Good Guys, Bad Guys was an Australian crime TV series that screened on the Nine Network between 1997 and 1998, with a telemovie and twenty-six episodes produced. A comedy/drama set in Melbourne.
The program was written for, and starred, Marcus Graham (former star of soap opera E-Street) as Elvis Maginnis. A disgraced former cop, tainted by his criminal family and framed for corruption, Elvis owns "K for Kleen" drycleaning, managed by the eminently more sensible Stella Kinsella (Alison Whyte, of the ABC current affairs satire series Frontline) and Tourette syndrome-afflicted sweetheart Reuben Zeus (Travis McMahon, most recently of Last Man Standing).
Elvis's attempts at a straight life are constantly compromised by the demands of his eccentric family, while Stella's attempts at making "K-for-Kleen" turn a profit are frustrated by Elvis's penchant for damsels in distress and a hard-luck story. He may not have a white stallion, but Elvis has a beautiful Charger.
Good Guys, Bad Guys guest starred many Australian actors, including Zoe Carides, Samuel Johnson, Belinda Giblin, Bruce Venebles, Nadine Garner, Sophie Lee, Anne Phelan, Vince Colosimo, Annie Jones, Red Symons, Magda Szubanski, Sonia Todd, Jane Hall, John Waters, Frankie J. Holden, Bruce Spence, John McTernan, Nicholas Bell, Ben Mendelsohn, Lisa Hensley and Petra Yared.
The program was filmed in Melbourne, predominantly around the inner-city "bohemian" suburbs of St. Kilda, Fitzroy and Carlton. The film style incorporated local colour - Melbourne trams, landmarks like Smith Street's Cobra cane furniture shop, and the Builder's Arms Hotel as Elvis's local - and a soundtrack of the then-latest Australian music, matched to the action. The Good Guys, Bad Guys soundtrack CD features Regurgitator, The Fauves, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Whitlams, The Avalanches, Spiderbait, The Cruel Sea and The Mavis's among others.
For Elvis it's a fine line between good and bad.
