The Shiralee (1987 film)
8 /10 1 Votes
Director George Ogilvie Screenplay Tony Morphett Country Australia | 7.8/10 IMDb Genre Drama, Family Duration Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date November 1987 (UK)
26 June 1988 (1988-06-26) (Australian TV) Based on novel by DArcy Niland Nominations Logie Award for Most Popular New Talent Cast Bryan Brown (Macauley), Rebecca Smart (Buster), Noni Hazlehurst (Lily), Ray Meagher (Polkadot)Similar movies Mad Max: Fury Road , The Rescuers Down Under , Dead Calm , Bait , A Night of Horror Volume 1 , Gone Tagline Based on the novel by D'Arcy Niland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
An outback drifter named Macauley (Bryan Brown) travels with his 10-year-old daughter, Buster (Rebecca Smart), in 1950s Australia.
Contents
For the 1957 film starring Peter Finch, see The Shiralee (1957 film)
The Shiralee is a 1987 Australian TV film directed by George Ogilvie, based on the novel of the same name by DArcy Niland.
It was originally filmed as a mini series and was shot in Adelaide and Quorn, South Australia.
Macauley is a swagman on the road in the 1940s looking for work. He's a laid back, laconic sort of bloke but when he gets landed with his daughter after his drunken play-girl wife in Adelaide makes him face up to what she believes are his responsibilities, neither he nor his daughter are ready for each other. But in the beginning he's all she's got, and at the end, she's all he's got.
Plot
The plot revolves around an itinerant rural worker and fighter named Macauley —sometimes described as a “swagman� or “swaggie� who unexpectedly finds himself taking responsibility for his child. The film contrasts the harshness of Australian masculinity with a parent-child relationship.
On one of his infrequent visits to his wife Marge in Adelaide, itinerant bushman Jim Macauley (Bryan Brown) finds her living with another man, Donny. He beats Donny up, grabs his five-year-old daughter Buster (Rebecca Smart), and returns to the road. They walk from job to job in rural South Australia, camping beside riverbanks, until Buster becomes sick with fever. Desperate for help, Macauley takes her to a station where he’s not welcome, run by a grazier named Parker. Macauley learns that years earlier, he made Parker’s daughter Lily (Noni Hazelhurst) pregnant. She lost the baby and almost died.
Macauley takes Buster to the next town, where he’s welcomed by old friends Bella and Luke Sweeney. He tries to get the child to stay with the kindly Bella, but she refuses. In Quorn, Marge tracks them down and tries unsuccessfully to take back Buster. In another town, while Macauley is courting a pretty girl, Buster is hit by a car. As she battles for her life in hospital, Macauley must dash to Adelaide to oppose his wife’s court bid for custody of the child. He beats the case by threatening to expose his exs relationship with Donnny; Donny forces Marge to choose between him or the child, who it emerges she never had any intention of caring for. She was seeking custody only to spite Macauley.
Mac returns to the hospital by train, arriving shortly before Buster opens her eyes in hospital. The film ends there, but there is an implication that he may reconcile with Lily, who also loves Buster and still has feelings for Mac.
Similar Movies
Wake in Fright (1971). December Boys (2007). My Brilliant Career (1979). Bryan Brown appears in The Shiralee and Winter of Our Dreams. Bryan Brown appears in The Shiralee and Beautiful Kate.
Reception
The mini series rated 40 points and was the most popular Australian show of the year.
References
The Shiralee (1987 film) WikipediaThe Shiralee (1987 film) IMDb The Shiralee (1987 film) themoviedb.org