Dad and Dave: On Our Selection

The Mark Twain of Australia, Steele Rudd made his name in 1899 with a book of short comic sketches, "On Our Selection," based on his upbringing on a homesteading farm in rural Queensland. This film is based on that book and Rudd's subsequent tales of the cantankerous Dad Rudd (Leo McKern), his hardworking wife, Ellen (Joan Sutherland), and their well-meaning, sweet-natured but somewhat blundering son, Dave (Geoffrey Rush), including the tale of Dad's run for local political office. …