Summary[]
Billy Bland poses as a high-achieving postgraduate student in order to defraud the Government, but is ultimately let down by his own laziness when he fails to notify them of an error in his address details and stops receiving scholarship cheques.
Director[]
Cast[]
- Peter Ismail (Billy Bland)
- Isabel Monteith (Billy's girlfriend, whose name we never learn as Billy has forgotten it)
- Howard Carshell (University clerk)
Top Trivia[]
Director Brian Peabody initially wanted to name the lead character Pedro Rodriguez but was overruled by executives of film distributors Fatherland Pictures, who feared a repeat of the Little Dominica race riots that followed the release of their 1957 comedy All Hispanic People are Lazy. As a result, most of the "siesta" scenes are absent from the final cut.
Notable Quotes[]
Billy: (to university clerk) Where it says "previous place of learning" on this form, I'm not sure if I should put "couch" or "bedroom". I mean, I usually do most of my learning in bed, but last year I did spend more time on the couch... mainly because I dropped some extra cheesy pizza there and I was sort of fused to it for a bit, but I did learn something kinda important.
Clerk: What was that? Don't eat foods with a level of adhesion that exceeds your own motivation to get up?
Critical Reception[]
"This film could almost be mistaken as a documentary, given its harrowing portrayal of a man on the edge and a public education system in crisis" - Artie Zimmerman, Higher Education Review