TV Review: Les Norton (2019). Elmore Leonard meets Crocodile Dundee in this Australian crime comedy.

Image courtesy of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Tv Review: Les Norton (2019) by Ben Jeffries (7/8/2019)

Season 1 Episode 1 - You Wouldn’t Be Dead For Quids (4/8/2019)

54 minutes

Crime, Drama, Comedy,

Les Norton airs Sunday nights at 8:40pm on the ABC, or streaming new episodes weekly on iView

Les Norton punches it’s way onto screens, with a cast of likable crims and a dose of 80’s Australiana.

Based on the popular series of books by Robert G. Barrett, Les Norton tells the story of a country bloke from outback Queensland, the titular Les (Alexander Bertrand), finding his way amid the rough and tumble streets of Sydney in 1985. Les is a recent transplant to the Harbour City, looking to put some distance between himself and a troubled past, but after taking a job as a bouncer at an illegal casino he quickly finds himself drawn in by the seductive lure of the city’s underworld. With a cast of larger than life characters, and a charming script, Les Norton is a rewardingly fun little comedy caper.

Kings Cross: 1985. Think mission brown suit jackets, wood veneer appliances, tight acid wash jeans, the boxy silhouette of an XD Ford Falcon, brown interior finishes, dark carpets, bouncers wearing bowties. It’s a hit parade of 80’s nostalgia that Les Norton uses to represent 1980’s Sydney. The locations where the show is shot have obviously been chosen with a careful eye towards period correctness, and the vintage feeling is reinforced through the application of some tv trickery where the show uses archival footage of Kings Cross from the actual 80’s as establishing shots for some of Les’ adventures. There’s also a cleverly designed recurring montage treatment which uses era appropriate styling like side-by-side frames of footage that move about the screen, rotating and sliding and changing size, all set to a soundtrack of loud bass and raunchy saxophone that feels very 80’s tv.

With a light hint of film grain and a gentle yellow colour grade, the show looks good on screen, presenting an interesting aesthetic as it plays with framing and colour reminiscent of Australian tv from the decade in which the show is set. At times that framing can feel a little cramped or squished when it focuses closely on a scene or subject, and it’s hard to tell if that’s because the show is trying to emulate a period correct style in a modern widescreen format, or because the camera is carefully positioned to avoid the modern building or appliance just out of frame which would destroy the 80’s illusion. Perhaps it’s a simple matter of the show being shot with a limited selection of lenses and the production being forced to make do with what they had, which is in itself a very 80’s tv aesthetic. Regardless, the cramped feeling some scenes have is only a minor distraction that never actually hurts the shows image.

Having fixed it’s gritty world in shades of tan and pastel pink, Les Norton populates that world with a cast of larger-than-life characters played by a solid cast. There’s a mix of faces both fresh and familiar, with established names like David Wenham (Top of the Lake, 300) and Rebel Wilson (The Hustle, Pitch Perfect 3) as supporting characters. Wenham plays underground casino owner Price Galese, a big time crim with connections to the police force, while Wilson plays Doreen Bognor, a brothel owner from Surry Hills with whom Price has some philosophical differences of opinion. Wenham is in good form as illicit businessman Galese, all quiet self assurance, veiled threats, and an easy smile. Wilson brings her broad, open, comedic stylings to the character of Doreen, pushing the punchline quota of the episode way up in a scene where she recites for Les the “menu” of her brothel.

Alexander Bertrand (The Warriors, Home and Away), a relative newcomer to screen acting, is perfectly cast as the titular Les, a disarmingly winsome character who’s obviously in way over his head and doesn’t even realise it. Les is an unsophisticated country boy, and Bertrands broad, strapping, frame suits his characters country upbringing as well as his proficiency with his fists, but there’s an emotional intelligence to the performance that shows Bertrand can carry the show with more than just his square jawed good looks. He resists the obvious choice to play Les as loud and simple, instead giving him a quiet confidence that’s much more interesting to watch as Les is constantly challenged by the complications of city life and each new outrageous character he meets. Characters like the possibly unhinged Eddie Salita, played by Justin Rozniak (Packed to the Rafters, Animal Kingdom), who is right hand man to Price Galese. Eddie is a Viet Nam veteran, working for Galese as an enforcer and a fixer, and Rozniak is a lot of fun as the shifty eyed little man with a dangerous air and a daring sense of fashion.

While Les Norton combines competent period production design and a cast of strong performances, the highlight is the delightfully colloquial script. As the audience is shepherded through the episode by the voice of a narrator, a role excellently played by the gruff baritone of Angus Sampson, they’re treated to a charming mix of rhyming slang and colourful metaphor which lends proceedings the feeling of an occa-fied Elmore Leonard piece. There’s a punchy rhythm to the dialogue, and every scene is littered with pithy little quips, clever turns of phrase, and creatively assembled profanity.

After his first shift on the door at Galese’s illegal casino The Kelly Club, wearing what the narrator tells us is a borrowed Bag of Fruit (suit), his new colleagues offer to buy Les a drink at the bar. Offered a choice between whiskey and bourbon, Les says that “A Four Ecks’ll do thanks.” When the bar manager Georgie presents him with a bottle of Crown Lager instead, Les is skeptical. “They tell me it’s the Rolls Royce of beers,” she explains, encouraging him to try it. After a hesitant sip Les can only offer the opinion; “Guess I’m more of ‘ute’ guy.” It’s a clever little exchange that explains what kind of a guy Les is; comfortable with who he is, unassuming and unpretentious but cleverer than you might think, while at the same time setting up the fish-out-of-water element to his story.

The similarities to classic crime fiction don’t end with the scripts creative verbiage. As Les settles into his new life in Sydney he finds himself wound further up in his new bosses business than he might like, caught between a shotgun wielding Madame and a well connected but obviously dangerous crook, unable to run for home because there’s trouble waiting for him there too. Everyone’s working an angle, from Billy Dunne (Hunter Page-Lochard), another bouncer at The Kelly Club, to Sgt. “Thumper” Burrell (Steve Le Marquand), a bent copper with a well worn night stick. Between a shady business enterprise, a host of rogue-ish characters with questionable motives, and the naive initiate who finds himself at the centre of things Les Norton invokes the feeling of classic crime fiction and s this first episode draws to a close it promises to unfold a twisty little story over the following weeks, with the promise of more criminal adventures for Les and his new crew.

The setting is charming, the set-up is classically familiar, and the dialogue is engagingly specific in tone. The huge amount of fun the cast are having with the material is obvious on screen and the performances are all pitch perfect for the material, especially Bertrand in the lead role, for whom this could be a breakout moment. The camera work may feel like a compromise between aspiration and budget at times, but it never lets the show down, instead lending it a certain verisimilitude of setting. With it’s light hearted take on the crime fiction comedy genre and a cast of likable, funny, nasty, characters, Les Norton is interesting, approachable, and excitingly fun.

7/10

Les Norton is Produced by: Roadshow Rough Diamond

Distributed by: the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Created By: Morgan O’Neill

Written by: Morgan O’Neill, Robert G. Barrett (Based on the books by:)

Directed by: Jocelyn Moorhouse

Starring: Alexander Bertrand, Kate Box, Hunter Page-Lochard, Pallavi Sharda, Syd Zygier, Steve Le Marquand, Justin Rozniak, David Wenham, Rebel Wilson, ANgus Sampson

Cinematography: Martin McGrath

Music: Richard Pike