The Earthling

Australia, 1980

Film
Please note

Sorry, we aren't able to make images or video for this item available to the public online.

Patrick Foley, dying presumably of cancer, returns from America to his outback country town. There, after the briefest of conversations with long-lost acquaintances, he sets off over the mountains to a remote and hidden valley where his father once carved out a small farm. On his way, he comes accross Shawn Daley, who has just seen his mother and father die in a campervan accident. Lost, angry and afraid, Shawn seeks Patrick’s help but is coldly rebuffed. The irascible Patrick wants nothing to do with anybody else and tells the boy he must fend for himself. Shawn has no choice but to keep hounding Patrick, and the rest of the film is the changing relationship between this dying man and a dependent child. Cast includes William Holden, Ricky Schroder, Jack Thompson and Olivia Hamnett.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

Stream, rent or buy via Just Watch Logo

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Peter Collinson

co-producer

Elliot Schick

John Strong

production company

Samuel Z Arkoff

Duration

01:42:00:00

Production places
Australia
Production dates
1980

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

325040

Language

English

Audience classification

PG

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

VHS; Preservation Print (Section 5)

Wikidata

Q1617093

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/80985--the-earthling/ |title=The Earthling |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=29 March 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}