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I first saw WIF on TV in the late 70s. It was unforgettable then and still very powerful now. I have brought the DVD and also the book written by Kenneth Cook on which the film was based. Watching the DVD was a trip down memory lane.

I grew up in Broken Hill where the film was made and I was teenager at the time. After living away from the Hill for more than 3 decades it was a treat to see the old streets and buildings as they were in the early 70s. The railway station was the old Sulphide Street station near the end of its active life as the Silverton line operated by the Silverton Tramway Company was being replaced by the Indian Pacific line. In the last scene it was interesting to see the train pulling out towards the east from the station where no passenger ever ventured; Silverton being 25 km to the west of the city.

My father knew Kenneth Cook as a fellow journalist. In the early 50s Cook was a journalist at the ABC in Broken Hill and my father was a journalist at a local newspaper - the Barrier Daily Truth. The book WIF was based on Cook's experience in the Hill. Cook had a hard time of it in Broken Hill. He came to greatly resent the darker side of outback life as portrayed so well in the book and movie. He had a nervous breakdown shooting off the first joint of a finger in his ABC flat which came with his job. He returned to Sydney to recover. WIF is in large part autobiographical. My father took over his job at the ABC including the ABC flat complete with blood stain on the wall from shooting off the first joint of his finger.

I believe Kenneth Cook died in 1986. I like the film more than the book. My mother refuses to either read the book or see the movie because she sees Kenneth Cook as just hating the Hill.

biolumen wrote:Only complaint I have with it is that while the main character is suppose to be an Aussie, he's played by a Brit, and while Gary Bond is a decent actor,.