A Dangerous Summer 1982 - Trailer

A Dangerous Summer (1982) - Cult Film Index Review Directed by Quentin Masters, co-written with David Ambrose, and produced by Jim McElroy. Set in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Tom Skerritt plays Howard Anderson, an American builder who partners with the unscrupulous Julian Fane (Guy Doleman) to construct a luxury mountain resort, not knowing Fane intends to torch it for the insurance. James Mason plays George Engels, a Lloyd's of London investigator who teams with Anderson when deaths start occurring. Wendy Hughes and Ray Barrett co-starred. The film has an unusual origin: cinematographer John Seale shot real footage of the devastating Sydney bushfires of the 1979-80 summer, which Brian Trenchard-Smith assembled into a 25-minute documentary short. That fire material was then built into the feature, Trenchard-Smith was originally set to direct, but ultimately didn't. The real bushfire footage gives the film its most visceral moments, particularly a train-on-fire sequence that reviewers consistently single out as the standout set piece. The rest is a fairly standard insurance fraud thriller that doesn't quite match it. Also known as Flash Fire and The Burning Man. Subscribe for more Aussie suspense. #ADangerousSummer #CultFilmIndex #AustralianThrillers #JamesMason #TomSkerritt #BushfireCinema

Added 12 Jul 2026