Gallipoli

Plot synopsis:
Western Australia, May 1915. 18-year-old Archy Hamilton (Mark Lee) is an idealistic young Australian rancher with a talent for running sprints. He is trained in sprinting by his uncle Jack (Bill Kerr) and idolises Harry Lascelles, the world champion who ran a 100 yard sprint in less then 10 seconds. World War I has has been raging for a few months, and Australia is putting together regiments to help the British war effort. Since he can ride, young Archy wants to enlist in the Light Horse and be sent abroad to fight in the war as a duty of honor for his country.One day during a cattle roundup, Archy gets into an argument with a local rival and bully, Les McCann (Harold Hopkins), and they soon race against each other, under the condition that Archy will run bare-foot, and Les will ride his horse bareback. Les falls off his horse and Archy wins, but his feet are horribly mangled by the trek, with only a few days to recover for an athletics carnival.During this time of recoperating at home, Jack reads 'The Jungle Book' to the younger children of the family as a bedtime story, when Archy walks up and listens at the door. A passage where Mowgli reaches manhood, loses his innocence, and must leave the family of wolves that raised him is given particular prominence. Archy's political beliefs are influenced as well, as he hears several conversations taking place that convince him of the need to join the military. Eventually, Archy and Jack journey to the athletics carnival in the nearby town.Meanwhile, Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson) is an erstwhile railway labourer who is definitely down on his luck. He's a fast runner though, and tries to get some prize money at the athletics carnival race, but is defeated by young Archy, comming in second. After the race, Archy tells Jack that is is not coming home, but wants to enlist to flight in the war. He gives Jack all the prize money that he won, but keeps his winning medal as well as Jack's stopwatch. Jack reluntantly lets Archy go to enlist, but tells him that he does not expect him to return home... ever. Archy goes to a recruiting station to enlist, but is rejected by the local recruiter (who knows him) as he is underage (men have to be 21 or older to enlist).At a local tearoom, Archy meets with Frank and explains to him that he wants to join the Army and get involved in the war. Unfortunately, since Archy is underage, Frank suggests they travel to Perth on the west coast, where he is unknown, in order to enlist. Both he and Frank are flat broke, so they hop on a freight train for a free ride, but are left in their sleep at an isolated desert station the next morning. They wind up walking across the desert using Archy's wilderness survival skills, all the while arguing their political beliefs. After meeting a camel rider who points them in the direction of Perth, Archy and Frank stop for the night at a nearby plantation, and from there to Perth itself where they shack up with Frank's father who still resides there.Frank, who is of Irish descent, has little desire to fight for the British; however, bonds of mateship make him try for the Light Horse with Archy. He cannot ride, so he joins the infantry instead with three old mates in similar straits: Billy (Robert Grubb), Barney (Tim McKenzie) and Snowy (David Argue), who used to work with him along the railway line. Many of the motivations that compelled young men to join up appear: the propaganda associated with German atrocities in Belgium, the sense of adventure, the attraction of a smart uniform and the pressure from society to "do your bit." After enlisting, they are quickly embarked on a transport ship bound for the Mideast. At this point, Frank and Archy are separated as Archy goes off on one transport ship with the Light Horse, and Frank and his three friends board another ship.Moving forward to a few months later in July 1915, Frank and his three mates are in Egypt for training, encamped near the Pyramids, and spending their free time in Cairo, drinking, haggling with local merchants and visiting brothels. They express their contempt for the Brits during a rugby game near the Pyramids.One day, during a shambolic training exercise in the desert, Frank and Archy meet once again, and Frank is able to transfer to the Light Horse, as they are now being sent to the Gallipoli Peninsula as infantry, sans horses. After a formal going away party for the troops of Australia and New Zealand, Frank and Archy pack up and leave for their destination and destiny - Gallipoli, a narrow mountainous peninsula on the Turkish Ottoman European coast.Frank and Archy arrive at Anzac Cove in the dead of night and over the next several days, endure the hardships and boredom of the trench warfare that prevailed for much of the campaign.The ANZAC (Australian/New Zealand) forces are crowded against the shore, heavily dug in for protection against frequent enemy shellfire. In one place, the only route through to the front line involves running across a gully with a Turkish machine gun at the far end!During one night where reinforcements of Australian infanty arrive, Frank is reunited with his three friends and the four join with Archy for some casual talk. Frank's infantry mates fight in the Battle of Lone Pine on the evening of August 6, 1915. (The fighting is implied but not depicted.) Afterwards, Frank finds Billy shellshocked on the beach after the battle and tells Frank what happened to the others: Barney was shot and killed, and Snowy is in a hospital severly wounded during the taking of the Turkish trenches at the Lone Pine plateau. Frank visits Snowy at the infirmery where he sees that he is in such bad condition that he is not being given any food or water or medicine. Aware that he may be mortally wounded, Snowy asks Frank to take his diary and have it sent to his parents back home.The following morning, Archy and Frank take part in the charge at the Battle of the Nek which is to act as a diversion in support of the British landing at Suvla Bay just up the coast. Archy is told by his commander, Major Barton (Bill Hunter), that he will be the runner, but he refuses the offer in order to save Frank from going into battle and having the risk of being killed. Frank is then made the runner and courier for the regiment commander.The 8th and 10th Light Horse are to attack in three waves across a narrow stretch of very open and exposed ground only 20 to 25 yards wide which is guarded by several by Turkish machine guns. The first wave is timed to go at dawn at 4:30 AM, at the end of an artillery bombardment. At dawn, the artillery guns of the Australian army and of Britsh Royal Navy off shore unleashes a terrific bombardment on the Turks. Unfortunately, the Major Barton's watch is off by a seven minutes. He waits for the battleships to "finish them off" before sending his men over the top. This gives the Turks time to re-man their machine guns. Seeing the Turks re-occupy the trenches, Barton phones his superior, Colonel Robinson, who insists the attack proceed.The first wave of around 150 Austrian Light Horse troops goes over the top and is mercilessly cut down by a storm of rifle and machine gun fire within 30 seconds. A minute later, right before the second wave goes over, Archy recognizes his old rival Les and realizes he is about to go over with the second wave. The second wave of 150 Australians goes over, and Les is one of the first shot and killed. During the confusion, telephone lines to HQ are disrupted, so critical information cannot be relayed.Frank is sent running at top speed to tell HQ that the attack has failed, and that further assaults will be futile as well. But the arrogant and slightly insane Col. Robinson (acting on false information) believes that it has partially succeeded and he orders Frank to tell Barton that the attack continue at all costs.Frank returns to Barton and suggests he go over Robinson's head to the division commander, General Gardner. The dull-witted and frightened Lieutenant Gray (Peter Ford), Barton's aide and second-in-command, admits to Barton that he was the soldier who said to Robinson that he saw marker flags just before the telephone lines went dead. However, Gray only heard there were marker flags in the trenches but does not know who said it and that it must have been one of the soldiers before he went "over the top" and was killed. Barton sees that no attacking Australian got more then 10 yards from their trench. On Barton's orders, Frank hurries to Gardner's headquarters down on the beach to get permission to cancel the attack. Frank is forced to run across the gully with the enemy machne gun at the far end, but makes it.On the beach, The General, hearing from a radio operator that at Suvla Bay, "the British soldiers are sitting on the beach drinking cups of tea", gives Frank the message that he is "reconsidering the whole situation", effectively cancelling the attack on the Nek ridge. As Frank sprints back, the phone lines are fixed and the cynical and crazed Robinson orders that Barton continue to attack at all costs... even if it means the entire destruction of the Australian Light Horse. Barton considers joining his men in the final and futile charge and decides to do so aware that they are all going to die in the charge.After being given time to pray, write letters, and save their possessions to be sent to their families knowing they are about to attack an impregnatable enemy position and they are all going to die in the progress, (Archy's possessions are the running medals he earned with Jack), Barton personally leads Archy and the rest of the 150 Australians of the third wave as they go over the top and they are all cut down by Turkish fire. Frank arrives only seconds after the men are sent over, and lets out a scream of despair.The final shots show Archy, the sprinter, running across no-mans-land as hard as he can towards the Turkish trench... his rifle gone. He almost reaches the trench, when he is hit several times in the chest by machine gun fire. He begins to fall...The final freeze-frame on Archy being fataly gunned down is an image that evokes Robert Capa's famous 1936 Spanish Civil War photograph of a soldier at the moment of death called 'The Falling Soldier'. The image slowly fades to black.

Tags: anti war, murder, atmospheric

Review:
But Weir has a strange ability to make anything seem realistic."Gallipoli" is one of his older films, from 1981, and it stars a huge cast of names - most famous today, of course, Mel Gibson...whose name is now splattered across the front of the DVD case.The story is a true one and follows a group of young Australian men who join the ANZACs in World War I.
There are even worse stories that are told about the wars outcome in France and Belgium but this film captures enough of the tragedy to drive home the point of how mad all wars are.The very young and handsome and Aussie sounding Mel Gibson is very convincing as are the entire cast.
"Gallipoli" is a great little war film that is rarely mentioned, but one that can certainly stand up to the likes of "Saving Private Ryan" and movies of the big budget blockbuster kind.
(An early Mel Gibson movie that takes an anti-British stance)  Eventually he decides to join, and the rest of the story follows the two men in their various encounters throughout the war.The story is well told, focusing on the development of the two main characters rather than battle sequences.
Instead one's going to see the friendship of two sprinters, Mark Lee and Mel Gibson, and how they join the Australian Army which sent a lot of its best and brightest to fight in a faraway war in Europe which really Australia had nothing to do with.Australia was a nation at that point for only 14 years in 1915.
Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I .Much acclaimed story about the doomed Anzac WWI campaign , it's turns out to be a touching and powerful film , nonetheless includes a predictable but riveting final .
The flick has its touching moments found primarily in the superb supporting performances by Mark Lee and then-unknown Mel Gibson as two champion runners who join forces on a countrywide trek and enlist the Australian Light Horse and battle in Gallipoli .
Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I.The Australian sprinters from the outback are played persuasively by MEL Gibson and MARK LEE, both young and enthusiastic as the runners who form a close bond despite the fact that Gibson's character is not anxious to fight with the troops in a war far removed from his homeland.The story is a bit ponderous for the first half, gradually building up the relationship of two youths who become the best of mates once they both enter the armed forces.
The final freeze shot of Lee's character emphasizes the tragedy of it all--what with missed communications causing the war to continue instead of coming to a halt when Gibson's message arrives too late to save a futile situation with men being slaughtered.Gorgeous color photography of bleak landscapes and battle scenes and colorful Turkish scenes of soldiers on liberty is stunning to behold.
So when a director like him takes on a true event that is grounded in some of the most sincere themes in history, as he did with Gallipoli, it's no surprise that the outcome is going to be one of his best films, if not his best.The title Gallipoli is taken from the Gallipoli Campagin, where Weir focuses his attention on Battle of the Nek, a famous attack by the Australians in Turkey during the First World War. It would have been easy to focus on the attack itself, or the entire Campaign, but Weir is more introduced on the human aspect and he uses this event in the history of his homeland as a way of exploring the loss of innocence that comes with war and seeing battle.
Gallipoli centers around two Australian sprinters, Archy Hamilton (Mark Lee) and Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson), who start out as competitors but become friends as they sign up and fight alongside one another.A lot of war films begin in the midst of war and study it's characters through the war itself, but Gallipoli takes a unique approach by establishing these characters first and developing them before they are sent off.
The two meet, bond and influence one another until finally they are both off to war and it's this emotional investment that Weir is able to achieve in these characters before they enter the battle that really makes the film soar.Weir has always been able to stage cinematic sequences with breathtaking skill and precision, so it's no surprise that the war scenes are stunningly created, but the thing that truly sets Gallipoli apart is it's clarity of characters.
The title of Peter Weir's 1981 war film Gallipoli scrawls onto the screen in a blood red hue sitting on top of a blank, black background leaving it to stand out even more; a Hellish writing itself looking like it's been inscribed in blood as it stands – if we listen carefully, we can hear the feint sounds of some organ keys suggesting some kind of Gothic horror sensibility about these early proceedings.
Where the film will end up might as well be Hell, the worst place in the world anybody could be; let alone the clusters of those aged below twenty-or so whom ended up on the front-lines of Europe fighting World War One. Weir's film wonderfully captures that madness of war, and centres on a handful of people still early on in their lives put out to face the chorus' of death; blending in a blackly amusing tract as they attempt to make sense of their surroundings and get by through the absurdest nature of this close-knit warfare that they face.It is Australia, and the year is 1915 in amongst a barren, sandy stretch of Western Australian turf.
Dunne is fed up of Australia, but isn't willing to join the army to go abroad for the said undergoing war; a falling out with his chums over such a thing occurring and opening the door for Archy's bond.His meeting with Archy, and consequent friendship, eventually see them both sign up; thus, the beginnings of the reforming of Dunne's attitude to life that he can't take on any job and scrimp past whilst earning whatever comes his way are put into action, epitomised in his attempt to lie his way into a horse brigade at the expense of hard, front-line infantry graft.
However, a few months later, my sister brought home `The Mosquito Coast' to watch, because it had looked interesting, and my perception changed drastically.A little later, I saw Gallipoli, and it is my mind perhaps the best anti-war film ever-made.
He was still pretty unknown - at least outside Australia - at the time this movie was released.Actually, Mark Lee, not Gibson, is the star of this anti-war film about a maniacal Australian officer sending his troops off to a needless death.
This movie is good, I'd say it's worth watching but I am going to stick some warning labels on it.The plot is that 2 sprinters befriend one another and decide to enlist and fight in World War 1 because they have the perspective of "It's 1915 Australian Outback, what the hell else am I going to do?" so they go off and join up despite being under-aged and one thing leads to another and they part-take in a tactical plan done by the British that's so terrible that the mere mention of the location where it took place will have Australians instantly think of what happened.I'll say if there's anything that I would say hurts the film as a whole, it's the soundtrack.
This film tells the story of the early stages of that campaign .It's an Australian movie directed by Peter Weir who rallies to his country's flag by leaving Hollywood where he had a successful career and making an epic film the likes of which had never been seen before .
Peter Weir's film 'Gallipoli' tells the story of a pair of Australian sprinters who sign up to fight in the trenches: there's a lengthy study of their lives, in Australia and in training, before the inevitable brutal ending.
Peter Weir directed this realistic account of two Australian friends and champion sprinters named Frank Dunne(played by Mel Gibson) & Archy Hamilton(played by Mark Lee) who join the ANZACs(Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) in 1915 in WWI.
Three themes recur throughout – Albinoni's "Adagio in G Minor", with its overwhelming sadness, accompanies the ANZAC lads as they prepare to launch their hopeless attack: an aria from "The Pearl Fishers" conveys the sensitivity of Major Barton, the officer caught between two loyalties: and in complete contrast, Jean-Michel Jarre's "Oxygene" provides cutting-edge (for 1981) incidental music, helping to suffuse the film with a sense of youth and hopefulness, qualities so important to Australians.We spend the first thirty minutes in Western Australia.
Peter Weir knew exactly what he wanted to say about the tragic events of "The Great War" at Anzac Cove, the waste of life, the mateship and the hardships.Performances from Mark Lee, Mel Gibson and a huge Aussie supporting cast including Bill Kerr and David Argue, are strong.
Not so much that it is against wars in general, but it portrays the brutality that occurred in the Great War. Officers did relentlessly order their men to charge at machine guns and Gallipoli was a prime example of throwing lives away in the First World War.However, there is an anti-British sentiment in this movie that is a little too obvious for my likes.
The light the atmosphere all exudes Australia.This isn't an anti war movie it's pro Australian and definitely anti British which is a streak deep rooted in our national character and to my mind nothing we should be ashamed of.At a time when more and more young Australians are discovering their history and the truly remarkable feats of their forefathers, this depiction of the legend of ANZAC becomes more and more important.People will read what they want into the movie but it really is simply a depiction of the history Weir and the rest of us grew up with and a celebration of the basic goodness of Australia..
It depicts the story of two champion sprinters who answer the king's call to arms and are sent to fight in the ill fated Gallipoli landings of the Turkish campaign during the First World War, where many thousands of brave British and Australian soldiers lost their lives  It has been written that people do not watch or generally have any interest in films about The Great War, and I find this outrageous.
This perspective on life's lack of compassion was recently strengthened by the TV drama `Shackleton' which told of most of the survivors of an ill-fated south polar expedition of 1914 having barely survived the awesomeness of the planet being swiftly packed off to the front line to face man's own version of Hell.The storyline, rather than being an in-depth study of the military campaign at Gallipoli, develops the friendship between Archy Hamilton (Mark Lee), an idealistic and romantic under aged 18-year-old, and the older and more cynical Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson), involving you in their lives to give greater pathos to their fates.
The good thing now is that Brits can readily read about their involvement in Galipoli as there are many websites with all the facts and there has been some good documentaries on events some have been Australian and have done the Lancashire fusiliers and other British soldiers justice, which has been long over due.Not many British people knew our involvement in Galipoli let alone that we lost 21,000.So it seems to me that Peter Wiers film is now very out of date,now that the true facts are becoming widely known,he just makes the film look like an excuse for Brit or particularly English bashing,rather than try to be educational for the younger generation.Which is a shame,because Galipoli was a lesson to be learnt,but where facts have been distorted it just leads to a growing resentment from young British researchers and modern day historians.A waisted opportunity..
It was this experience - with much of a generation of men wiped out in Britain and France, that allowed a Hitler to incubate and rise to power with so little early opposition.I thought that the first part of the movie was a bit slow, but it was used to build the characters of the two runners, Archie and Frank.I thought one of the best lines was in the 1st half, where one of the main characters is explaining to an old Australian with a camel (in the outback) his reasons for joining the Army."If we don't fight them there, the Germans could come here" - to which the old man said "they can have it" - if you have never been to the Australian Outback, you don't know what a dry desolate desert really is...Some of the reviewers noted a trace of anti British sentiment - the comment of the British officers on seeing the Aussies in Egypt - the British Colonel at Galipoli....I did not see any overt messages rather seeing this campaign as an example of officers who shouldn't have been in the chain of command and the tragedy that came from that...It is a movie about the power of friendship and the stupidity and futility of trench warfare - with some bad officers The Australians have made some great movies and this is one of them....
I am shocked that this movie has not garnered more support on IMDB.The senseless waste of human life that may be witnessed in EVERY war can only be appreciated as deep, true & numbing loss when the men that would be lost are known as more than statistics.In this film we see young patriots in their finest hour, standing true to ideals of Honor, possibly in the face of death.
Good characters, very good performance by Mark Lee. Mel Gibson looks amazingly young.I didn't see this as a generally anti-war movie, but rather one particular instance in which many were led to their deaths without really understanding why.
Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I.Peter Weir has made some great films and has been the key contributor to Australian cinema.
I watched "Gallipoli" on a whim one night when it aired on TCM as part of a tribute to Australian cinema, and found it to be a moving film about the ultimate horror and waste of World War I.Mark Lee and Mel Gibson play two young sprinters who meet as competitors, become friends, and then enlist together in the war.
Reminiscent of the scene in "Platoon" while Barber's Adagio for Strings plays.An early Peter Weir film, I recommend this one much more than his later ones like "Dead Poets' Society" & especially over "Truman Show."Most movie-goers are not aware of the horrible realities of WWI, of the widespread massacres in the trenches, of the many, many young lives that were lost so senselessly.
At Gallipoli, the ANZACS alone, suffered 2000 dead...ON THE FIRST DAY!, let alone the thousands more wounded).That's not to say I don't think Weir was graphic enough...far be it for me to say he was too traumatizing!I mean the ending.......holy cow!It lets me down to think that Mark Lee never made it the same way good ol' Mel did, but hey, that's show-biz......at the expense of our nation's military history (similar to Mark Hamil's second-fiddle performance...and future career endeavours as opposed to Harrison Ford).All in all, the movie is a fine tribute to my country's fighting prowess.
The movie is about two Australian sprinters Archy (Lee) and Frank (Gibson) that end up going to war stationed in Egypt in World War I.
In 1915, two young Australian sprinters (played by Mark Lee and Mel Gibson) attempt to get by in life on their own before enlisting to fight for the British in World War I.
While there other great films on this subject (relevant following the 100th anniversary after the war's end), "Gallipoli" ups the ante.Director Peter Weir is very talented in his choices of framing certain scenes in a variety of locations and segments.
Dictating the Australian version, two young runners, Frank and Archy, enroll in the Australian army, and, as a result, are sent to fight in Gallipoli.The emotional aspect of this film is incredible, due to a great script and performances by Mark Lee and Mel Gibson, who play the two protagonists.
Directed by Australian new wave director Peter Weir, it begins in the land Down Under in the early twentieth century and tells the tale of two unlikely companions, champion sprinter Archy Hamilton (Mark Lee) and railroad worker Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson), as they travel across the Australian landscape to sign up for the army so they can fight in the Great War being waged in Europe, the war that would come to be known in history as World War I.
Watching this movie, it's hard to see why Mark Lee's career didn't reach the heights of Gibson's, as he's better-looking, more charismatic on screen, and equally as good an actor as Mel (although, to be honest, I'm not a fan of Gibson's work, and consider 'Gallipoli' to be one of his best performances.) The story is about two young West Australian men who sign up to go to war to fight in Turkey in 1915.
This is a story about 2 Australian sprinters, who both are sent to the Gallipoli campaign (Turkey) to fight in the first world war.
Mel Gibson's star grew from this film where he stars as an Australian soldier who with his mate, (Mark Lee) can't wait to join the fight against the Turkish during WWI.