Another great Aussie movie premiers on ABC television tonight: Cliffy, the true story of the 61-yer-old Cliff Young, an oddity from the small Victorian regional town of Colac. For a start, he's a vegetarian. And he's a teetotaller. Add to that, he's a virgin and still lives on the family farm with his mother.
Cliff scrounges out a meagre existence farming potatoes and a few dairy cattle. That's not so odd in these parts. But when he's not battling the fickleness of nature, Cliff doesn't head to the pub or the footy ground like most. He spends his time running, covering vast distances in a single day. On one of these runs, he meets a local girl, Mary, and an unexpected connection is formed.
When the potato crop fails - again - Cliff enters the inaugural 550 mile Sydney-to-Melbourne footrace in 1983. He hooks up with his old friend, Wally, who hasn't trained a decent runner in years, and who now lives a sad existence alone.
This unlikely duo set out to defy the doubters and qualify for the gruelling race. But waiting for Cliff in Sydney are the world's greatest distance runners and a media that views his ramshackle entourage with wide-eyed incredulity.
Foregoing sleep, Cliff runs eighteen hours a day. When he hits the wall and can't go on, Mary is on hand to help him through. When he takes the lead and shuffles on, Australia is utterly transfixed. Five days later, a nation celebrates when Cliffy wins by the proverbial country mile.
The real Cliff Young
Read more about Australia's gumbooted Forrest Gump here.
