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Gallipoli

3 May 2025

In the Playhouse

Cinema

Australia | 1981 | English | Drama | PG

In one of the most loved Australian films of all time, Archy (Mark Lee) and Frank (Mel Gibson) face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I. 

Few films impact the national psyche with as much force as Peter Weir’s 1981 hit.

The Guardian

Useful information:

A timeless, poetic masterpiece by Peter Weir

In Western Australia in 1915 two young men join up to fight in the First World War. Archy Hamilton (Mark Lee) is the patriotic son of a grazier. Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson) is a drifter with no great desire to fight for the British Empire. They meet as runners in an outback footrace and become best mates. After training in Egypt, they land at Gallipoli, just as the great allied assaults of August 1915 are to begin.

Directed by Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show), Gallipoli remains one of the most loved of all Australian films. It’s one of Weir’s most nakedly emotional films and one of his most poetic.

Presented by Sydney Opera House

Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

Credits

Peter Weir
Director

Robert Stigwood, Patricia Lovell
Producers

David Williamson
Screenplay

Cast

Mel Gibson
as Frank

Mark Lee
as Archy Robert Grubb

Harold Hopkins
as Les McCann

Bill Hunter
as Major Barton

Bill Kerr (AKA Willie Kerr)
as Jack

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