The Club

I saw this when I was a teenager in the '80s when it was aired by the Beeb. It is an amusing and droll take on the '70s Aussie macho style. Mustachioed fairhaired Jim Thompson is highly professional as the coach. The abundant sun and light of Australia are astonishing. It is a stablemate to 'Goodbye Pork-pie' (1981) the hilarious and adventurous New Zealand road-movie.

This film may lack the polish and production qualities of the Hollywood and British movies of the same time. But it came at a time when Australia was making good films about Australian subjects using Australians. The acting is good and the script is well written.

A very good if not wholly accurate film about aussie rules football. The characters are in most cases larger than life but are on the whole believable. The backstabbing and wrangling is as you imagine it to be and the dislike of the board by the players is tangible. You will laugh and cry at the antics of the Magpie`s. Watch it, you won`t regret it.

"The Club" by David Williamson was an excellent play which addressed many issues about the changing face of sport. This particular film does justice to the play by having actors that give solid and believable performances. If you have seen the play, you may not enjoy certain aspects of this film, but the use of more then a single room or set adds a new dimension to the story. Footage of actual games as well as real club locations is added. Perhaps the best part of this film is the ending as it is very true and satisfying. Worth watching - even if you have no interest in the sport of Aussie Rules.

Again David Williamson has shone, and showed us how his plays become gem movies. If you're a footy player, you're gonna love this movie cause you'll relate with it. C'mon, let's face it, every footy player is expendable. What's happening here, is just buck passing. What I loved about Jack Thompson's character, the best player in this one, is he shoots straight from the hip. It's such an effective performance, you'd think he really was footballer. Frank Wilson and Graham Kennedy, (sorry, Kennedy, a slimy captain is the best performer here) are the representatives of this team, who signed on a new player, yes John Howard in his much thinner days, who'd rather watch a seagull, then kick a ball. Howard, the comic in this tale, too sees through this dirty game, where a score of good players are removed, so the club fights back. It's great when Howard pulls Wilson's chain, with a childhood story. The happy ending that will send hearts appeased, will make you howl with victory, it's message of fighting back, has never hit harder. Watch this for Kennedy's finest moment as the great actor and legendary icon he was.