I was told about this Australian film, all I knew about it is that it was only the second performance by the leading actor, following his debut in Mad Max, then I read more about what it was about, I was certainly interested. Basically Tim Melville (Mel Gibson) is a young 24-year-old who is developmentally impaired, he has below average intelligence, and he is a aware that he is mentally slow, he works as a labourer/handyman. Mentally challenged Tim lives with his older sister Dawnie (Deborah Kennedy), and their parents Ron (Alwyn Kurts) and Emily (Pat Evison), an older, educated and wealthy American woman, Mary Horton (Carrie's Piper Laurie), lives on her own in the house next door, she hires Tim as her gardener and to do other odd jobs. Mary is initially asked by Ron and Em to look after Tim in circumstances they would rather not expose him to, she and Tim gradually develop a friendship, and she helps him to understand what he is capable of and to nurture his learning skills, including reading and writing, but many people, without facts, think Tim is being taken advantage of, sexually, by Mary. Tim does not fully understand the concepts of death, tears of joy, marriage, and the different types of love, however Tim and Mary do indeed fall in love romantically, Dawnie gets married to her boyfriend Mick Harrington (David Foster), they make it clear that they are opposed of Tim and Mary's relationship. There is a point when Tim finds out the true meaning of loss after death, attending a funeral, he realises he cannot be without Mary, in the end they eventually marry. Also starring Peter Gwynne as Tom Ainsley, Michael Caulfield as John Harrington, Margo Lee as Mrs. Harrington and James Condon as Mr. Harrington. While Mad Max was Gibson's taster of stardom, before Lethal Weapon, this was his first serious role, he does pretty well as the wide-eyed innocent young man with learning difficulties, Laurie is also alright as the wary older woman he is smitten with, the love story is just about believable, it is a very simple script, based on the novel by Colleen McCullough (The Thorn Birds). nothing really exciting or original happens, I think though it is perhaps too quirky to be taken seriously, the music by Eric Jupp is probably one reason why, it makes the film feel like it was made for TV, or a bad episode of Neighbours or Home and Away, it is a low- profile but I suppose alright romantic drama. Worth watching!