The Little Sheriff (1971)

By Chernyat

Another unknown relic of Australian New Wave given to me by Paul Bugden. Written and Directed by his friend and founder of Ubu Films David. E Perry. Surprisingly little information can be found about this film online. So , like with most of the obscure films in my collection, I took the liberty to add it to online databases myself. What follows is a simple premise of a young boy. With such little to do, he wanders around Sydney playing sheriff with his toy gun. However, this state of monotony takes a sudden turn when he encounters a group of older boys. It's a plot complete with motifs and analogies of the old west in the form of child's play. Some parts of this film visually remind me of Adam and Vision for a New World in how it depicts Sydney as this grey-scaled land of desolation. Almost voided of human life with the exception of our central characters. It's a pretty stripped back low budget short with a lot of flute solos to company the soundtrack. If there is one flagship element of this film, it would be that it captures the uneventful parts of childhood quite accurately.