/\">DVD Talk Review (scroll down to second review)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moria.co.nz\/index.php?option=com_content&#038;task=view&#038;id=2932Itemid=1\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/86857\/the-plumber#articles-reviews?articleId=413225\">TCM DVD Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s what you can&#8217;t see that counts in plumbing; always remember that.&#8221; Synopsis: A working-class plumber (Ivar Kants) terrorizes the wife (Judy Morris) of an anthropologist (Robert Coleby). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Australian Films Cat-and-Mouse Class Relations Peter Weir Films Psychological Horror Review: Made by writer-director Peter Weir for Australian television, this darkly humorous thriller is an unusual and strangely compelling treat. Judy Morris (as Jill) and Ivar Kants (as Max) are perfectly cast as opposites who immediately clash&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=9730\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9730"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66554,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9730\/revisions\/66554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}