The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)
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71% of users liked it
(124 ratings)
Based on a novel by Thomas Keneally, which was in turn inspired by actual events, this drama is a shocking indictment of the racism inflicted on the indigenous people of Australia. Jimmie (Tommy Lewis) is a half-white, half-aborigine young man raised by a Methodist minister. Feeling outcast among… More Based on a novel by Thomas Keneally, which was in turn inspired by actual events, this drama is a shocking indictment of the racism inflicted on the indigenous people of Australia. Jimmie (Tommy Lewis) is a half-white, half-aborigine young man raised by a Methodist minister. Feeling outcast among the aborigines, Jimmie moves to the city and gets a job working for a white family. When a white serving girl at the estate becomes pregnant, everyone is convinced that Jimmie is the father; to spare the girl's honor, Jimmie marries her and is allowed to live with her on the estate. But after the child is born, everyone realizes that the father was a white man, not Jimmie; he is still willing to accept the child and stand beside his wife, but his employers now feel that he married a white girl under false pretenses, and they bar him from the estate. Forbidden to see his wife and fired without receiving his pay, Jimmie finally explodes in a fury of violent revenge. Director Fred Schepisi's original cut of this film runs 122 minutes, though it was more widely distributed in a shortened version running 108 minutes. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Fred Schepisi
- Written By
- Fred Schepisi
- Genres
- Drama
R,
- In Theaters
- Jun 21, 1978 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Schepisi directs with an immediate energy and crisp cutting that reminded me of films like The Harder They Come (1972).
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Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile
A powerful and confronting story: one of the most significant films of the 1970s film renaissance in Australia
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Phil Hall, Film Threat
One of the greatest films to come from Australia.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Cast
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Tommy Lewis
as Jimmie Blacksmith
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Freddy Reynolds
as Mort Blacksmith
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Ray Barrett
as Constable Farrell
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Jack Thompson
as Rev. Neville
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Peter Carroll
as McCready
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Elizabeth Alexander
as Petra Graf
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Ruth Cracknell
as Mrs. Heather Newby
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Don Crosby
as Mr. Newby
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Julie Dawson
as Martha Neville
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Arthur Dignam
as Man in Butcher Shop
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Steve Dodds
as Tabidgi
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Jane Harders
as Mrs. Healy
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Ray Meagher
as Dud Edmonds
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Angela Punch McGregor
as Gilda Marshall
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Tim Robertson
as Healy
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Rob Steele
as Claude Lewis
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Peter Sumner
as Dowie Stead
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Bryan Brown
as Shearer
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Thomas Keneally
as Cook
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Robyn Nevin
as Mrs. McCready
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Brian Anderson
as Hyberry
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John Bowman
as Mullett
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Marshall Crosby
as Peter Newby
