Athol Compton Movies
- 1986
Australian aborigine David Kennedy marries white woman Susan Leith and settles down in Sydney. Susan's father, a wealthy businessman, ends up in prison over a botched deal. Without his father-in-law's influence to help him, Kennedy has trouble looking after his family and dealing with big-city life. He returns to his own people, leaving his wife to raise their son by himself. Seven years later Kennedy returns to Sydney, hoping for a reunion with his 12-year-old son. But first he must run the gauntlet of legal obstacles set up by the justifiably embittered Leith. Short Changed was scripted by Robert J. Merritt, himself an aborigine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Kennedy, Susan Leith, (more)
Peter Weir follows up on his critically acclaimed masterpiece Picnic at Hanging Rock with this surrealist psychological drama. The film opens with a freak hailstorm in Australia's outback. Cut to David Burton (Richard Chamberlain), a well-to-do Sydney corporate lawyer plagued by visions of impending doom who is assigned to defend five accused of murdering a fellow Aborigine. The case itself proves to be mysterious -- no exact cause of death can be determined by the pathologist, and the accused remain strangely tight-lipped about the whole affair. As his visions grow increasingly weird and intense, Burton sees in his dream one of the five Aborigines, Chris (David Gulpili of Walkabout fame), who is drenched and clutching a sacred rock. Burton's interest in the case slides into complete obsession, and he comes to believe that not only was the murder related to an underground urban tribe of Aborigines but that Australia is about to be decimated by a massive, apocalyptic tidal wave. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett, (more)
- 1970
Not to be confused with the 1966 Diabolique rip-off Games, 1970's The Games is set during the Rome Olympics. The film zeroes in on four contestants in the 26-mile marathon race: Briton Michael Crawford, American Ryan O'Neal, Czech Charles Aznavour and Australian Athol Compton. Scenes of the grueling training sessions are placed in context with the personal dramas of the four men. Crawford is being driven to the breaking point by trainer Stanley Baker, O'Neal is suffering from a dangerous heart condition, Aznavour is past forty but obliged to compete by his government, and Compton is an Aborigine fighting a lifelong battle against prejudice. Eric Segal, himself an avid runner adapted the screenplay of The Games from the novel by Hugh Atkinson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Crawford, Ryan O'Neal, (more)
