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{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Sunday Too Far Away
| image = Sunday Too Far Away.jpg
| caption = DVD Cover
| director = [[Ken Hannam]]
| producer = [[Gil Brealey]]<br>[[Matt Carroll (producer)|Matt Carroll]]
| writer = [[John Dingwall]]
|cinematography = Geoff Burton
|editing = Rod Adamson
|music = Patrick Flynn
| starring = [[Jack Thompson (actor)|Jack Thompson]]<br />[[Robert Bruning]] <br />[[Reg Lye]]<br />[[Max Cullen]]<br />[[Peter Cummins]]<br />[[John Ewart]]
| studio = [[South Australian Film Corporation]]
| distributor = [[Village Roadshow Pictures|Roadshow Film Distributors]]
| released = {{Film date|1975|06|15|df=y}} 
| runtime = 94 minutes
| country = Australia
| language = English
| budget = A$300,000<ref name="pike">Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p287</ref>
| gross = A$1.356 million (Australia)
}}
'''''Sunday Too Far Away''''' is a 1975 Australian [[drama film]] directed by [[Ken Hannam]]. It belongs to the [[Australian New Wave|Australian Film Renaissance]] or the "Australian New Wave", which occurred during that decade.

The film is set on a [[sheep station]] in the Australian [[outback]] in 1955 and its action concentrates on the shearers' reactions to a threat to their bonuses and the arrival of non-union labour.

Acclaimed for its understated realism of the work, camaraderie and general life of the shearer, [[Jack Thompson (actor)|Jack Thompson]] plays the knock-about Foley, a heavy drinking gun shearer (talented professional [[sheep shearer]]), and while he makes a play for the station owner's daughter Sheila (Lisa Peers), the film is a presentation of various aspects of Australian male culture and not a romance; the film's title itself is reputedly the lament of an Australian shearer's wife: "Friday night [he's] too tired; Saturday night too drunk; Sunday, too far away".<ref>Rees, Nigel. ''Mark My Words: Great Quotations and the Stories Behind Them''. [[Barnes & Noble, Inc.]], 2002. {{ISBN|0760735328}}, p. 30</ref>

''Sunday Too Far Away'' won three 1975 [[Australian Film Institute]] awards: Best Film, Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

==Plot==
In 1955, gun shearer Foley joins a new shearing team sharing a room with Old Garth, a once great shearer who is now a drunk. Foley and his team battle to get in a new cook, Old Garth dies and Foley befriends the grazier's daughter. Foley loses his status as top shearer to Arthur Black and blows most of his money gambling. The shearers go on strike and Foley and his team get involved in a brawl with non-union labour.

==Cast==
*[[Jack Thompson (actor)|Jack Thompson]] as Foley
*[[Max Cullen]] as Tim King
*[[Robert Bruning]] as Tom West
*Jerry Thomas as Basher
*[[Peter Cummins]] as Arthur Black
*[[John Ewart]] as Ugly
*[[Sean Scully (actor)|Sean Scully]] as Beresford
*[[Reg Lye]] as Old Garth
*Graham Smith as Jim the Learner
*Laurie Rankin as Old Station Hand
*[[Lisa Peers]] as Sheila
*Philip Ross as Mr Dawson
*[[Ken Shorter]] as Frankie Davis
*[[Gregory Apps]] as Michael Simpson
*[[John Hargreaves (actor)|John Hargreaves]] (uncredited)

==Production==
The film was the first feature produced by the [[South Australian Film Corporation]]. They wanted to make a film about the [[Gallipoli campaign]] and considered a co-production with Crawford Productions. [[John Dingwall]] was signed to write it. However the film fell through when Crawfords fell out with the SAFC. Dingwall, still under contract to them, proposed instead a treatment called ''Shearers'', based on his brother-in-law, who was a shearer. Matt Carroll at the SAFC was particularly enthusiastic and recruited [[Ken Hannam]] to direct. The original treatment concerned the 1956 shearer's strike. This ended up being condensed greatly.<ref name="stratton">David Stratton, ''The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival'', Angus & Robertson, 1980 p98-101</ref>

Among the investors in the movie were the Australian Film Development Corporation.

Shooting began in May 1974 and took place near [[Port Augusta, South Australia|Port Augusta]] and [[Quorn, South Australia|Quorn]] in South Australia. It encountered rains and flood and was completed behind schedule in May.<ref name="pike"/>

The original cut of the film was over two hours. A number of scenes were reduced during post production, including the removal of Foley's romance with the grazier's daughter, and shifting Foley having a car crash from the end of the movie to the beginning.<ref name="pike"/> This caused a great deal of conflict between Ken Hannam, Gil Brearley and Matt Carroll.<ref name="stratton"/>

==Release==
Before being released, the film won four major prizes at the Australian Film Awards in March 1975 and was selected for screening in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival in May.

''Sunday Too Far Away'' grossed $1,356,000 at the box office in Australia (${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|AU|1,356,000|1975}}}} in {{inflation-year|AU}} dollars).<ref>[http://film.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/AA4_Aust_Box_office_report.pdf ''Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office'']</ref> The film's success after ''Petersen'' confirmed Jack Thompson's status as the biggest movie star in Australian cinema at the time.<ref name="lost">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/the-lost-roles-of-jack-thompson/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJO_thleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHetb_tJeHGJQi-d4-lw_kkNA81gYaJTuiGKLLvo_Qy6lGmzp7sNMi8TzDQ_aem_HMpEOI9VCkLc-0tJcv57JA|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|access-date=25 March 2025|date=25 March 2025|title=The Lost Roles of Jack Thompson}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Film}}
*[[Cinema of Australia]]
*[[South Australian Film Corporation]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073765/ ''Sunday Too Far Away''] at the [[Internet Movie Database]]
*[http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=Number%3A5;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10 ''Sunday Too Far Away''] at the [[National Film and Sound Archive]]
*[http://australianscreen.com.au/titles/sunday-too-far-away/ ''Sunday Too Far Away''] at [[Australian Screen Online]]
*[http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/film/dbase/1997/lantzke.htm ''Sunday Too Far Away''] at Murdoch University Reading Room
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090211095246/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/52278 ''Sunday Too Far Away''] at [[British Film Institute]]
*[http://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/sunday-too-far-away ''Sunday Too Far Away''] at Oz Movies
*[http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_movie.php?movieid=1851 Cinephilia]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110520174048/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/47677/Sunday-Too-Far-Away/overview ''Sunday Too Far Away''] at [[New York Times]]
*[http://www.nfsa.gov.au/the_collection/kodak_collection/the_films/sunday_too_far_away.html Kodak/Atlab Cinema Collection]

{{Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film 1970–1989}}
{{Ken Hannam}}

[[Category:1975 films]]
[[Category:Australian drama films]]
[[Category:Films shot in Flinders Ranges]]
[[Category:Films about sheep]]
[[Category:1975 drama films]]
[[Category:Films set in 1955]]
[[Category:Films directed by Ken Hannam]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films set in the Outback]]