The Plumber
Tags: comedy

Plot synopsis:
The film opens as Dr. Brian Cowper (Robert Coleby) takes a shower in the apartment he shares with his wife Jill (Judy Morris), who is a masters student in anthropology. As he exits the building's elevator on his way to work, an ominous character is seen entering and randomly choosing the button for the ninth floor. He knocks on the Cowpers' door and announces himself as Max (Ivar Kants), the building's plumber. Jill insists that they did not call for a plumber, and Max assures her that he is simply doing a mandatory check of the building's pipes.
Max maintains an affable, loquacious facade. Once inside the bathroom, he starts to chip away at the tile under the sink. When Jill rushes to the bathroom to see what he is doing, Max impishly encourages her to leave him to his work. He closes the door and then takes a very loud shower. Meanwhile, Brian has been informed that a team from the World Health Organization is coming to interview him about his work. He calls Jill to share the news, and in his glee, he dismisses her concerns about Max.
Max tells Jill that the apartment's pipes are a mess and that he will come back tomorrow to replace them. After he leaves, Jill goes to the bathroom to look at the mess that Max made, and he suddenly appears behind her. He claims that the door was unlocked and that he was just bringing in her groceries, since he had noticed they were in a heavy box. This basic pattern of Max's odd, slightly ominous behavior recurs and expands throughout the film. He keeps finding excuses to visit the apartment, and his work in the bathroom only makes a bigger mess each time. Because Brian never sees Max, he dismisses Jill's concerns out of hand. In one shot, Max patiently waits in his car for Brian to leave before heading up to the apartment.
Max eventually erects an elaborate scaffolding in the bathroom which renders it largely useless. As the Cowper's host the WHO officials for dinner, one of their guests gets himself trapped in the rigging and injures himself. During an argument with Jill, Max finally promises to finish his work, threatening that he will do a haphazard job just to get it over with. Sure enough, the plumbing explodes, pouring fetid water all over the bathroom, and prompting the return of Max to the apartment.
The film ends with the police arresting Max. They search his car and find items that belong to Jill. She looks down on the arrest from her balcony, and Max screams at her that she set him up.

Review: A bush-walk that defies explanation at HANGING ROCK, a country town with a lurid secret in THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS, oveflowing domestic storm-water in THE LAST WAVE and here, the humble PLUMBER, or maybe the stranger from Hell?Filmed for the most part in Jill Cowper's (Judy Morris's) apartment, if not the bathroom itself, her nightmare starts when she has need to call a tradesman to fix faulty plumbing in her bathroom.
In the bathroom however he rules unchallenged and Jill finds herself at the mercy of what appears to be a serially disturbed tradesman.Less of a thriller and more a black comedy, Weir places his protaganists each in unfamilar locales.
Jill, a highly educated anthropologist, married to a doctor and studying indigenous behavioural activity has absolutely no idea how to respond to this intrusive workman who stops for 10 minute tea-breaks every five minutes and composes a rock-song for which he asks her considered opinion.
What it actually shows is that just sometimes, fighting fire with fire works!THE PLUMBER was filmed in Adelaide and originally received limited theatrical release.
Hearing about this great little film from many people, I spent tireless hours on retail sites tracking a VHS copy down.
Finally I caught a cheap copy on Half.com and it came several days later, (cut to one month later, when Weir's "Cars that Ate Paris" debuted on easily-accessible DVD format with "The Plumber" as a double feature.
Go figure.) But I sat down to watch it and proceeded to laugh for quite some time.The story is basically about this Aussie anthropologist studying Aboriginal tribes as her boring nutritionist husband is constantly talking shop.
Somewhat threatening and somewhat a misunderstood doof, this plumber spends hours holed up in her bathroom doing nothing but lounging around, hammering shower tiles, writing folk songs and ripping pipes from the walls.It's a precursor to "The Cable Guy," but don't let that discourage you, (I liked "Cable Guy" myself).
A Real Sleeper that's Lots of Fun. Little known Australian gem that takes the old 'girl stalked by psycho' theme and gives it a fun twist with some astute social commentary.
This obscure Peter Weir TV movie from the late 1970s is a little dated, but still very entertaining and suspenseful.
The three main actors (Judy Morris, Ivor Kants and Robert Coleby) aren't exactly household names here in Australia but will be familiar to most TV viewers over the age of 30 for their roles in various soap operas and the like.
Coleby is distracted and concerned about an exciting career opportunity, Morris is currently working at home engrossed in her studies of New Guinea culture, and is timid and less confident socially than her husband.
I enjoyed 'The Plumber' a lot, it's a very effective low-budget, low key thriller shot through with plenty of black humour..
Peter Weir's "thriller" movie is a rare find..
Calling it a horror movie is an exaggeration on its own, but the plot is nerve-tingling as a plumber disrupts an Aussie woman's life through his wild behavior.
Peter Weir must be given a big hand on his films, and this one needs not to be left behind in the abyss of forgotten movies..
A married graduate student takes some time off to work on her thesis and play housewife to her doctor husband while living in a University apartment complex.
One day, a plumber shows up unannounced claiming he needs to do routine maintenance but ends up making a terrible mess of her bathroom.
The Plumber is pretty good, especially considering it was apparently a TV movie, but it is a bit on the dull side.
As seems to be a theme with Mr. Weir, this film explores the concept of The Other within the framework of a horror-thriller.
Peter Weir shows how a good film can be made from a solid script and very little money.A student of anthropology attempts to understand aboriginal tribes, but is completely baffled by the cultural chasm that separates her post-graduate sensibilities from the working-class plumber who is sent to work on her apartment.
Indeed, this was a story of psychology, and how we may react in a similar situation.It's possible I may watch this one again one day, but it's not a movie I would keep with my favorites.
In Australia, anthropologist housewife and thesis writer Judy Morris (as Jill) is startled when grungy plumber Ivar Kants (as Max) arrives unannounced, for a routine check into her bathroom's plumbing.
"The Plumber" becomes a menacing presence in Morris' apartment, but neither husband Robert Coleby (as Brian Cowper) nor best friend Candy Raymond (as Meg) sees any danger.
Written and directed by Peter Weir as a cheap TV movie, "The Plumber" is a hilarious take-off on horror, class and culture.******** The Plumber (6/8/79) Peter Weir ~ Ivar Kants, Judy Morris, Robert Coleby, Candy Raymond.
In Adelaide, the wife of Dr. Brian Cowper (Robert Coleby), Jill Cowper (Judy Morris), is developing her thesis at home to finish her Master in Anthropology.
When the plumber Max (Ivor Kants) unexpectedly arrives for a routine check and maintenance of the piping in the bathroom, Jill stays alone at home with the talkative weird stranger.
Her friend Meg (Candy Raymond), her husband Brian and the super's wife finds Max a simple, but nice man, but Jill does not agree.
When there is a problem in her bathroom and Max needs to stay with her for a longer period, the tension between them increases and Jill finds a way to get rid off the plumber.This low budget and theatrical film is a claustrophobic and scary study of human nature, based on the relationship of two different characters of different social classes spending a period together.
But I have a feeling that she still remembers this film because we both had a great time watching it, and we spoke of it for years afterwards.The Plumber is not a big movie.
It is a study of an obviously disturbed plumber who is set off for some reason by Jill Cowper, the tenant in the apartment where he is called to look at the plumbing.
Although he really did not harm anyone, he made himself threatening and tore the bathroom apart for no reason - neither of which is conducive to being a satisfactory plumber.I have to say that when I worked as a plumber I was quite competent and I did not wreck people's houses.
Nothing mean or scary like our buddy Max in this movie, but funny nonetheless.
She continued to look confused and sort of stammered out something like "yeah I guess so" and looked quite baffled, as if she was wondering if there was something more to water than meets the eye that a plumber might need to know about, and what it could be and why she didn't know about it.
Cut the the bathroom again, and there is Max, sitting on the toilet with a guitar and one of those harmonicas in a brace that fits around the neck ala Bob Dylan, composing a song that must have been titled "I'm Me, Babe" but we don't know for sure.
It's a classic moment, and I don't use the word classic very often.Overall, you don't have to be a plumber to enjoy this movie, but if you are, or even involved in a trade that brings you into people's homes, then the absurdity of the situations in this film will probably hit home a bit harder.
And yes, as others have noted, the ending is bit weak; but there are enough "moments" in The Plumber to overcome it.
Watch and find out what I mean.Class warfare, Aussie style, in this good early film from Peter Weir which, in its early 80s mixture of comedy and menace, brings to mind the good early films of Brian De Palma.
But there are fine performances from Judy Morris as the strangely passive victim of angry resentful Max the Plumber, Ivar Kants in the title role with his 
A young couple, living in a campus apartment complex, are repeatedly harassed by an eccentric, Bob Dylanesque plumber, who subjects them to a series of bizarre mind games while making unnecessary repairs to their bathroom.For me, this may be Peter Weir's first really strong work.
In the 70,s we were gathering a following in Adelaide playing pubs ,clubs and large venue,s and were approached to write a few songs for the film.After putting the songs together in a short time,we went into a recording studio and laid down 3 tracks Unfortunately the songs can only be heard on the plumbers radio while he,s working, and even then it,s you can barely hear it.
At lest we got a credit at the end of the film I,d didn't see the film until the mid 1980,s a didn't think it was much of a horror movie, I found it laughable in parts hope I gave some help Mark.
I do like how it ends turning the whole movie on its head.
It's good early work from Australian filmmaker Peter Weir.
Here the lead does nothing sensible at any point during the whole of the film and the plumber who is very annoying indeed comes off as being not quite as silly as her.
A lady basically sits in her apartment the whole movie, while this"plumber" works in her bathroom.
If one is looking for horror, action, suspense, blood, and swearing- this movie is absolutely none of those.The plumber himself is not even scary- like I was watching a awful soap-opera!!!
'The Plumber' is an excellent movie.There have been other films about outsiders encroaching on a household and attempting to take over - but none (as in 'The Plumber') where the other characters are so oblivious to what is actually happening: 'The Servant' 1963 - Dirk Bogarde - wherein a manservant takes over the house and 'Ring Once for Death' part of the 70's 'Thriller' Compendium - (created by Brian Clemens ) starring Nyree Dawn Porter - wherein her manservant tries to poison her and also take over .
There is the fact that the other characters in the film - no matter how close to 'Jilly' as the plumber calls her - don't seem to have an idea as to what is going on and how the plumber's presence/actions have affected Jill.
In fact, Max - the plumber - seems to work at getting her husband / friend 'on side' by chatting to them or fixing their cars - perhaps to ingratiate himself because of what he sees as 'class' differences - very obvious when Jill - now exasperated - picks him up on misusing grammar.There is the 'men vs women' aspect of the film - in addition to Max - the plumber's relationship with Jill - we have the man aggressively watching the women performing their yoga, and admonishing them that other people need to use the hall.
Add to the plot the revolting story which Meg tells Jill about a woman entering someone's home to use the bathroom , and the lady finding that it is really a man in drag.
There is the subject matter about which Jill is writing her thesis - her experiences with the 'Bitu' man with whom Jill had interactions in New Guineu - and the intermittent sighting of the Bitu man during the movie via the artifacts and pictures in the flat.A humorous sideline of the film - is the overseas visitors' dinner to sight her husband's nutritionist work - and how one of them - hilariously - gets trapped under the bathroom rubble.
Brian (the husband) is doubtful about getting a post in Geneva - but after the dinner - is successful - which he irronically puts down to 'collapsing bathrooms and cognac.' I believe that Jill gets rid of the plumber in the same way that she dispensed with the Bitu man - by use of cunning, and I believe that the ending - in which Jill is looking down at the plumber whilst he screams "You bitch- you set me up" - New Guinea drums ablazing- is near to perfect.
A wonderful little gem of a film which doesn't give you answers - but makes you think..
Jill Cowper (Judy Morris) has a plumber (Ivar Kants) come to her house one day.
More than once I was wondering why Jill let the plumber back in considering how strange he acts from the beginning.
A plumber arrives and takes over the bathroom.
He turns the bathroom into a junk yard, crashes through the ceiling, erects scaffolding that forms a maze between the doorway and the facilities.Meanwhile the plumber, Kants, is insinuating himself into Morris's life, an infiltrating tumor.
The husband, absorbed by his problems at work, thinks Morris is misinterpreting things.Finally, in desperation, Morris frames the plumber for theft and he's hauled off screaming threats.
The film ends with a pointless freeze frame of Morris looking down from a balcony high up in the apartment complex, African drums beating in the background.So what's up?
It's cheap and generic but, knowing it was directed by Peter Weir, I wondered if there were more to it than just another woman in jep movie that ends in a cop out.
Then I wondered if Weir was deliberately trying to void the formula by having the wife frame the plumber when, in fact, he may be guilty of nothing more than social clumsiness, inferiority, and an ignorance of how to fix the bathroom pipes.
That's a typical assessment of Weir's intentions.Judy Morris, as Jill Cowper, is really perfect for the part.
Plumbing In The Cable Guy. After seeing The Truman Show,i wanted to see the other films by weir.I would say this is a good one to start with.
The Plot:The wife of a doctor (who is trying to impress his bosses,so he can get promoted).Is trying to finish her written course,while hes at work.But one day a strange man,who says that hes a Plumber,tells her hes been called out to repair some pipes in there flat.As time goes on it turns into a battle to see,how much she can take of this "Plumber".
View On The Film:Peter "The Master And Commander:The Far Side Of The World" Weir, keeps the film going at a really good pace and makes sure to keep it moving fast.Unlike a film thats very "similar" to this,The Cable Guy,this film does not go as dark as that film,which helps to give it a more realistic feel.Though Weir gives it some good comedy,(like,when the Plumber does a spoof of Dylans,It Ain't Me Babe,by doing a song called-Its Me Babe!).The cast that has no one that well known in it,do a really good job to make you feel,that this is really happening.
This Peter Weir made-for-TV movie could have been as absorbing as his best works ,since it had mystery,ambiguity and madness going for it.Almost all the action takes place in the heroine's flat.It could have been a fierce attack on the privileged persons of high culture ,and the girl who is not that much nice after all could have provided a target for it.And she does, in a way,as we see her rosy world collapse .The plumber does not give a damn about anthropology (do you?) and the bathroom becomes some kind of revenge on the highbrows.(spoiler)The ending is downright embarrassing though,and it ruins all expectations cause it shows the educated people's triumph ,and they get it all by a really mediocre trick.The high and low angle shots follow suit.One could have expected a better outcome,an open ending which Weir often uses .(Picnic at Hanging Rock,the last wave,mosquito coast).
Filmed in the latter 70s and made for TV, it is the story of Jill Cowper, a very educated anthropologist, who encounters an extremely strange plumber named Max. Unsolicited, he somehow appears at her door after Brian, her scientist/nutritionist husband, is away from the apartment (and repeatedly appears at her door when she is alone).
The plot goes is basically a plumber comes to a flat, tears up this couples bathroom; and doesn't go away.
The film has some tense, creepy moments, a couple laughs, and a pretty good Dylanesque folk song performed by the psycho plumber.
The main character is supposed to be an idiot I guess since it defies all logic that a woman in this situation would not call the Pigs when things start to get hairy.You can see director Peter Weir was still learning his craft with this film.He makes some rather amateurish mistakes, but it's good to see even the old pros took time to master their craft.
Plus I wanted to see a cameo by Terry Camilleri, star of Weir's The Cars That Ate Paris.The ending where the heroine double crosses the plumber and has him sent to jail is very tepid and leaves you scratching your head and saying, huh?
The heroine and her husband were supposed to go on a trip to Switzerland near the end, they discuss it.The better ending would have had the plumber getting out of jail and then showing up out of the blue in Switzerland.
The Plumber is more than a movie about a plumber, although he (portrayed by Australian-Latvian actor Ivar Kants with much relish) is a central character along with the academic couple.
The tension/psychological warfare is between the plumber and one-half of the academic couple, played by Judy Morris.
Robert Coleby, the other half, seems quite oblivious to what's going on around him.The movie takes an honest look at the class tensions here, especially in the town and gown aspect.
When you think about it, it's interesting to ponder the separation of classes, like would say a plumber marry an architect?
I would like to know where the university housing for the academic couple was filmed.
It really shows the times.I'm not sure why the plumber targets the Judy Morris character, and maybe we'll never know.