"Hercules Returns"

The question is debated by punters in pubs the length and breadth of the wide brown land: What's the Greatest Australian Movie Ever Made?

The answer is known to all true aficionados of Australian cinema. No, it's not Breaker Morant (1980), Crocodile Dundee (1986), Death in Brunswick (1990), Strictly Ballroom (1992), nor Muriel's Wedding (1994). Not even The Club (1980).

No, it's Hercules Returns (1993). It was written and voiced by Des Mangan, and is based on the old Australian live comedy show 'Double Take', in which ostensibly serious films were re-voiced in a satirical manner.

A guy gets fired from a big film distribution company and buys an old cinema. He and his friends decide to reopen with the last movie shown before the cinema closed, an Italian film about the mixed adventures of Hercules, Samson and other classical and mythological heroes. When the big company provides a copy without subtitles, they have to improvise dialogue from the projectionist's room.

Hercules Returns was directed by David Parker, and stars David Argue, Michael Carman, Bruce Spence, and Mary Coustas.

In the clip that follows, our hero—Testiculli, or 'Testy' for short—has a meeting with his father.