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The Advertiser
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
Riding the New Wave: how Aussie movies won the world
When Australian New Wave movies burst on to world cinema screens in the 1970s, sceptical audiences were initially baffled by the broad accents and peculiar colloquialisms. Sunday Too Far Away, an iconic tale about male culture and loyalty in a 1950s shearing shed, was the first big hit of Australia's golden era of cinema but Americans were especially mystified by it, producer Matt Carroll remembers. "They recognised that Sunday was a great film but they didn't understand it," he says. "It was pretty incomprehensible to anyone who wasn't an Australian. At American screenings, you might as well have had it in Dutch." But French audiences were far more welcoming of the film at Cannes Directors Fortnight, thanks to the wife of an Adelaide car dealer who'd sold Carroll a Peugeot. "She said, 'oh yes darling, I know Parisian street slang, I'll translate it all for you (into subtitles)'," Carroll continues. "I remember sitting in the cinema and the first thing that comes up is somebody in the shearing shed says about the squatter, 'his shit doesn't stink'. When it was translated, the Parisian slang for that is 'he farts above his asshole'." In the huge screening room, "the whole audience just went crazy, absolutely crazy, and we got a huge sale to France", Carroll laughs. "It's the language of the bush," explains legendary Australian actor Jack Thompson, who portrayed the hard-drinking gun shearer, Foley. "There's a wonderful camaraderie expressed in that movie. Sunday says something much more profound about the Australian character than a number of other movies that examined our victories and failures." Thompson, who left home at 14 to work as a jackaroo in the NT, says "it was like a diary, it was just how people behaved - I remember, because as a teenager, I was in those sheds. "Sunday Too Far Away has a really important part in my career and in my memory; I'd worked on that wool press, I'd picked up that wool. I knew how tough it was … it was the world of working men." Thompson was a star of a slew of other New Wave movies, including Breaker Morant, Mad Dog Morgan, The Club and The Man From Snowy River. Carroll recalls also feeling well qualified to be involved in Sunday Too Far Away, which was filmed at Carriewerloo Station, near Port Augusta, and Quorn. "I grew up on a sheep property so I learned how to class wool. My honours thesis was in Australian shearing sheds. So when we needed to find a shearing shed, I knew exactly where they were," he says. "And Jack and I were sharing a house together, and I knew that he was a shearer, and I was there when the director said, 'I don't know where we're going to find shearers from'. And I said, 'Well, I know'. Thompson and Carroll recently visited Adelaide for a 50th anniversary screening of Sunday Too Far Away, staged by SA Film Corporation, which played a key role in the era. "The SAFC was an important beacon in the growth of the Australian film industry," says Thompson. "Tale after tale important to our understanding of ourselves was told and financed by that entity." The New York Times described Australian New Wave as "capturing a moment of freedom and abundance that was over almost before we knew it" and "possessing a vitality, a love of open space and a propensity for sudden violence and languorous sexuality". "That's me," says Thompson, now aged 84, deadpan. "Used to be, mate," laughs Carroll, 80. As a young actor, it was like "riding the crest of a wave, it was stunning", says Thompson. "There was indeed a very focused vitality, a unique charm, unlike anything else at the time." Carroll, who also produced Breaker Morant and Storm Boy for SAFC, says the 1970s was a remarkable period for Australian movies. "More than 220 films, that's more than 20 films a year. And when you read the titles, it's just staggering," he says. "We never had another period like that, with the inventiveness and the creativity." The SAFC's second feature, the enigmatic and menacing Picnic at Hanging Rock, which also turns 50 this year, became an icon of Australian cinema. "The great thing that happened after that is that Margaret Fink made My Brilliant Career, and the Americans understood it," says Carroll. "And then Breaker Morant came along and they clicked with it and it had huge results, and then the second Mad Max was a giant hit. So those three films were key to opening up the American market." Thompson notes that Australia made the world's first feature-length narrative movie, The Story of the Kelly Gang in 1906, "and we had a vital Australian film industry in the silent era up to 1927". "Hollywood and the American investment in theatre chains here was able to dominate the Australian film industry, and essentially, between 1930 and the 70s, nothing much happened in Australian cinema," he says. While Sunday Too Far Away was New Wave's first commercial success, 1971's Wake In Fright is widely regarded as the era's opening film. It was Thompson's first movie and the last for veteran character actor Chips Rafferty, who died of a heart attack before it was released. It screened at Cannes and received favourable responses in France and the UK but struggled at the Australian box office. It's the story of a teacher waylaid in a mining town where a gambling spree leaves him broke. Amid a haze of alcohol, he participates in a gruesome kangaroo hunt and is also subjected to moral degradation. It ran for just 10 days in Sydney, and 14 in Melbourne, Thompson recalls, "and people were saying 'that's not us', despite the fact the book was written by an Australian". "Because when we were seen on screen (previously), we were seen as these pleasant caricatures, we weren't used to seeing it and we didn't want to see it," he says. During an early Australian screening, when a man stood up, pointed at the screen and protested "that's not us!", Thompson famously yelled back "sit down, mate. It is us". When Australian New Wave movies burst on to world cinema screens in the 1970s, sceptical audiences were initially baffled by the broad accents and peculiar colloquialisms. Sunday Too Far Away, an iconic tale about male culture and loyalty in a 1950s shearing shed, was the first big hit of Australia's golden era of cinema but Americans were especially mystified by it, producer Matt Carroll remembers. "They recognised that Sunday was a great film but they didn't understand it," he says. "It was pretty incomprehensible to anyone who wasn't an Australian. At American screenings, you might as well have had it in Dutch." But French audiences were far more welcoming of the film at Cannes Directors Fortnight, thanks to the wife of an Adelaide car dealer who'd sold Carroll a Peugeot. "She said, 'oh yes darling, I know Parisian street slang, I'll translate it all for you (into subtitles)'," Carroll continues. "I remember sitting in the cinema and the first thing that comes up is somebody in the shearing shed says about the squatter, 'his shit doesn't stink'. When it was translated, the Parisian slang for that is 'he farts above his asshole'." In the huge screening room, "the whole audience just went crazy, absolutely crazy, and we got a huge sale to France", Carroll laughs. "It's the language of the bush," explains legendary Australian actor Jack Thompson, who portrayed the hard-drinking gun shearer, Foley. "There's a wonderful camaraderie expressed in that movie. Sunday says something much more profound about the Australian character than a number of other movies that examined our victories and failures." Thompson, who left home at 14 to work as a jackaroo in the NT, says "it was like a diary, it was just how people behaved - I remember, because as a teenager, I was in those sheds. "Sunday Too Far Away has a really important part in my career and in my memory; I'd worked on that wool press, I'd picked up that wool. I knew how tough it was … it was the world of working men." Thompson was a star of a slew of other New Wave movies, including Breaker Morant, Mad Dog Morgan, The Club and The Man From Snowy River. Carroll recalls also feeling well qualified to be involved in Sunday Too Far Away, which was filmed at Carriewerloo Station, near Port Augusta, and Quorn. "I grew up on a sheep property so I learned how to class wool. My honours thesis was in Australian shearing sheds. So when we needed to find a shearing shed, I knew exactly where they were," he says. "And Jack and I were sharing a house together, and I knew that he was a shearer, and I was there when the director said, 'I don't know where we're going to find shearers from'. And I said, 'Well, I know'. Thompson and Carroll recently visited Adelaide for a 50th anniversary screening of Sunday Too Far Away, staged by SA Film Corporation, which played a key role in the era. "The SAFC was an important beacon in the growth of the Australian film industry," says Thompson. "Tale after tale important to our understanding of ourselves was told and financed by that entity." The New York Times described Australian New Wave as "capturing a moment of freedom and abundance that was over almost before we knew it" and "possessing a vitality, a love of open space and a propensity for sudden violence and languorous sexuality". "That's me," says Thompson, now aged 84, deadpan. "Used to be, mate," laughs Carroll, 80. As a young actor, it was like "riding the crest of a wave, it was stunning", says Thompson. "There was indeed a very focused vitality, a unique charm, unlike anything else at the time." Carroll, who also produced Breaker Morant and Storm Boy for SAFC, says the 1970s was a remarkable period for Australian movies. "More than 220 films, that's more than 20 films a year. And when you read the titles, it's just staggering," he says. "We never had another period like that, with the inventiveness and the creativity." The SAFC's second feature, the enigmatic and menacing Picnic at Hanging Rock, which also turns 50 this year, became an icon of Australian cinema. "The great thing that happened after that is that Margaret Fink made My Brilliant Career, and the Americans understood it," says Carroll. "And then Breaker Morant came along and they clicked with it and it had huge results, and then the second Mad Max was a giant hit. So those three films were key to opening up the American market." Thompson notes that Australia made the world's first feature-length narrative movie, The Story of the Kelly Gang in 1906, "and we had a vital Australian film industry in the silent era up to 1927". "Hollywood and the American investment in theatre chains here was able to dominate the Australian film industry, and essentially, between 1930 and the 70s, nothing much happened in Australian cinema," he says. While Sunday Too Far Away was New Wave's first commercial success, 1971's Wake In Fright is widely regarded as the era's opening film. It was Thompson's first movie and the last for veteran character actor Chips Rafferty, who died of a heart attack before it was released. It screened at Cannes and received favourable responses in France and the UK but struggled at the Australian box office. It's the story of a teacher waylaid in a mining town where a gambling spree leaves him broke. Amid a haze of alcohol, he participates in a gruesome kangaroo hunt and is also subjected to moral degradation. It ran for just 10 days in Sydney, and 14 in Melbourne, Thompson recalls, "and people were saying 'that's not us', despite the fact the book was written by an Australian". "Because when we were seen on screen (previously), we were seen as these pleasant caricatures, we weren't used to seeing it and we didn't want to see it," he says. During an early Australian screening, when a man stood up, pointed at the screen and protested "that's not us!", Thompson famously yelled back "sit down, mate. It is us". When Australian New Wave movies burst on to world cinema screens in the 1970s, sceptical audiences were initially baffled by the broad accents and peculiar colloquialisms. Sunday Too Far Away, an iconic tale about male culture and loyalty in a 1950s shearing shed, was the first big hit of Australia's golden era of cinema but Americans were especially mystified by it, producer Matt Carroll remembers. "They recognised that Sunday was a great film but they didn't understand it," he says. "It was pretty incomprehensible to anyone who wasn't an Australian. At American screenings, you might as well have had it in Dutch." But French audiences were far more welcoming of the film at Cannes Directors Fortnight, thanks to the wife of an Adelaide car dealer who'd sold Carroll a Peugeot. "She said, 'oh yes darling, I know Parisian street slang, I'll translate it all for you (into subtitles)'," Carroll continues. "I remember sitting in the cinema and the first thing that comes up is somebody in the shearing shed says about the squatter, 'his shit doesn't stink'. When it was translated, the Parisian slang for that is 'he farts above his asshole'." In the huge screening room, "the whole audience just went crazy, absolutely crazy, and we got a huge sale to France", Carroll laughs. "It's the language of the bush," explains legendary Australian actor Jack Thompson, who portrayed the hard-drinking gun shearer, Foley. "There's a wonderful camaraderie expressed in that movie. Sunday says something much more profound about the Australian character than a number of other movies that examined our victories and failures." Thompson, who left home at 14 to work as a jackaroo in the NT, says "it was like a diary, it was just how people behaved - I remember, because as a teenager, I was in those sheds. "Sunday Too Far Away has a really important part in my career and in my memory; I'd worked on that wool press, I'd picked up that wool. I knew how tough it was … it was the world of working men." Thompson was a star of a slew of other New Wave movies, including Breaker Morant, Mad Dog Morgan, The Club and The Man From Snowy River. Carroll recalls also feeling well qualified to be involved in Sunday Too Far Away, which was filmed at Carriewerloo Station, near Port Augusta, and Quorn. "I grew up on a sheep property so I learned how to class wool. My honours thesis was in Australian shearing sheds. So when we needed to find a shearing shed, I knew exactly where they were," he says. "And Jack and I were sharing a house together, and I knew that he was a shearer, and I was there when the director said, 'I don't know where we're going to find shearers from'. And I said, 'Well, I know'. Thompson and Carroll recently visited Adelaide for a 50th anniversary screening of Sunday Too Far Away, staged by SA Film Corporation, which played a key role in the era. "The SAFC was an important beacon in the growth of the Australian film industry," says Thompson. "Tale after tale important to our understanding of ourselves was told and financed by that entity." The New York Times described Australian New Wave as "capturing a moment of freedom and abundance that was over almost before we knew it" and "possessing a vitality, a love of open space and a propensity for sudden violence and languorous sexuality". "That's me," says Thompson, now aged 84, deadpan. "Used to be, mate," laughs Carroll, 80. As a young actor, it was like "riding the crest of a wave, it was stunning", says Thompson. "There was indeed a very focused vitality, a unique charm, unlike anything else at the time." Carroll, who also produced Breaker Morant and Storm Boy for SAFC, says the 1970s was a remarkable period for Australian movies. "More than 220 films, that's more than 20 films a year. And when you read the titles, it's just staggering," he says. "We never had another period like that, with the inventiveness and the creativity." The SAFC's second feature, the enigmatic and menacing Picnic at Hanging Rock, which also turns 50 this year, became an icon of Australian cinema. "The great thing that happened after that is that Margaret Fink made My Brilliant Career, and the Americans understood it," says Carroll. "And then Breaker Morant came along and they clicked with it and it had huge results, and then the second Mad Max was a giant hit. So those three films were key to opening up the American market." Thompson notes that Australia made the world's first feature-length narrative movie, The Story of the Kelly Gang in 1906, "and we had a vital Australian film industry in the silent era up to 1927". "Hollywood and the American investment in theatre chains here was able to dominate the Australian film industry, and essentially, between 1930 and the 70s, nothing much happened in Australian cinema," he says. While Sunday Too Far Away was New Wave's first commercial success, 1971's Wake In Fright is widely regarded as the era's opening film. It was Thompson's first movie and the last for veteran character actor Chips Rafferty, who died of a heart attack before it was released. It screened at Cannes and received favourable responses in France and the UK but struggled at the Australian box office. It's the story of a teacher waylaid in a mining town where a gambling spree leaves him broke. Amid a haze of alcohol, he participates in a gruesome kangaroo hunt and is also subjected to moral degradation. It ran for just 10 days in Sydney, and 14 in Melbourne, Thompson recalls, "and people were saying 'that's not us', despite the fact the book was written by an Australian". "Because when we were seen on screen (previously), we were seen as these pleasant caricatures, we weren't used to seeing it and we didn't want to see it," he says. During an early Australian screening, when a man stood up, pointed at the screen and protested "that's not us!", Thompson famously yelled back "sit down, mate. It is us". When Australian New Wave movies burst on to world cinema screens in the 1970s, sceptical audiences were initially baffled by the broad accents and peculiar colloquialisms. Sunday Too Far Away, an iconic tale about male culture and loyalty in a 1950s shearing shed, was the first big hit of Australia's golden era of cinema but Americans were especially mystified by it, producer Matt Carroll remembers. "They recognised that Sunday was a great film but they didn't understand it," he says. "It was pretty incomprehensible to anyone who wasn't an Australian. At American screenings, you might as well have had it in Dutch." But French audiences were far more welcoming of the film at Cannes Directors Fortnight, thanks to the wife of an Adelaide car dealer who'd sold Carroll a Peugeot. "She said, 'oh yes darling, I know Parisian street slang, I'll translate it all for you (into subtitles)'," Carroll continues. "I remember sitting in the cinema and the first thing that comes up is somebody in the shearing shed says about the squatter, 'his shit doesn't stink'. When it was translated, the Parisian slang for that is 'he farts above his asshole'." In the huge screening room, "the whole audience just went crazy, absolutely crazy, and we got a huge sale to France", Carroll laughs. "It's the language of the bush," explains legendary Australian actor Jack Thompson, who portrayed the hard-drinking gun shearer, Foley. "There's a wonderful camaraderie expressed in that movie. Sunday says something much more profound about the Australian character than a number of other movies that examined our victories and failures." Thompson, who left home at 14 to work as a jackaroo in the NT, says "it was like a diary, it was just how people behaved - I remember, because as a teenager, I was in those sheds. "Sunday Too Far Away has a really important part in my career and in my memory; I'd worked on that wool press, I'd picked up that wool. I knew how tough it was … it was the world of working men." Thompson was a star of a slew of other New Wave movies, including Breaker Morant, Mad Dog Morgan, The Club and The Man From Snowy River. Carroll recalls also feeling well qualified to be involved in Sunday Too Far Away, which was filmed at Carriewerloo Station, near Port Augusta, and Quorn. "I grew up on a sheep property so I learned how to class wool. My honours thesis was in Australian shearing sheds. So when we needed to find a shearing shed, I knew exactly where they were," he says. "And Jack and I were sharing a house together, and I knew that he was a shearer, and I was there when the director said, 'I don't know where we're going to find shearers from'. And I said, 'Well, I know'. Thompson and Carroll recently visited Adelaide for a 50th anniversary screening of Sunday Too Far Away, staged by SA Film Corporation, which played a key role in the era. "The SAFC was an important beacon in the growth of the Australian film industry," says Thompson. "Tale after tale important to our understanding of ourselves was told and financed by that entity." The New York Times described Australian New Wave as "capturing a moment of freedom and abundance that was over almost before we knew it" and "possessing a vitality, a love of open space and a propensity for sudden violence and languorous sexuality". "That's me," says Thompson, now aged 84, deadpan. "Used to be, mate," laughs Carroll, 80. As a young actor, it was like "riding the crest of a wave, it was stunning", says Thompson. "There was indeed a very focused vitality, a unique charm, unlike anything else at the time." Carroll, who also produced Breaker Morant and Storm Boy for SAFC, says the 1970s was a remarkable period for Australian movies. "More than 220 films, that's more than 20 films a year. And when you read the titles, it's just staggering," he says. "We never had another period like that, with the inventiveness and the creativity." The SAFC's second feature, the enigmatic and menacing Picnic at Hanging Rock, which also turns 50 this year, became an icon of Australian cinema. "The great thing that happened after that is that Margaret Fink made My Brilliant Career, and the Americans understood it," says Carroll. "And then Breaker Morant came along and they clicked with it and it had huge results, and then the second Mad Max was a giant hit. So those three films were key to opening up the American market." Thompson notes that Australia made the world's first feature-length narrative movie, The Story of the Kelly Gang in 1906, "and we had a vital Australian film industry in the silent era up to 1927". "Hollywood and the American investment in theatre chains here was able to dominate the Australian film industry, and essentially, between 1930 and the 70s, nothing much happened in Australian cinema," he says. While Sunday Too Far Away was New Wave's first commercial success, 1971's Wake In Fright is widely regarded as the era's opening film. It was Thompson's first movie and the last for veteran character actor Chips Rafferty, who died of a heart attack before it was released. It screened at Cannes and received favourable responses in France and the UK but struggled at the Australian box office. It's the story of a teacher waylaid in a mining town where a gambling spree leaves him broke. Amid a haze of alcohol, he participates in a gruesome kangaroo hunt and is also subjected to moral degradation. It ran for just 10 days in Sydney, and 14 in Melbourne, Thompson recalls, "and people were saying 'that's not us', despite the fact the book was written by an Australian". "Because when we were seen on screen (previously), we were seen as these pleasant caricatures, we weren't used to seeing it and we didn't want to see it," he says. During an early Australian screening, when a man stood up, pointed at the screen and protested "that's not us!", Thompson famously yelled back "sit down, mate. It is us".
West Australian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Riding the New Wave: how Aussie movies won the world
When Australian New Wave movies burst on to world cinema screens in the 1970s, sceptical audiences were initially baffled by the broad accents and peculiar colloquialisms. Sunday Too Far Away, an iconic tale about male culture and loyalty in a 1950s shearing shed, was the first big hit of Australia's golden era of cinema but Americans were especially mystified by it, producer Matt Carroll remembers. "They recognised that Sunday was a great film but they didn't understand it," he says. "It was pretty incomprehensible to anyone who wasn't an Australian. At American screenings, you might as well have had it in Dutch." But French audiences were far more welcoming of the film at Cannes Directors Fortnight, thanks to the wife of an Adelaide car dealer who'd sold Carroll a Peugeot. "She said, 'oh yes darling, I know Parisian street slang, I'll translate it all for you (into subtitles)'," Carroll continues. "I remember sitting in the cinema and the first thing that comes up is somebody in the shearing shed says about the squatter, 'his shit doesn't stink'. When it was translated, the Parisian slang for that is 'he farts above his asshole'." In the huge screening room, "the whole audience just went crazy, absolutely crazy, and we got a huge sale to France", Carroll laughs. "It's the language of the bush," explains legendary Australian actor Jack Thompson, who portrayed the hard-drinking gun shearer, Foley. "There's a wonderful camaraderie expressed in that movie. Sunday says something much more profound about the Australian character than a number of other movies that examined our victories and failures." Thompson, who left home at 14 to work as a jackaroo in the NT, says "it was like a diary, it was just how people behaved - I remember, because as a teenager, I was in those sheds. "Sunday Too Far Away has a really important part in my career and in my memory; I'd worked on that wool press, I'd picked up that wool. I knew how tough it was … it was the world of working men." Thompson was a star of a slew of other New Wave movies, including Breaker Morant, Mad Dog Morgan, The Club and The Man From Snowy River. Carroll recalls also feeling well qualified to be involved in Sunday Too Far Away, which was filmed at Carriewerloo Station, near Port Augusta, and Quorn. "I grew up on a sheep property so I learned how to class wool. My honours thesis was in Australian shearing sheds. So when we needed to find a shearing shed, I knew exactly where they were," he says. "And Jack and I were sharing a house together, and I knew that he was a shearer, and I was there when the director said, 'I don't know where we're going to find shearers from'. And I said, 'Well, I know'. Thompson and Carroll recently visited Adelaide for a 50th anniversary screening of Sunday Too Far Away, staged by SA Film Corporation, which played a key role in the era. "The SAFC was an important beacon in the growth of the Australian film industry," says Thompson. "Tale after tale important to our understanding of ourselves was told and financed by that entity." The New York Times described Australian New Wave as "capturing a moment of freedom and abundance that was over almost before we knew it" and "possessing a vitality, a love of open space and a propensity for sudden violence and languorous sexuality". "That's me," says Thompson, now aged 84, deadpan. "Used to be, mate," laughs Carroll, 80. As a young actor, it was like "riding the crest of a wave, it was stunning", says Thompson. "There was indeed a very focused vitality, a unique charm, unlike anything else at the time." Carroll, who also produced Breaker Morant and Storm Boy for SAFC, says the 1970s was a remarkable period for Australian movies. "More than 220 films, that's more than 20 films a year. And when you read the titles, it's just staggering," he says. "We never had another period like that, with the inventiveness and the creativity." The SAFC's second feature, the enigmatic and menacing Picnic at Hanging Rock, which also turns 50 this year, became an icon of Australian cinema. "The great thing that happened after that is that Margaret Fink made My Brilliant Career, and the Americans understood it," says Carroll. "And then Breaker Morant came along and they clicked with it and it had huge results, and then the second Mad Max was a giant hit. So those three films were key to opening up the American market." Thompson notes that Australia made the world's first feature-length narrative movie, The Story of the Kelly Gang in 1906, "and we had a vital Australian film industry in the silent era up to 1927". "Hollywood and the American investment in theatre chains here was able to dominate the Australian film industry, and essentially, between 1930 and the 70s, nothing much happened in Australian cinema," he says. While Sunday Too Far Away was New Wave's first commercial success, 1971's Wake In Fright is widely regarded as the era's opening film. It was Thompson's first movie and the last for veteran character actor Chips Rafferty, who died of a heart attack before it was released. It screened at Cannes and received favourable responses in France and the UK but struggled at the Australian box office. It's the story of a teacher waylaid in a mining town where a gambling spree leaves him broke. Amid a haze of alcohol, he participates in a gruesome kangaroo hunt and is also subjected to moral degradation. It ran for just 10 days in Sydney, and 14 in Melbourne, Thompson recalls, "and people were saying 'that's not us', despite the fact the book was written by an Australian". "Because when we were seen on screen (previously), we were seen as these pleasant caricatures, we weren't used to seeing it and we didn't want to see it," he says. During an early Australian screening, when a man stood up, pointed at the screen and protested "that's not us!", Thompson famously yelled back "sit down, mate. It is us".
Perth Now
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Riding the New Wave: how Aussie movies won the world
When Australian New Wave movies burst on to world cinema screens in the 1970s, sceptical audiences were initially baffled by the broad accents and peculiar colloquialisms. Sunday Too Far Away, an iconic tale about male culture and loyalty in a 1950s shearing shed, was the first big hit of Australia's golden era of cinema but Americans were especially mystified by it, producer Matt Carroll remembers. "They recognised that Sunday was a great film but they didn't understand it," he says. "It was pretty incomprehensible to anyone who wasn't an Australian. At American screenings, you might as well have had it in Dutch." But French audiences were far more welcoming of the film at Cannes Directors Fortnight, thanks to the wife of an Adelaide car dealer who'd sold Carroll a Peugeot. "She said, 'oh yes darling, I know Parisian street slang, I'll translate it all for you (into subtitles)'," Carroll continues. "I remember sitting in the cinema and the first thing that comes up is somebody in the shearing shed says about the squatter, 'his shit doesn't stink'. When it was translated, the Parisian slang for that is 'he farts above his asshole'." In the huge screening room, "the whole audience just went crazy, absolutely crazy, and we got a huge sale to France", Carroll laughs. "It's the language of the bush," explains legendary Australian actor Jack Thompson, who portrayed the hard-drinking gun shearer, Foley. "There's a wonderful camaraderie expressed in that movie. Sunday says something much more profound about the Australian character than a number of other movies that examined our victories and failures." Thompson, who left home at 14 to work as a jackaroo in the NT, says "it was like a diary, it was just how people behaved - I remember, because as a teenager, I was in those sheds. "Sunday Too Far Away has a really important part in my career and in my memory; I'd worked on that wool press, I'd picked up that wool. I knew how tough it was … it was the world of working men." Thompson was a star of a slew of other New Wave movies, including Breaker Morant, Mad Dog Morgan, The Club and The Man From Snowy River. Carroll recalls also feeling well qualified to be involved in Sunday Too Far Away, which was filmed at Carriewerloo Station, near Port Augusta, and Quorn. "I grew up on a sheep property so I learned how to class wool. My honours thesis was in Australian shearing sheds. So when we needed to find a shearing shed, I knew exactly where they were," he says. "And Jack and I were sharing a house together, and I knew that he was a shearer, and I was there when the director said, 'I don't know where we're going to find shearers from'. And I said, 'Well, I know'. Thompson and Carroll recently visited Adelaide for a 50th anniversary screening of Sunday Too Far Away, staged by SA Film Corporation, which played a key role in the era. "The SAFC was an important beacon in the growth of the Australian film industry," says Thompson. "Tale after tale important to our understanding of ourselves was told and financed by that entity." The New York Times described Australian New Wave as "capturing a moment of freedom and abundance that was over almost before we knew it" and "possessing a vitality, a love of open space and a propensity for sudden violence and languorous sexuality". "That's me," says Thompson, now aged 84, deadpan. "Used to be, mate," laughs Carroll, 80. As a young actor, it was like "riding the crest of a wave, it was stunning", says Thompson. "There was indeed a very focused vitality, a unique charm, unlike anything else at the time." Carroll, who also produced Breaker Morant and Storm Boy for SAFC, says the 1970s was a remarkable period for Australian movies. "More than 220 films, that's more than 20 films a year. And when you read the titles, it's just staggering," he says. "We never had another period like that, with the inventiveness and the creativity." The SAFC's second feature, the enigmatic and menacing Picnic at Hanging Rock, which also turns 50 this year, became an icon of Australian cinema. "The great thing that happened after that is that Margaret Fink made My Brilliant Career, and the Americans understood it," says Carroll. "And then Breaker Morant came along and they clicked with it and it had huge results, and then the second Mad Max was a giant hit. So those three films were key to opening up the American market." Thompson notes that Australia made the world's first feature-length narrative movie, The Story of the Kelly Gang in 1906, "and we had a vital Australian film industry in the silent era up to 1927". "Hollywood and the American investment in theatre chains here was able to dominate the Australian film industry, and essentially, between 1930 and the 70s, nothing much happened in Australian cinema," he says. While Sunday Too Far Away was New Wave's first commercial success, 1971's Wake In Fright is widely regarded as the era's opening film. It was Thompson's first movie and the last for veteran character actor Chips Rafferty, who died of a heart attack before it was released. It screened at Cannes and received favourable responses in France and the UK but struggled at the Australian box office. It's the story of a teacher waylaid in a mining town where a gambling spree leaves him broke. Amid a haze of alcohol, he participates in a gruesome kangaroo hunt and is also subjected to moral degradation. It ran for just 10 days in Sydney, and 14 in Melbourne, Thompson recalls, "and people were saying 'that's not us', despite the fact the book was written by an Australian". "Because when we were seen on screen (previously), we were seen as these pleasant caricatures, we weren't used to seeing it and we didn't want to see it," he says. During an early Australian screening, when a man stood up, pointed at the screen and protested "that's not us!", Thompson famously yelled back "sit down, mate. It is us".
BBC News
25-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'I must confess, I had a tear or two'
We asked you earlier what you thought of your side's promotion-winning performance on Saturday and, unsurprisingly, it looks like you're feeling pretty pleased with your young is what you had to say:Martin: Great day yesterday and hopefully the positive feeling will last. Next season may be hard. Careful recruitment will be needed to improve the squad but maintain the If ever a club deserved to be in the Premier League, it is Sunderland! Phenomenal support base, great stadium and top notch training facilities. Real passion all over the Greatest night of my 50 years supporting my eyes out at the final whistle!!! Need a couple of proven Premier players to give it a real go next season!Craig: This is what Sunderland do: we get written off and ridiculed but slowly, steadily, we keep fighting. The play-off semi and the final were both evidence of that: we should have lost both games but our players (and the fans) wouldn't have it. Hopefully we can do the same next season when we were told we're coming straight back down before we even went up. Amazing to see the club finally back up in Premier League. The fans have been amazing and the support was clearly visible on Saturday. The stadium is ready, we just need the investment to enhance the team and keep them What a great achievement, over the moon. Credit to Regis Le Bris for substitutions that changed the game . We kept going To The End. The whole squad and manager are now legends, Premier League here we Not sure we're ready but we'll give it a Crazy season from such a talented bunch of young players. I knew they had the potential to do it but never in my wildest dreams did I think they would achieve it so soon. Le Bris has done wonders to bond this group together and get them pulling in the right direction. Watch out here we come Prem. Haway the Someone tell me there was a camera in the dressing room at half turnaround from the (actual) lads. Working for each other, sticking to the plan, taking the opportunities when they have grown as footballers in those 90 minutes, but they're going to need some help next season. A lot of I believed from the moment Brown scored that fluke goal against Leeds that anything was possible with this manager and group of After an awful first half where we were definitely second best, the improvement following the substitutions made by Regis Le Bris brought an immediate impact. We simply got stuck in and had a greater sense of urgency. The spirit of everyone, fans and players alike never diminished and when young Tommy Watson beautifully curled in the winner, the crowd erupted and we knew we were home. At last, I'd been at Wembley and seen my side, whom I've supported for 63 years, win! Our fans were fantastic! It was a privilege to be there and I must confess I had a tear or two in my eyes. It's been a painful eight years, but we're back.
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Sunderland fans blasted as 'disgraceful' after leaving rubbish all over Trafalgar Square as thousands of fans party in London ahead of Championship play-off final
Sunderland fans have been branded 'disgraceful' after leaving rubbish all over Trafalgar Square. As has become tradition for Sunderland supporters when their team play at Wembley, fans gathered in central London. On Saturday afternoon Sunderland are taking on Sheffield United in the Championship play-off final as the Black Cats look to secure their return to the Premier League for the first time since 2017. However, Sunderland fans have come in for criticism ahead of the clash at Wembley. Footage emerged of social media of bottles, cans, plastic bags and other litter at Trafalgar Square. A Newcastle supporter wrote on X: 'Sunderland fans making themselves at home, literally, in Trafalgar Square. Disgraceful'. Sunderland fans making themselves at home, literally, in Trafalgar Square. Disgraceful — ToonGambit (@ToonGambit) May 24, 2025 When the police made people disperse around midnight, #SAFC fans offered to stay to tidy up. Police sent them away as the clean-up teams were already on their way. — Michael Graham (@Capt_Fishpaste) May 24, 2025 Journalist Michael Graham, who supports Sunderland, explained that fans had offered to help with clearing up the litter but were instructed not to do so by police. Graham wrote on X: 'When the police made people disperse around midnight, #SAFC fans offered to stay to tidy up. Police sent them away as the clean-up teams were already on their way.' Sunderland secured their place in the Championship play-offs by finishing in fourth place in the table. They beat Coventry 3-2 on aggregate in the play-off semi-final, with Daniel Ballard scoring a dramatic stoppage time winner. After being relegated from the top flight in 2017, Sunderland then went down to League One the following year. Sunderland eventually returned to the Championship in 2022 and are now pushing for another promotion. Regis Le Bris side will be aware that they will face a tough challenge against Sheffield United but will be hopeful that they can prevail.
