Hard Knocks (1980)

Samantha (Tracy Mann) is a young Melbourne woman struggling to make a new life for herself after a spate of petty crime sees her locked up in a detention centre for six months.

Once released, she begins working as a model and is helped by social worker Jean (Elizabeth Stevenson) and by Liz (Suzanne Dudley), who runs the modelling agency.

But even as her hair grows and her manner softens, Sam can’t escape her roots and constant police persecution in a society filled with unemployment, despair and social disparity.

Sam falls in with Tim (Kim Rushworth), an amiable hippie muso who’s a devotee of hamburgers, the alto sax and Sam’s poetry. But she also falls in with a gang of petty criminals led by Frank (Hilton Bonner), with the punkish Wally (John Arnold) as his sidekick, and joins them in an inept robbery.

The pressure of the modelling world doesn’t suit Sam and she takes a job as a waitress, but corrupt cops Brady (Bill Hunter)  and Newman (Max Cullen) arrest her and fit her up on a charge of drug possession.

Australian singer Deborah Conway appears as fellow model, Pip.

This low-budget independent Australian feature was shot over five weeks and went on to win the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Jury Prize in 1980. Tracy Mann also won the AFI Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in this movie.

The soundtrack is full of classic Australian rock music, including songs by Paul Kelly and the Dots, Sherbet, Sports, The Angels, Cold Chisel, AC/DC, Richard Clapton, Billy Thorpe, Stevie Wright, John Paul Young, William Shakespeare and The Dingoes.

Samantha
Tracy Mann
Munch
John Arnold
Brady
Bill Hunter
Sid Newman
Max Cullen
Barry
Tony Barry
Frank
Hilton Bonner
Father
Jack Allen
Raelene
Penelope Stewart
Debbie
Kristy Grant
Tim
Kim Rushworth
Jean
Elizabeth Stevenson
Pip
Deborah Conway
Estate Agent
John Murphy
Liz
Suzanne Dudley
Photographer
Rennie Ellis
Robbery Victim
Murielle Salter
Adrian
John Shavas
Bardy’s Wife
Anne Phelan

Director
Don McLennan

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