"the best country on earth"

Have y'all watched Newsfront recently? By "y'all" I basically mean Australians cause I doubt Americans or Canadians or whathaveyou will get as much out of this film as an Australian would. I remember seeing this years ago on tv (how ironic) but just watched it again last night and, god it's great! Definitely one of the most patriotically Aussie films I've seen. It's filled with Aussie lingo up the wazoo and lines such as the one I used in the title. Phillip Noyce's best film (this was from 1978 and he's had many since such as Rabbit-Proof Fence) is also his most technically marvellous. I love the way he splices all the original newsreel footage into the filmed work. His use of black and white and colour is seemless.

And how about those performances? Bill Hunter is great (although who on earth would consider him "handsome". Silly screenwriting gaff I presume) and people such as Bryan Brown and Angela Punch McGregor are also good. My favourites however were Chris Haywood. He's a real hoot and I loved him to bits (he was also quite the looker back in '78). Wendy Hughes is her dry self as always and works excellently and then there's Don Crosby who I really liked. It's a shame he left the film so early. And in a tiny cameo, Bruce Spence is hilarious!

So, yeah, I really loved this film. So freakin' good, but if you don't happen to be Australian I can understand not really getting it. A