Free Willy director Simon Wincer and writer David Williamson produced a captivating if cynical drama that one critic called ‘Rocky with hoofs’Like so many great Australian traditions,Melbourne Cup week fuses a number of recreations dear to the national psyche – namely sport, gambling and the consumption of prodigious amounts of alcohol. Every year news stories report rubbish-splattered carnage involving dolled-up men and women collapsing on each other and racehorse owners and trainers pocketing serious coinage from their four-legged investments. Punters lap it up while the sport’s naysayers deem of the Cup more along the lines of a profound national shame. The very line “a day of profound national shame” is delivered by a racing official in director Simon Wincer’s 1983 drama tracing the career of Australia’s legendary thoroughbred, or Phar Lap,a national icon as beloved as jars of Vegemite or Sir Donald Bradman.
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Source: theguardian.com