Buddies

Colin Friels, Harold Hopkins, Kris McQuade, Bruce Spence and Norman Kaye star in a stock-standard Australian comedy/drama set in Central Queensland's gemfields (originally set in South Australia’s opal fields, it was eventually adapted for and shot on location near Emerald and Rubyvale).

In familiar "Aussie battler" style the film portrays its native sons as devil-may-care "you-beaut" rascals fighting rapacious and/or incompetent citified folks who don't share their down-to-earth (so to speak) ways. It was written byJohn Dingwall and won the Australian Film Institute Award in 1983 for Best Screenplay.

Although it does not have the artistic quality of Dingwall’s best-known work, the Ken Hannan-directed Sunday Too Far Away (1975), its knockabout humour has made it a fondly-regarded film for many whilst it also serves as document of a time now gone.

DVD Extras: Umbrella Entertainment presents the film with a brand new, high quality digital transfer. It comes with a present-day interview with Harold Hopkins and Kris McQuade and the theatrical trailer.

Available from: Umbrella Entertainment

 

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