One of the many coming-of-age period pieces made in Australia in the late 1970s. It feels very much a film from a different era, with its healthy budget and period detail. Michael Craig is fine in the part of a gruff old type who laments the passing of time with his clydesdales.
Lou Brown and Simon Burke are his sons. Robyn Nevin is mum. I thought the film would be about Burke but Brown gets story too, rooting some girl and fighting with dad. It might've been better to have one son. Or more conflict. Or something.
Caddie had inherent conflict - single mum bucking the odds trying to hang on to her kids. This doesn't. Craig doesn't want things to change but... it's his own fault. He's a boozer and a dick and not much of a dad. It's hard to care. About anyone. Plot ambles. They're trying to do John Ford without being Ford.
You can't help have some affection for it - it's a valentine to old Queensland, with references to labor disputes and the old pub. It's just dull.
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