Sunday Too Far Away (1974)
Release Date: Jun 16, 1975 Wide
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 88
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Movie Info
Director Ken Hamman's breakthrough historical drama was the first Australian film of the 1970s to gain international acclaim, paving the way for the Australian New Wave and the success of movies such as The Last Wave and Breaker Morant. Sunday Too Far Away is a story about the struggles of itinerant sheep shearers in the Outback in the 1950s. Jack Thompson won an Australian Best Actor prize for his role as Foley, a hard-drinking, hard-working shearer who is the best at his profession. When local
Jun 16, 1975 Wide
Aug 1, 1992
Cast
-
Jack Thompson
Foley -
Max Cullen
Tim King -
Reg Lye
Old Garth -
John Ewart
Ugly -
Robert Bruning
Tom -
Peter Cummins
"Black" Arthur -
Lisa Peers
Sheila -
Ken Shorter
Davis
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It was the bloody insult.
As Foley(Jack Thompson) tells it over after who knows how many beers, his plan is to work for a few years shearing sheep before retiring to the coast. To put him in this general direction, his old friend Tim King(Max Cullen), now a contractor, hires Foley for a job but not before he settles a bar bet in his favor. Along the way, they collect others, including Michael(Gregory Apps), a young roustabout, to take to the ranch where the most important element is having enough lemon essence for Quinn(Ken Weaver), the cook.
Its opening car crash notwithstanding, "Sunday Too Far Away" gets off to a rough start, populated as it is with references to the backbreaking profession of sheep shearing.(I had to look up what a roustabout is which cleared up a thing or two.) But as time goes on, this is less about the profession than the cult of masculinity in the Australian outback where men are real men, women are real women and the sheep are really nervous and we get a very clear idea where such a life of hard living will eventually lead.(I was surprised not to see any signs of prostitution. Otherwise, there is not that much for the men to do in their down time, except drink and inspect tomorrow's sheep.) As such, the movie is full of symbolism, like the rams(not the St. Louis variety, either) being the first ones to be shorn, with a special admonition to be very careful.(There is a running competition amongst the men as to who is best.) On the other hand, maybe it is not all symbolic in this gritty movie, as sometimes doing laundry is just doing laundry, even stark naked.