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clip 1Clip description
The rain forces everyone to down tools and go to the pub, where Johnny (Harry Hopkins) tells Mike (Colin Friels) that he wants to dissolve their partnership. Mike challenges him to a fight, and everyone lines up to watch.
Curator’s notes
This richly comic scene has an air of the 'bush yarn’ about it, which comes from the beautifully timed escalation and deflation of hostilities, accompanied by music and cries of 'have a go’ from the cynical crowd.
The break-up is partially over jealousy, as both men are attracted to Jennifer (Lisa Peers). Compare her role in clip 2 ('Ducks on the pond’) from Sunday Too Far Away, in which she plays the station owner’s sexually curious daughter. John Dingwall also wrote that film. Again, strong echoes of the western in the fight outside the saloon.
