THE FACTS OF LIFE DOWN UNDER

US, 1987, 100 minutes, Colour.
Cloris Leachman, Nancy Mc Keon, Mackenzie Astin, Mario Van Peebles, Joss Mc William, Gary Waddell.
Directed by Stuart Margolin.

The Facts of Life Down Under is one of several telemovie spin-offs from the popular '80s series, The Facts of Life, starring Cloris Leachman and Nancy Mc Keown. There was a basic Facts of Life feature pilot, the group going to Paris and, in the late '80s, to Australia.

The film relies on the popularity of the characters, their age and experience, their verve - and their desire to see new places and people. The screenplay is also a travelogue for Australia: plenty of attractive scenes of Sydney and the harbour, the opera house as well as Central Australia and Uluru. There is also life on a sheep property.

There is a slight plot worked in with a jewel thief and a policeman, Beverley- Anne (Cloris Leachman) going back with a young boy to meet someone she loved long ago, one of the group stranded in the desert of Central Australia, and the black member of the group encountering a PhD anthropologist on Uluru and mistaking him for an aborigine. (There are quite a number of remarks about aborigines and ecology.) Popular American entertainment - and how the television networks of the US saw Australia in the'80s.

1.The images of Australia for American audiences?

2.The title and the reference to the TV series? Audience familiarity with the characters?

3.Jo as the strong leader of the group? Her arrival, place in the group? Friendship with Blair. Natalie and Tootie? The involvement with Kevin on the ferry? Nick and the dilemma about the police? Attracted towards Nick? In town, the meal, eluding the police? At home, the break-in? The phone calls for the haversack? Chase, in the opera house, getting free again? The finale and the speeches? Blair as her friend, less astute than Jo? Attracted towards Kevin? Sharing in the incidents? More flirtatious?

4.Natalie and Tootie? Comic style? Black and white? Their going to Central Australia? Natalie, irritated with Tootie and her Australianisms? The climbing of Uluru? Meeting the grazier, going with him, stranded, the rabbit, dingos? Camping out? Throwing away the opal? The friendly farmer, explanations of properties? The rescue? Hurrying back to Sydney? Her speech - and her clothes? Tootie and her learning things Australian, her comments about the aborigines and their heritage? Meeting David, mistaking him for an aborigine, talking condescendingly to him while trying to be friendly? His leading her on? Her discovery of the truth? Going to meet him?

5.Beverley-Anne as chaperone, Cloris Leachman's amiable style? With the girls, with Andy? Remembering Roger, going to his property, reminiscing, the attraction towards staying, feeling that Roger was still going to limit her? Her going back home? Andy and his dreams, going to the sheep farm, talking to the young girl, the possibilities of a career?

6.David, anthropology, with the aborigines, the tour of Ayers Rock, the paintings, on the water? His answers to her and his pretending to be an aborigine? The points being made about aborigines, harmony with the land, 40,000 years, their civilisation?

7.Roger and the sheep farm, his daughter, widower, prospects, wanting Beverley- Anne to stay?

8.Kevin and his smooth talking, robber, the convicts? Eluding Aintree? His gang? Following the girls, conning them? The chase? Being caught? Aintree and his manner, proving to the girls that he was a policeman? Escorting them? The pursuit of Kevin?

9.Popular ingredients? For the popular audience? Americans in Australia? American images, Australian images?