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Ballarat Film Society | Smiley
Australian 1950s Outback Drama
To conclude this year marking our 70-year existence, let’s watch a 1956 Australian film classic about an imaginative young boy who lives in the fictional small town of Murrumbilla in the Australian outback.
Listen to an older generation of Australian accents; watch two-up games and immerse yourself in a 1950s country sensibility. Smiley has an alcoholic drover father and an overworked mother. He saves up for a new bike by working odd jobs and slowly raises the money for his dream. In doing so, he unknowingly helps a dodgy publican called Rankin to sell opium to the local Aboriginal people living nearby.
Smiley’s adventures are just beginning… Smiley, and the 1958 Smiley Gets A Gun were released in the UK and US and went onto become international successes when few Australian films were being made. On a bit of trivia, young Colin Petersen went on to become the Bee Gees drummer. Roadshow.
Australia, 1956, USA/Britain, 93 min.
Dir: Anthony Kimmins. Stars: Ralph Richardson, Colin Petersen, (Smiley), John McCallum, Chips Rafferty, Charles Tingwell.
Membership
12 months – Feb-December: $60
6 months – Feb-June or July-Dec: $30
To join or renew your membership, please e-mail or phone Angus McLachlan (5374 2474), or come with cash on the night.
Membership can be paid by bank transfer or with cash.
For film enquiries, phone Sue Nunn: 5341 2266 or visit the Ballarat Film Society website
All films are subject to availability. If there is no next film shown below it means the BFS is working on next season’s programme.
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