Ken G Hall isn't known as a personal filmmaker but watching this it struck me how personal this movie must have been for him - the story of a man who achieves a lot of success and acclaim but can't establish a workable business, who is constantly scrounging for money, going around with a cap in hand although hating it because he knows that's what he has to do in an expensive industry.
Could the boomer critics who so disdained Hall's work in the 80s not see it? Did they have to have their auterist meanings shoved down their throat like Chauvel did? I don't want to bad Chauvel, I just wanted Hall treated with more respect.
This is of course heavily influenced by Hollywood biopics but it's done very well. Some of it is charming such as Smithy's meet cute with Muriel Steinbeck. Ron Randell is a very solid Smithy and you can see why Hollywood snapped him up - though he seemed to lose his edge over there.
It does assume knowledge on the part of the viewer over certain events which aren't as well known now as they would have been at the time such as the pilots who died looking for Smithy.
A remarkably adult and down beat movie in many ways. There are Hollywood ish moment like Smithy's meet cute and his wife, the character of the helpful American Joy feels inserted to have a woman in the first half, technically very polished.
Makes me weep that Hall could not do another feature after this - talk about a man at the top of his game.
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