By Erin Free
In this regular column, we drag forgotten made-for-TV movies out of the vault and into the light. This week: the 1978 Australian-shot drama Because He’s My Friend, starring Karen Black, Keir Dullea, Jack Thompson, Warwick Poulsen and Tom Oliver.
Most of the entrants in the Vintage Telemovie Of The Week column have been American, with a few exceptions. Though a largely American phenomenon, the telemovie concept certainly wasn’t restricted to the US. There are great ones out of the UK (with the nuclear disaster classic Threads being one of the most famous), and Australia too. In an unusual and now largely forgotten piece of creative collaboration, the 1970s American telemovie actually found a temporary home in Australia.
In the 1970s, ABC-TV bigwig John Cameron was looking to get the ABC into international co-productions as a means to up his drama budget and increase overseas sales. Cameron formed a partnership with US operator Robert Kline, formerly of 20th Century Fox and now head of Transatlantic Enterprises, to create a package of US-Australian telemovie co-productions that would be filmed in Australia, screened on the ABC, and then sold into international theatrical markets.
“Nobody ought to believe that this is going to result in the finest flower of television drama,” John Cameron told The Bulletin in 1976, not exactly inspiring confidence. “It will be high action, adventure-orientated, the sort of material that is staple diet for prime-time viewing all over the world. Not too banal or stupid, but nonetheless lightweight for relaxed viewing.”
So how did this all fly with the industry-protective local powers that be? The Australian Writers Guild was promised that half the scripts would be written by Australians at the American rate. Other industry bodies were assured that Australians would take major crew roles on the initial raft of productions, and would then be upped into more senior positions on subsequent films. Actors Equity allowed two imported actors per film, who would appear alongside local supporting actors. Furthering collaboration, the scripts were supervised by James Davern, the ABC’s head of drama, and Gene Levitt, an American writer-producer-director.
The collaboration ended up yielding six telemovies (as opposed to the intended eighteen) of varying quality. Yes, for a time, the American telemovie was literally transplanted onto Australian shores. Of the six produced Transatlantic Enterprises/ABC-TV telemovies, the most blue-ribbon and arguably best is 1978’s Because He’s My Friend, which boasts a quality director in Unsung Auteur Ralph Nelson; a solid scripter in Aussie Peter Schreck (who would go on to write 1982’s We Of The Never Never and 1984’s The Coolangatta Gold); two excellent leads in cult faves Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey) and Karen Black (Five Easy Pieces); and a great role for Aussie legend Jack Thompson. It also bravely tackles topical, difficult subject matter.
Eric (Keir Dullea) is a Canadian naval officer transferred to Sydney to take part in training to become a submarine captain. Accompanying him are his wife Anne (Karen Black) and twelve-year-old son Petey (Warwick Poulsen), who experiences autism, intellectual disability and ADHD, though these conditions are never actually named in the course of the film. Per the unfortunate, now outdated parlance of the time, Petey is clinically referred to as “retarded” and “hyperactive.”
Petey can be a challenge, and it is largely Anne who does the heavy lifting. When she enrols Petey in The Karonga House School For The Handicapped (a real institution still in operation, though now more sensitively called Karonga School), Anne is confronted by determined but laidback headmaster Geoff (Jack Thompson), who believes that Petey’s tantrums and fits of rage could be eased through structure and discipline. “He’s just being naughty,” Geoff says, again using terms you never really hear today.
While Anne embraces Geoff’s concepts, and begins to see results, the more traditional Eric is largely in denial when it comes to Petey, giving his son whatever he wants just to keep him happy and maintain a sense of calm in the household. Consumed with his stressful work life, Eric doesn’t really accept the seriousness of his son’s condition. “He’s just a kid,” Eric often says. They’re a loving, caring family, but this divergence in philosophy around parenting soon places Anne and Eric very much at odds with each other.
Though obviously dated with regards to terminology, the conflict at the heart of Because He’s My Friend is timeless. Parents often have different ideas when it comes to raising their children, and this is intensified even further when their children have mental or physical disabilities. The concept of parental divergence is presented here with an admirable lack of compromise, with Eric and Anne – who both believe they’re doing the right thing – butting heads with a real sense of vigour and desperation.
Keir Dullea and Karen Black attack their roles with grit and intensity, while Warwick Poulsen (an able actor playing someone with disability, as was standard practice in the 1970s) is highly effective and truly affecting as the troubled but warm-hearted Petey. Jack Thompson is enjoyably punchy as Geoff, while Aussie legends like Tom Oliver (Neighbours’ Lou Carpenter), Ray Meagher (Alf from Home And Away) and June Salter are all strong in small supporting roles.
While noted hard-hitter Ralph Nelson’s direction is occasionally a little too pushy (he plays a scene in which a shocked Eric is greeted by a class of children with Down Syndrome as if it’s from a horror movie), and the film’s outdated moments are hard to watch (especially a scene where a group of children with obvious noise sensitivities are “entertained” on a school excursion by a clown playing a variety of aurally punishing musical instruments), Because He’s My Friend remains deeply, profoundly moving.
Sure, its ending might be a little sentimental, but it’s undeniably and incredibly sweet and dramatically satisfying. And there’s also something quietly extraordinary about seeing the great Karen Black (check our review of the telemovie classic Trilogy Of Terror for more on this wonderful actress) on a ferry in Sydney Harbour gazing appreciatively at The Sydney Opera House. And if you needed more, but you probably don’t, there’s a gorgeously saccharine theme song performed by Julie Anthony…yes, Julie fucking Anthony.
For Australian fans of vintage telemovies, Because He’s My Friend is an absolute must.
Availability: Because He’s My Friend is easy to find online, and it’s in pretty good condition to boot.
If you enjoyed this review, check out our other vintage telemovies Rodeo Girl, Citizen X, Relentless, The Connection, Zuma Beach, The Third Girl From The Left, Snowbeast, Stagecoach, Terror On The Beach, Strange Homecoming, The Possessed, Memorial Day, That Certain Summer, Elvis And The Beauty Queen, Scandal In A Small Town, Victims For Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story, The Seduction Of Gina, Blue Murder, The Brotherhood Of Justice, The Wave, The California Kid, The Cracker Factory, Night Terror, Inmates: A Love Story, The Shadow Riders, CHiPs: Roller Disco, Dawn: Portrait Of A Teenage Runaway, Young Love, First Love, Escape From Bogen County, The Death Squad, Hit Lady, Brian’s Song, The Defiant Ones, A Cry For Help, Trilogy Of Terror, Policewoman Centerfold, Smash-Up On Interstate 5, Something Evil, Savage, A Step Out Of Line, The Boy In The Plastic Bubble, The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission, A Very Brady Christmas, The Gladiator, Elvis, The Rat Pack, Silent Victory: The Kitty O’Neil Story, Terror Among Us, The Hanged Man, Hardcase, Charlie’s Angels: Angels In Vegas, Vanishing Point, To Heal A Nation, Fugitive Among Us, To Kill A Cop, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Police Story: A Chance To Live, Murder On Flight 502, Moon Of The Wolf, The Secret Night Caller, Cotton Candy, And The Band Played On, Gargoyles, Death Car On The Freeway, Short Walk To Daylight, Trapped, Hotline, Killdozer, The Jericho Mile, Mongo’s Back In Town and Tribes.
