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Clip description
Jack (Mick Molloy) has been expelled from the club for using the carpark as his personal racket (he sold spaces to friends, using his three memberships). His flatmate Dave (Samuel Johnson) has become an enthusiastic and conscientious club member, so Jack decides to tough it out. He gets recalled to the team by Stan, who recognises his talent, if not his manners. Stan’s highest compliment on the green is to lift his cap – an honour that Jack has never earned, because he refuses to take advice, or play as a team member. In the semi-finals, he finally knuckles down for the team, and Stan lifts his cap.
Curator’s notes
The central relationship of the film is between Jack and Stan, the Bill Hunter character – a man with whom Jack has a lot in common, even if he doesn’t know it. Hunter’s performance is typically nuanced – one reason he’s probably Australia’s greatest character actor (in a certain range) of the last 20 years. Stan recognises himself in the younger man, although he never says so. Jack is desperate for his approval – hence the business with the cap. Neither man is given any family relationships to speak of, in order to intensify the unspoken bond between them. Stan is also shown as having the same dry-as-dust wit as Jack, in his dealings with other club members. Stan may be fond of pontificating on the finer points of the game, but he is otherwise as sharp as a tack.
