Jack Thompson Movies

In this slight, relatively charmless comedy, Australian television notable Jack Thompson plays Simon Morris, a recently separated journalist with two major problems: he is a girl-magnet and he can't tolerate pomposity. The first problem doesn't cause him much difficulty, as he likes the girls right back. The second, though, results in all sorts of difficulties when he is saddled with a pompous new boss, resigns from the paper he has been working with, and can't find a new job. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Because He's My Friend was directed for Australian television by American TV veteran Ralph Nelson. Karen Black and Keir Dullea play the parents of a mentally retarded teenager (superbly played by Warwick Poulson). The boy's condition effects the marriage both adversely and positively. The film takes on a happier aura when a normal teenager becomes the handicapped boy's close friend. Because He's My Friend is an effective companion piece to the like-vintage Australian TV movie Tim, as well as the 1977 ABC Afterschool Special presentation Hewitt's Just Different. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The "Caddie" in this Australian thriller is not of the golfing variety, but is instead the nicknamed bestowed upon the heroine. Helen Morse plays a barmaid in 1930s Sydney whose husband walks out on her. Left with two kids to raise by herself, Helen struggles to make ends meet without losing her self-respect. Her favorite customer is Takis Emmanuel, who likens Helen to an expensive Cadillac (or "Caddie"). Romance blossoms between the two lost souls. Also appearing in Caddie is ubiquitous Aussie character actor Jack Thompson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Director Ken Hamman's breakthrough historical drama was the first Australian film of the 1970s to gain international acclaim, paving the way for the Australian New Wave and the success of movies such as The Last Wave and Breaker Morant. Sunday Too Far Away is a story about the struggles of itinerant sheep shearers in the Outback in the 1950s. Jack Thompson won an Australian Best Actor prize for his role as Foley, a hard-drinking, hard-working shearer who is the best at his profession. When local landowners try to drive away the sheep herders, Foley leads a strike to establish their right to exist and live off the land. The dispute turns violent as the landowners retaliate, and Foley struggles to maintain his supremacy. Many scenes were shot in the same shearing barn used in the 1960 British-Australian hit The Sundowners, which was about an Irish sheepherder who emigrates to Australia. The title comes from a traditional song of complaint sung by sheep shearers' wives. The film became a sensation at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Four Australian directors explore different angles of the title topic in this generally downbeat anthology. In "The Husband" a husband increases his arousal during lovemaking by imagining his wife in different sexual liaisons without realizing that his fantasy may based on fact. The second vignette "The Child" centers on the resentful son of a widow who is having an affair with another. While his mother is off galavanting with her new love, the boy is left in the care of a governess whom he grows to love. The poor boy begins to fear that his new friend will be fired as soon as his mother returns and so goes off on a walk to sort out his feelings. He wanders into a field and it is there he sees his governess making love to his mother's boyfriend. This causes the emotionally fragile lad to shatter and blindly run towards the river where he crazily hops into a boat and begins rowing into the current. The lover, wanting to save the child from harm dives in and tragedy ensues. In "The Priest," a priest wrestles with his love for a nun. Though they want to marry, the nun forces them to leave their orders in the correct way. It is a way filled with red-tape and takes so long that the relationship withers and they remain in their vocations. The final segment "The Family Man" deals with a slob of a husband who decides to celebrate the birth of his third child by having a little fling while his wife recuperates in hospital. He enlists the aid of a buddy and together they get drunk, pick up two floozies and head to his beachhouse. When the gals learn about his wife, they stomp out of the house. Time passes and the husband brings his family to the house for vacation. Much to his horror he finds that the two women have placed a large incriminating sign upon it leaving him to try to explain it all to his wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Ace Jones (Nick Adams) is a ex-stockcar racer who finds himself in need of repairs on his truck. The garage is owned by a young widow Sandy (Jeannine Riley), whose husband was killed in a racing accident at the local track. He gets a job as a mechanic helping the veteran wrench-man Toad (Vaughn Taylor) and eventually takes over the racetrack. Two of his friends are the victims of sabotage and lose their lives in a fiery crash. Ace decides to leave the life in the fast lane behind and settle down with Sandy. This was the last film for the late Nick Adams, whose once-promising career made him the talk of Hollywood akin to his buddy James Dean. Adams was best known as Johnny Yuma on the television series "The Rebel." Plagued by personal excesses, he will be remembered just as much for what he could have done in cinema as what he left behind. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi