Sunday Too Far Away Reviews

The hard-drinking, hard-working world of Australian sheep shearers in the 1950s is depicted in this historically important and quite entertaining film. Thompson, the top shearer, leads a strike while maintaining his own position. The film was sent to Cannes, and through some adroit maneuvers it was invited to the Director's Fortnight, where it became a sensation, the first Australian film to gain any recognition abroad and one that paved the way for later successes such as THE LAST WAVE; BREAKER MORANT; and MAD MAX. Many of the shearing scenes were shot in the same shearing barn that Fred Zinneman used in THE SUNDOWNERS (1960). The title is derived from an old Australian verse about the frustrations of being the wife of a shearer: "Friday too tired/Saturday too drunk/Sunday too far away." Thompson's role won him the Best Actor prize at the Australian Film Awards of 1974-75.