The Empty Beach

A curiosity - a bit like the Big Sleep transposed to 1980s Sydney. Bryan Brown is Cliff Hardy - an Aussie Sam Spade - uncovering corruption and general nastiness.

Brown, sometimes accused of woodeness, is personable enough as the down-at-heel investigator.

The plot takes our hero through the inherent humiliations of the genre and leads to a creepily disquieting finale.

Interesting principally in the way it presents a rather nasty counterpoint to the usual sun 'n' fun vision of Sydney.