A production crew flew into the city this week to shoot scenes that will feature in a week-long celebration of Australian cult cinema.

Australian film and television historian and author Andrew Mercado will host the series in which he presents “the best break-neck action, schlock-horror, ocker comedy and frisky sex romps that contributed to the cultural film phenomenon of the 70s and 80s in Australian film - Ozploitation”. 

Films to be featured include Quentin Tarantino’s documentary Not Quite Hollywood, Alvin Purple, Road Games, Stone, Mad Dog Morgan and Felicity.

It was Mr Mercado’s first visit to Dubbo but he said the city provided just what the six-person crew was looking for.

“As you can see, I’m dressed in a very 70s fashion, I don’t always wear loud shirts like this but the crew wanted the scenes to look like we were in the 70s, in the outback, with some red dirt, and Dubbo means red earth, doesn’t it?” he said.

“The crew came out to research and had amazing help from Dubbo council, who found a key location for us.

“We wanted a kind of abandoned roadhouse so we went to Fuel on the Newell, we had Harley Davidsons in the workshop and got a guy to bring in a Ford GT, like was in Mad Max. 

“We went for a spin and he did a bit of a burnout.”

Mr Mercado said the crew filmed promotional footage and six segments to introduce each of the films.

“We shot a promo that has me playing a Quentin Tarantino-type character - incidentally he loves Ozploitation films, he’s a big fan,” Mr Mercado said.

“The intro for Road Games features a semi-trailer, it was very cool,” he said.

Mr Mercado said while his visit was short he had a blast.

“We arrived just in time for the lunar eclipse,” he said.

“We had dinner then went to a park and watched it, which is something I heard some people in Sydney couldn’t do because of cloud cover, so we were really lucky.

“Then we got up at sunrise so we could be captured in the golden light.”

Mr Mercado said he was passionate about the project because 1970s and 1980s Australian cinema was “such a great era”.

“It reminds me of a time when people thought Australian movies were cool and we went to see our own cinema,” he said.

“We’ve lost that in recent years. Australian films struggle at the box office now. But all these films went around the world, they travelled really well.”

Mr Mercado, who co-hosts Foxtel Movie Show, has over the years regularly been called upon as an expert commentator on popular culture, film and television.

The best Australian film he had seen this year was These Final Hours, a movie about the end of the world that was shot in Perth. 

When it came to his favourite films of all time, Mr Mercado was somewhat torn.

“With Australian films, I think the best one ever made was Wake In Fright, but that’s definitely not a feel-good film,” he said.

“Another favourite Australian film is Puberty Blues, the original film.

“I do have a lot of trouble answering what my favourite film of all time was, but I would have to say The Poseidon Adventure, the original. It’s the first film I went to see by myself in a cinema with my mate when I was 10 years old.

“I just remember being so blown away by that film. I think it’s led to me being where I am today.”

The Ozploitation specials will be shown on Foxtel’s World Movies between November 17 and 21.