On Location with 'The Sundowners' Page #9

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at Wattle Run...

...what are you gonna do

about Mrs. Firth?

Mrs. Firth? I'm going to say goodbye

to Mrs. Firth.

She's a dear little body, isn't she?

I just hope I don't hurt her feelings.

Don't you worry about her losing you.

She isn't losing one damned thing.

- Ida, I thought you were my friend.

- I am your friend.

- I just don't like you much right now.

- I don't like myself very much.

Perhaps it would be better if I didn't

accompany your family to Bulinga.

We'd be glad to have you,

and you know it.

Though why you want to beats me.

Well, I'm a kind of elderly turtle, Ida.

Hard shell, soft belly,

wealth of experience.

Not much of a mind to make use of it.

Always in the soup.

No joke intended.

And this turtle can't share its shell

with anyone.

But only when it finds people

who really belong to each other...

...as Paddy and you do...

...it becomes attached,

like a household pet.

Not a very well-trained one at that.

Oh, go on with you, Rupe.

Liz, you think the train trip

will be too much?

Not nearly as much

as all this saying goodbye.

Here.

Hopeless.

Hey, look at Ollie.

Three times now

he's run back to the cook house.

I don't think he wants to go.

I don't feel so good meself.

Listen, Sean,

there's something I wanna say.

I just hope my kid turns out

to be like you.

- Hey, Bluey.

- Yeah.

You hear the latest?

Ocker's thinking of getting married.

What's so funny about it?

I've been engaged eight years

trying to decide.

Speaking of getting married,

I hope the great lover's getting an earful.

Now then, Rupe, we've had

a lot of fun, and no harm done.

And why you're getting this

hangdog look, I don't know.

All I want to say to you is...

...drop in again sometime,

and take your chances.

Couldn't pin him down.

Not without breaking his leg.

Well, someone's gotta take the plunge.

- Hooroo.

- Hooroo, Turk.

Be seeing you.

Everybody for the track, in the truck.

Next stop, Big Billabong

and another 50,000 wooly jumbucks.

Goodbye. Goodbye.

Bye-bye.

Come on, Sean! Come on!

Yes! Marvelous!

Look at the chest on him, huh?

What do you think of him, Ern?

I'd swap the missus for him

any day in the week.

He'll pay for that.

All the same, he's a real champ.

He'll stand a chance being a champ

if we start at the Bulinga Cup.

You can camp right on the farm, Ida.

Just drop in on the agent as you pass

through Bulinga. I told him you would.

- What farm?

- Oh, the Owens' farm.

The one Sean and I were so keen on.

Annie wrote me it was still for sale.

It's a nice little place, Paddy.

You can grow anything on it.

I didn't think there'd be any harm

taking a look at it, darl.

Well, looks like I got the Sundowner

just in time.

Otherwise you'd have me

pinned under a mortgage...

...faster than you can say Bulinga.

But as you do have the Sundowner,

why don't you camp at the farm?

Then he can have a good roll in the sand.

It'll fix up just lovely, a room like this.

It's the kitchen I wanna see.

Oh, my.

Hey, they even left two beds

in one of the bedrooms.

Why don't we stay

in the house tonight?

Because it don't belong to us.

Sean, run out

and get my bag, will you?

Do you like the place?

It's a nice enough spread,

all right, yeah.

What's a place like this cost?

Two thousand's the asking price for it.

Two thou-?

You ought to have your head read.

Now, why do you make yourself

and Sean feel bad?

We ain't got money like that.

Yes, we have, Paddy.

We've got enough for a down payment.

I thought maybe we could

risk some tomorrow on Sundowner...

...to get us started with the farm.

You reckon he's a sure thing.

You know how I feel about settling.

Look, Paddy, you can't race Sundowner

for the rest of your life.

If you stay here,

you can put him out to stud.

Did you ever see a better place

for raising horses?

Stay here, you could have

the time of your life.

It's still getting stuck.

Rupe says he's off

to the fleshpots of Bulinga.

What do you think, Dad?

Well, it makes sense, don't it?

Suppose I better say yes.

- Oh, Paddy.

- We'll see the agent in the morning.

Well, I guess I better get in town

and get our bets down...

...before the odds shorten.

Yeah.

- How much?

- Fifty'll be all right.

Right. Well, see you later.

When'll you be back, darl?

Around sundown?

Soon as I can.

Did he mean it?

Yeah. Yes, he meant it.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have said it.

Well, he didn't seem too happy.

It's hard for him

to get used to the idea.

He'll like it later, though.

I bet he'll like it.

Of course he'll like it.

- Now can we stay in the house?

- I don't see why not.

Paddy?

Paddy?

I've done something, Ide.

I lost the money. Two-up.

We still got the money in the jar.

I wrote IOU's. I lost it all.

I don't know what to say.

I looked at you both, you and Sean.

You were just like strangers.

I wanted you to have

what you wanted...

...but God forgive me,

I must've hated you both.

I just wanted to get away from you, get

drunk, get the taste out of me mouth.

That's all I meant to do, darl,

was just get drunk.

That's all I meant to do.

I'll make it up to you, darl.

I promise you.

- I'll get you a place.

- No, no, no.

Don't talk about it.

Don't talk about it.

If it's of any use to you,

I've got about a hundred pounds.

Oh, they'd never take that

as a down payment.

Thanks, anyway.

Just by way of covering

all the possibilities...

...you could sell Sundowner

for a goodly sum.

Not before the race, you couldn't.

You'll need this to settle the IOU's.

Will we have enough

to get us another job?

Well, there's 50 pounds prize money

if Sundowner wins the race.

We better leave

right after the race, then.

Come on!

Did he win?

He had to, darl. He just had to.

Wasn't he beaut? We had to go

round the outside of him.

You'll be a better rider than I was.

- Two champions on that course today.

- And we won 200 quid.

We better collect our prize money,

start looking for another job.

We're not going anywhere, darl.

I made a deal with a bloke

before the race.

Two hundred pounds for Sundowner

if he wins.

That means we've got 400 quid.

We've still got enough

for a down payment.

I know what the horse means to you.

I know what the farm means to you, Ide.

You keep him.

Yeah, Owens' farm

isn't the only farm in Australia.

When we've earned something,

race him again...

...and make enough money

for another place.

You know what I'm like

when I've got a little money.

- I don't trust myself, Ide.

- I trust you, darl.

We're not selling the horse.

Can't I do anything in my life

without getting an argument from you?

- Mum, if Dad really wants to-

- Shut your gob.

This is between your dad

and me, and it's settled.

- Ida, you want a home, don't you?

- Oh, we'll have a home someday.

This way, if we do it,

you'll hate every inch of the place.

I don't wanna live with a martyr.

You're the only martyr

to this family's got room for?

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