''3 to Go'' is an Australian

portmanteau film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...

consisting of three stories (''Judy, Michael'', and ''Toula''), each presenting a young Australian at a moment of decision about their future. The film was first shown on commercial television in March 1971 and episodes screened individually in cinemas as supporting shorts. One of the stories, ''Michael'', written and directed by

Peter Weir Peter Lindsay Weir ( ; born August 21, 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He's known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ''Gallipoli'' (1981), ''Witness ...

(a leading figure in the

Australian New Wave The Australian New Wave (also known as the Australian Film Revival, Australian Film Renaissance, or New Australian Cinema) was an era of resurgence in worldwide popularity of Australian cinema, particularly in the United States. It began in the ea ...

cinema movement (1970–1990)), went on to receive an

Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) is a professional organisation of film and television practitioners in Australia. The Academy's aim is "to identify, award, promote, and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements i ...

award.

Plot

Young people and their personal concerns are the main theme of the segments:

''Judy''

Despite the opposition of her parents and her boyfriend, Judy, a 19-year-old country girl, wants to move to the big city and leave her small town behind. Judy finds life in Tamworth mundane - her mother's concerns about her welfare, Mike - her unambitious country boyfriend, and the daily routine. Her plan is to make her own life in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, and she seeks advice from her work-friend Margie, and wishes her boyfriend was more like David (Margie's fiancé). At the

Hoyts The Hoyts Group of companies in Australia and New Zealand includes Hoyts Cinemas and Val Morgan. Hoyts operates more than 450 cinema screens and 55,000 seats, making it Australia's second largest movie exhibitor after Event Hospita ...

drive-in A drive-in is a facility (such as a restaurant or movie theater) where one can drive in with an automobile for service. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk or rollerskat ...

, showing a double-feature (

Flaming Star ''Flaming Star'' is a 1960 American Western film starring Elvis Presley, Barbara Eden and Steve Forrest, based on the book ''Flaming Lance'' (1958) by Clair Huffaker. Critics agreed that Presley gave one of his best acting performances as t ...

and

Garden of Evil ''Garden of Evil'' is a 1954 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Henry Hathaway, about three somewhat disreputable 19th-century soldiers of fortune, played by Gary Cooper as an ex-lawman, Richard Widmark as a gambler, and Cameron M ...

), she informs Mike of her plans. He becomes disenchanted, failing to understand her motivations, and a few weeks later, after Judy searches for work in ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', and with the help of her boss, the segment ends as she boards a train for Sydney and we see her new home (room 305).

''Michael''

A young man, Michael, faces a choice between his wealthy middle-class parents and their middle class wealthy lifestyle and a group of radicals. The episode starts with close-quarter battle scenes near

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

, where radical ''Youth Quake'' rebels are fighting against soldiers. We then learn that this is only a film-sequence, and that everyday life is still normal, and meet Michael who is living with his parents, but working in the city. The scenes are intercut with an expert ''Youth Quake'' panel discussion (led by Neville Trantor), discussing topics such as sex and drugs. Trouble with Judy his girlfriend leads to a

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

montage, and Michael becomes increasingly bored with his work routine and colleagues. At a pub, he befriends an actor from the film, Grahame, and Georgina his girlfriend, and begins to experience their freewheeling lifestyle. Family life becomes increasingly mundane as he begins to seek something more. He invites them to gatecrash Judy's 21st party, leading to trouble with his parents and a stronger sense of personal conflict.

''Toula''

In it, a young Greek woman falls for an Australian man despite the opposition of her conservative Greek parents and family. Toula lives in a

row house In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house (British English, UK) or townhouse (American English, US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings party ...

in Sydney (within the Greek community) with her parents, grandmother, and younger brother Stavros, all of whom arrived in Australia 4.5 years ago. Toula and her best friend Assimina work at a clothes factory, and their families often meet and socialise together. Assimina has an Australian boyfriend, a university student named Rick, but she is unable to tell anyone except Toula about him - rumours however reach her brother Nick, which leads to a physical altercation in the house. Tension exists at Toula's house too, with Stavros, who is unemployed and listless, and his father's desire for him to go to university. As a community dance, she meets John - then the four go on a double-date to see

Easy Rider ''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American independent drug culture road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American So ...

in the theatre. Easter arrives, and the community celebrates a midnight mass with candles in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

, and the family head off home together.

Cast

''Judy'' *

Judy Morris Judith Ann Morris (born 17 February 1947) is an Australian character actress, as well as a film director and screenwriter, well known for the variety of roles she played in 58 different television shows and films, starting her career as a child ...

as Judy *

Serge Lazareff Serge Constantine Lazareff (7 August 1944 - 20 August 2021) was an Australian actor and screenwriter/editor, who was born in Shanghai, China. He appeared in 54 roles from the late 1960s until 1999, before starting a second career as a writer fo ...

as Mike *Mary Ann Severne as Margaret * Gary Day as David *Penny Ramsey as Heather *Wendy Playfair as mother *Brian Anderson as father *Cliff Neale as Mr Vickery ''Michael'' *Matthew Burton as Michael *Grahame Bond as Grahame *Peter Coville as Neville Trantor *Georgina West as Georgina *

Betty Lucas Betty Helen Lucas (31 May 1924 – 7 April 2015), also known as Betty Lucas Peterson, was an Australian character actress and theatre director, known for her numerous roles on stage and television, starting from the post-WWII years in 1945. Biog ...

as mother *

Judy McBurney Judith McBurney (19 May 1948 – 1 December 2018) was an Australian actress and model. She is best known for serial ''The Young Doctors'' in 1,300 episodes as Tania Livingstone and also appeared in cult series'' Prisoner'' as Sandra" Pixie" Mas ...

as Judy ''Toula'' *Rita Ioannou as Toula *Erica Crowne as Assimina *Andrew Pappas as Stavros *Joe Hasham as John *Gabriel Battikha as Nick *Ther Coulouris as father *Ketty Coulouris as mother *Yaya Laudeas as grandmother

Production

Assistance was provided by the then

Commonwealth Film Unit Film Australia was a company established by the Government of Australia to produce films about Australia in 1973. Its predecessors were the Cinema and Photographic Branch (1913–38), the Australian National Film Board (1939–1955, under differ ...

(now

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

). Filmed in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

, ''Michael'' was shot in late 1969 on 16mm but blown up to 35mm, while the others were filmed in early 1970 on 35mm.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p254-255 The director of photography was Kerry Brown, and the producer Gil Brealey, It was distributed by

British Empire Films British Empire Films (BEF) was an Australian film distributor, serving as the distribution arm of Greater Union. They distributed films of Cinesound Productions.Festival Records Festival Records (later known as Festival Mushroom Records) was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005. Festival was a wholly owned subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to ...

, the tracks were: * A1 - To-Day / Don't Turn Your Back / To-Day / Thirties / To-Day * A2 - Merivale / Whispers * B1 - Nowhere / Down on the Farm / Don't Turn Your Back The music for ''Toula'' included "Mozart Chamber Music" edited by James McCarthy.

Reception

The three segments in the trilogy had "relatively little thematic or stylistic connection", apart from what might be called an ulterior, "issue-based" motive to draw lessons about life in Australia, and a desire to patch together a feature film by using a portmanteau structure.

Awards

''Michael'' won the 1971

AACTA Award for Best Film The AACTA Award for Best Film is an award presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), a non-profit organisation whose aim is to "identify, award, promote, and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements in film and ...