The Aussie Film Database

Sunday Too Far Away

Ken Hannam


 


Film Credits

Director                          Ken Hannam
Producers                      Gil Brealy, Matt Carrol
Photography                  Geoff Burton
Music Arranged              Michael Carlos
Music Composed           Patrick Flynn
Film Editor                     Rod Adamson
Original Screenplay        John Dingwall
Art Director                    David Copping
Prop Master                   Neil Angwin
Continuity                      Jun Tyrell
Make Up                        Peggy Carter
Wardrobe                      Helen Dyson
Stand by                        Philip Walker
Sound                            Barry Brown
Boom                             Kevin Kearney
Sound Editor                 Greg Bell
Sound Mixer                   Peter Featon
Musical Direction            Patrick Flynn, Micheal Carlos
Assistant Editor              Helen Brown
Camera Operator           Graham Scaife
Focus                            David Williamson
Leader                           Jimmy Allen
Gaffer                            Tony Tegg
Best Boy                        Trevor Towne
Key Grip                        David Fetley
Grip Driver                     Nick Cockram
Unit Manager                 Pamela Van Eck
First Assistant                Malcolm Smith
Second                          Geoff Simpson
Third                              Mandy Smith
Production Accountant   Leith Havanagh
Production Secretary     Jackie Eyre
Production Assistant      David Kynock
Stunt/ Fight arranger      Ian Jamieson
Showing Adviser          Doug Lihou, Laurie Rankin
Starring
Jack Thompson, Reg Lyle, Max Cullen, Robert Brunning, Peter Cummins,
John Ewart, Sean Scully, Greame Smith, Jerry Thomas, Lisa Peters and
Gregory Apps.   
Release Dates.

Release dates vary from publication to publication but most of the relevant literature stems from mid 1975. The first commercial release was the sixteenth of June 1975 in Adelaide. The film had many screenings before itâs commercial release including The Australian Film Awards and the Canneâs Festival. _


Criticism

Sunday Too Far Away is set on an Australian sheep station in 1955. It shows the life of a shearer, Foley (played by Jack Thompson), In the hardships of living through the union action of that year and the consequences of age in the demanding and competitive world of the shearers. Though apparently plotless the film traces the actions of Foley from a rather pointess car crash in the first scene to a pub brawl in the last. Foley is a long time gun shearer who has returned from retirement for one last season to make the most of a pay rise to shearers. Though out shawn by a new comer Foley is the uncontested leader of the shearing gang. Through him and scenes like the unmotivated break down in front of the owner's daughter, the only feminine aspect of the film, the audience receives the emotion of the film. His predicament and the feel of the film are emphasized with the parellelism of the older alchoholic Garth and his young clumsy counter part. Foley is the most active character initiating brawls and jeering the arriving scabs.

Director Ken Hannam uses the eclectic character range of the film to demonstrate the masculinity and mateship of Australian culture in the era. The competitiveness, alchoholism, gambling and distain for the daughter reak ãAussieä maleness and provide a bleak but relative humour to the film. Through out the film speech is kept to a minimum and the feel of the film is replaced by actions such as the scene where Foley and his ãmateä compete in washing clothes while naked. Through similar scenes it seems that Ken Hannam is showing the nessecity and pain of masculine culture through the characters and situations presented.

Though it is not the sort of film I would usually choose to watch the film is watchable and in its own regard enjoyable. The performances were believable and managed to develop depth in characters with little or no background shown. Sunday Too Far Away makes a cultural and political statement without words or malice and has earned a place in Australian film history.


Bibliography

The first place I looked when researching this film was the video case. This provided cast and credit information. Bibliographical details were available through the Film Literature Index and the International Index To Film. More complex Bibliographical details were available on the Film Index International CD ROM. I was unable to find Box office details of any kind for this movie. Details were absent from internet, literature and the Annual Reports CD ROM. I think that this is due in part to the age of the film or the lack of literature of this type from that era. As I have mentioned I was able to find details of Sunday Too Far Away on the world wide web in the Internet Movie Database and The All Movie Guide these sources also provided information on The other works of the people involved. Though lacking in depth the information was present. Critical comments and reviews were readily available due to the role of this movie in Australian film history. Exact release dates were found in ÎAustralian Film 1960 to 1977â(Melbourne 1980) Along with production and release detail.


Presence online and in the literature

Interviews and Reviews.

As you can see this is a well-written movie though most of the relevant interview and reviews are from around about the time of the films release.Relevant articles are as follows. Cinema Papers 1975 March/ April page 61 July/ August page 189, 154 November/ December page 216-219 Revue Du Cinema 1975 September page 125 November page 58-61 Postif 1975 July/ August page 69-70 Variety 1975 May 28 page 19 Cahiers du cinema 1977 August/ September page 44-51 Listener 1976 July page 153 Films illustrated 1976 July page 404-406 Screen International 1976 June page 14 Hollywood reporter 1976 March page 3/4 Australian Cinema, Scott Murray 1994 page 81-83 and various. Australian Film 1960-77, Oxford dui Press 1980 page 363

World Wide Web Literature.

Though I was able to find information on Sunday Too Far Away, the information available was not very in depth. Information was restricted to cast and credits, basic ratings and genre detail. For other movies, details are more in depth. The Internet movie database http://us.imdb.com/cache/title-exact/91469 . The all Movie Guide (AMG) http://kali.murdoch.edu.au/~cntinuum/index1:html .



html author: A R Lantzke _
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