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Clip description
The men of Cityside Bowling Club enter the lion’s den for the final. Bogarra Bowls Club, run by arch-enemy Bernie Fowler (John Clarke), is a poker machine palace that also has bowling greens. President Len (Frank Wilson) gives a stirring speech about Bradman, bowls and the importance of being able to eat your own sandwiches (the team’s sandwiches have been confiscated on the way in – they have to buy their lunch in this club). Unfortunately, Len is about to be arrested before he can play. The police have found cannabis plants back at Cityside. These belong to the head greenkeeper, but Len suspects his young team mate Jack.
Curator’s notes
The script uses a lot of the techniques of television comedy – the broad verbal one-liners, the self-conscious quoting of other films – but it’s effective in undercutting its own innate seriousness. Len’s speech is about something real and significant for the writers – but the last thing they want is for us to recognise that. Hence the well-timed intervention of the cops, to burst Len’s bubble. The four men walking abreast to the final in slow motion is a direct reference to a famous shot near the end of The Wild Bunch, a classic late western, but even if most young viewers had never seen that film, they got the joke, because that kind of shot has become a modern cliché.
