Most Canadians have seen this film and any Canadian who hasn't should. It is probably the equal of any other low budget film of this era (think Five Easy Pieces) and thirty years later, no film has come near to it in touching the alienation of the Maritimes from the rest of Canada. It has been ruthlessly parodied (by SCTV) and I can still remember the first time I saw it, in a high school showing during a slow day in 1976-1977.
While several other films have covered the plot line of men seeking a better life elsewhere (The Grapes of Wrath?), once again we find our two protagonists moving west for a better life. For a while, it seems they have found it - a job at the then princely sum of $80 per week (the minimum wage for the time by the way). However, their new found consumer lifestyle can't save them from the fact that they have left their family behind. When trouble inevitably comes, they find no-one to turn to and get increasingly more desperate. The acting is dead on and the story moves slowly. Had low budget continued to rule the way it did until 1977, there may have been many more like these. Regrettably, only Australia has managed to maintain a film industry, and it ain't just because of Mel Gibson.
While several other films have covered the plot line of men seeking a better life elsewhere (The Grapes of Wrath?), once again we find our two protagonists moving west for a better life. For a while, it seems they have found it - a job at the then princely sum of $80 per week (the minimum wage for the time by the way). However, their new found consumer lifestyle can't save them from the fact that they have left their family behind. When trouble inevitably comes, they find no-one to turn to and get increasingly more desperate. The acting is dead on and the story moves slowly. Had low budget continued to rule the way it did until 1977, there may have been many more like these. Regrettably, only Australia has managed to maintain a film industry, and it ain't just because of Mel Gibson.