Review: The Fourth Wish

John Meillon stars as a hard-working and loving single dad who has looked after his son (Robert Bettles) after his wife (Robyn Nevin) walked out on them years ago. Bettles has leukaemia and is given only several months to live. Not wanting to dwell on the negative for his son’s sake, Meillon decides to keep positive by promising to grant Bettles three wishes. One of these wishes involves getting a dog, which proves a hassle for Meillon and his landlord, whilst the other wishes you’ll need to find out for yourself. Michael Craig, Anne Haddy, and Norman Yemm all play doctors, whilst Brian James turns up as a lawyer Meillon turns to for help with the situation with his landlord.

 

Although it’s a tear-jerker if ever I’ve seen one, this 1976 Don Chaffey (Disney’s uneven “Pete’s Dragon”) film for most of its length is surprisingly not too sad or depressing. This is mostly because the character wonderfully played by an AFI award-winning John Meillon is putting on a brave face for his terminally ill son, and tries to keep things as positive as possible. The sadness is going to come, of course, but I was struck by how long it took to get there. That’s not a criticism, by the way, but an observation. I wouldn’t exactly say this was a sickly sweet “Patch Adams” deal, but it’s certainly not 100 minutes of torturous sorrow and sadness. Scripted by co-star Michael Craig (the long-time “G.P.” actor playing a doctor in the film) it’s really a family movie, if anything and quite solid stuff.

 

Apparently there was an earlier TV version of this story, but I came to it fresh (and some 40 or so years after the fact) and try as I might, Meillon at least had me on the verge of tears by the end here. It might just be the finest performance he ever gave, much as I loved him in “Crocodile Dundee”. He’s truly excellent and heartfelt as a dad who one senses wasn’t necessarily cut out to be a dad, but circumstances forced him to become responsible for the both of them. And then when you see the wife/mother who left them (a quite startling Robyn Nevin as a not very maternal or well-adjusted person at all), well you’re just thankful that he indeed ended up being the responsible parent. He dearly loves his son and he’s gonna do his damndest to see that whatever time the boy has left on this Earth involves all of his wishes coming true. It’d be a bit more believable (i.e. less manipulative) if Meillon were more upfront with people about his situation. You’ll be screaming at the TV at times for him to just tell ‘em the kid’s dying for crying out loud, when obstacles stand in his way.

 

What a lovely, if ultimately sad story, it’s like “Kramer vs. Kramer” mixed with “Terms of Endearment”, and starring an ocker Aussie. I’m not the biggest fan of children at the best of times to be honest, but if there’s one thing I’ll never understand about this world, it’s that children need to suffer, get sick, and/or die. I’ll never get my head around it, it’s just wrong. You’d have to be made of stone not to be at least slightly affected by this one. Yes it’s clichéd and not especially original, but it’s (crucially) played with sincerity, persuasiveness, and as upbeat as humanly possible under the circumstances. It works, holding up relatively well after all these years too.

 

Familiar faces from Aussie TV are all over the place here (Craig from “G.P.”, Brian James from “Prisoner”, Anne Haddy from “Prisoner” and of course “Neighbours”, and the only recently passed Norman Yemm from just about every Aussie TV show in history) and add a bit of prestige to this simple but effective film. It’s no “Mask”, but it’ll do.

 

Rating: B-