This film, from the book of the same name and written by Kenneth Cook, was first released in 1971 and, was the Australian representative at the Cannes Film Festival that year. The release of the movie in U.S. theaters was in July but, was re-named OUTBACK. There were several alterations of it, including the opening and end titles and, one scene re-done with the star of the movie, Gary Bond, appearing in underpants, rather than the naked scene in the original. The movie then disappeared but, did manage to surface in different formats, including VHS in North America. From 1972 through 2002, this film was lost. In early 2002, the original negatives for Wake In Fright were located in a Pittsburgh vault marked for destruction! From that year until now, the film was carefully restored, through digital means because of significant scratching and color fade to the negatives.