Sum of Us, The / Sunday Too Far Away / The Shiralee

The Sum of Us

The Sum of Us is undeniably a classic of Australian cinema. Widower Harry Hitchell (Jack Thompson) is a straight-talking, beer-drinking Aussie bloke with a difference – he not only accepts but embraces his son Jeff's (Russell Crowe) homosexuality. Jeff, a plumber in his twenties, and Harry live together in the family home and are both on the lookout for true love.

Jeff becomes smitten by a quiet, handsome gardener, Greg (John Polson) while Harry finds love of his own with Joyce (Deborah Kennedy), an attractive divorcee he met through a computer dating service. Thompson and Crowe are captivating as the odd-couple father and son, bringing to their roles humour and conviction.

Sunday Too Far Away

Jack Thompson is Foley, the best shearer on every station for miles around, and this is his story. A story of sweat-soaked days and rum-soaked nights, of bloody punch-ups, of scab labour brought in during the shearers' strike of 1956 and of the man that runs the place: the cocky farmer who is terrified that one slip of the shears will render his prize ram good for nothing but mint sauce.

Winner of three AFI Awards in 1975 including Best Film and Best Actor, the film was the first great international success of the Australian Film Renaissance. It continues to top audience and critics polls as one of the all-time great Australian films.

The Shiralee

The critically-acclaimed Australian mini-series starring Bryan Brown and Rebecca Smart, presented in its original uncut TV format of two 90-minute episodes.

Returning home from the outback, Macauley (Bryan Brown) finds his wife in bed with another man. In the heat of the moment he vents his anger by taking custody of their young daughter Buster (Rebecca Smart) and heads for the backblocks of South Australia. Mac Struggles with his ill-chosen role of father and mother to the child which is his, but whom he does not know.

His resentment grows as Buster intrudes into the world Macauley forged for himself alone. For 'Shiralee' is an Aboriginal word for burden, but his daughter is a burden which Macauley must come to embrace.