Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Logan Dodd There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

ferdinand1932 Stone is one of the worst movies ever made: inept direction; bad (funny) dialog, low production expertise and values, bad editing and endless boring sequences of motorcycles as if a bike on a road is interesting cinema. Yes, there is a big stunt, but that does not make a film.The movie is a boring and unintentionally funny, ridiculous counter culture trip that owes much to Easy Rider without a Hopper or Nicholson.Stone's special sentimental place in Australia must be due to the audience's thrill at seeing their own on film. Some movies should be banned to save a country total humiliation - and Stone is one of them.

Alecto-3 I'd just like to add that the version of this movie shown on TV and available on VHS and DVD is cut, the original movie was about 20 minutes longer but was cut for it's American release and was only ever shown in full during it's original 1974 release at Australian theater's. Seeing the full original version ties in some of the loose ends, but as far as I know the full version has never been released for commercial sale, though it was available for purchase at the 25'th anniversary Stone run in Sydney back in 1999, which I attended. The actual Kawasaki Z900's featured in the movie were offered for sale at theater's during the original 1974 release, when I saw the movie at the local drive-in back then there were three of them on display in the refreshment kiosk being offered for sale.

Infofreak 'Stone' was a labour of love for adman turned actor Sandy Harbutt, a biker enthusiast who took four years to get the script written by he and his pal Michael Robinson (who incidentally plays Pinball in the finished movie) on to the big screen. Many have slammed this movie as laughable, but I say look, it's a low budget exploitation movie with many non-actors in the cast, and if you take that into consideration it's a pretty good effort. Just compare it to an A.I.P. movie from roughly the same period and it's not that bad. The acting ranges from poor to above average, and while much of it is obviously dated and even a little silly at times, it manages to give a fairly realistic look at the 1970s Aussie outlaw bikie scene. It was certainly given the thumbs up by many Australian bikers at the time, and that's good enough for me. A few members of the supporting cast went on to bigger and better things (e.g. Helen Morse, Bill Hunter), but most of the major players were biker pals of Harbutt and have disappeared from the Australian acting industry. Ken Shorter (who looks a bit like the late Bon Scott at times) plays Stone, an undercover cop who joins The Grave Diggers bikie gang to try and find out who is killing them one by one. Shorter is one weak link in the movie. An ex-cop himself before acting he is pretty wooden and dull on screen. Much better is Harbutt himself who plays the Grave Diggers leader Undertaker. Also good is Rebecca Gilling who plays Undertaker's girl. Gilling was something of a TV sex symbol in the 1970s and looks beautiful, and yes, there is some brief but memorable full frontal nudity. The real stand out performance is by Hugh Keays-Byrne as Toad. Keays-Byrne was lured by Harbutt from a touring Shakespeare company and has lived and worked in Australia ever since, later playing Toecutter in 'Mad Max' and appearing in such cult favourites as 'The Man From Hong Kong', 'The Salute Of The Jugger' and 'Mad Dog Morgan'. He is terrific on screen from his opening acid freakout scene to his memorable final moments. Hugh Keays-Byrne I salute you! And I salute 'Stone', one of the most enjoyable movies ever made here in Australia. 'Stone' is a classic slice of 1970s biker exploitation and I highly recommend it.

uds3 Back in '74 the tag line for STONE was "Take the Trip!" By the time the critics had finished savaging this bikie saga, not that many people DID and STONE was headed for cinematic 'Boot Hill.' A funny thing happened though - somewhere along the line it was never fully erased from the collective public conscience and in due course the "legend of Stone" was created - to such an extent that now it is regarded as the "Bikie's bible" and sits proudly in the "70's Hall of fame" of Aussie film-making. It's not even a GOOD flick, either in script, acting or production values. What it DOES offer is high voltage energy and action sequences, mind you the flick is way overlong and quite tedious at times. The plot, such that it isn't, has cop Ken Shorter (at the time riding high on account of his role in YOU CAN'T SEE AROUND CORNERS) infiltrating a bikie gang to see who is knocking off their members with gay abandon. Now Shorter was about as realistic an underground cop as Mark Wahlberg would be playing Harry Potter. What the film DOES offer now in retrospect, is a cast-list not far short of the who's who of seasoned Aussie actors and actresses, all pretty much unknown then. Strictly 70's film-making it paved the way for such as MAD MAX and must be acknowledged for that. Check out the Funeral scene on the Gosford Freeway! - heady stuff!For me personally, I will always retain a soft spot for this film. I knew Sandy Harbutt and Helen Morse (then his wife) quite well during the making of this film as they purchased my beloved 1952 Riley 2 1/2 litre sedan from me, for the princely sum of $740. (You could add a zero to that today and then DOUBLE it!) Like that beautiful car, the film now remains a classic of its time!