Customer Reviews

Tim

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Before Mel Gibson became the controversial director of the edgy hit, "The Passion of the Christ," he starred in an almost forgotten but award-winning 1979 movie, "Tim." It is an understated, yet excellently crafted love story.

Tim Melville has the innocence and desire to love of Forrest Gump, but is not the cartoon of a character as Tom Hanks portrayed. He lives with his soon-to-be-married sister and parents in a small, working class home.

Like in 1981's "Gallipoli," Gibson is a young Australian, complete with an accent. Here, he is a slow, but gentle laborer who does yard work for Mary, an older woman, played by Piper Laurie.

Slowly, they discover that although 20+ years separate them, they are falling love. His parents and sister protect him and want the best for him. They show mixed feelings about the relationship that Tim and Mary do not realize exists.

This is a romance, but it is also about the love of Tim's father for his son, and of the process of life. It is sad; expect tears to be shed.

We see Gibson in a role that highlights the working man, the need to respect and care for the mentally challenged, and the show the many layers of love in a family.

It is unrated, but probably deserves a PG rating. There's no profanity, violence or adult scenes. The audio is decent, but the video quality is lacking. The age of the original film shows some deterioration. There are no extras to speak of, except for a short bio of Gibson and Piper.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

"Tim" is a wonderful Australian story of the relationship between a very handsome, though mentally and emotionally challenged, young man and an attractive transplanted American older woman. The innocence of it is what is so powerful!

Mel is absolutely believable as the over-protected adult son of two working class parents and jealous older sister. When he meets Mary (Piper Laurie) his world is changed in an instant as he goes about doing yard work at her elaborate home. What develops between them is rarely seen in films today, a slow and progressively blossoming relationship.

I would have liked to have seen more of the relationship between Tim and his sister, the affection between the parents and Tim, and Tim's unraveling bond with his dad, but the movie is top notch nonetheless.

The story has some very sad moments, and the lighting is terrible in some areas of the movie. But with Tim's sweetness of spirit and brevity of wardrobe, he is utterly irresistable!

This is a gem of a film, starring the underrated Piper Laurie in the role of Mary Horton, a well-to-do, but lonely, business woman, who befriends Tim Melville, a very nice, good looking day laborer, earnestly played by a very young Mel Gibson. Tim happens to be a little simple. His family describes him as being "a few short of a full quid".

While he does work around her house, Mary gets to know Tim, as well as his working class family. As time goes on, a deep fondness that ripens into love develops between the two. He brings her out of her shell, and she teaches him to read and explains concepts that will enable him to function better in the world around him. Based upon Colleen McCollough's book of the same name, this is a very well acted-film, with fine performances by the supporting cast, as well as the leads.

The quality of the DVD, however, is bargain basement with no additional features. Moreover, the DVD picture is best described as grainy. This is unfortunate for such an excellent film. A better transfer from print to DVD should have been executed, as this film certainly merits it, as does the viewer.

Superstar Mel Gibson gives a sensitive performance as Tim, a mentally handicapped young man who falls in love with an attractive older woman played by Piper Laurie. This is more than a May-September romance - it's a study of human frailty, courage and devotion. The superb cast includes co-stars Alwyn Kurts and Pat Evison as Tim's parents.

This early film in Mel's career shows his great ability to act in a non-action role. His character is a little slow and his family shelters him from some harsh realities. He gives this role 110% and it shows! I would have liked to have seen more depth in the story itself but the DVD wrought some tears out of me. Piper Laurie...I'm not a big fan but she does her role very good. Mel is the true winner here and if you are a fan you have to see this to really appreciate his acting ability. Plus, he is so absolutely sexy in some tight shorts and a speedo! What "wouldn't" I do to be one of his leading ladies....xxxooo

One of Mel Gibson's earliest films, "Tim" has been overlooked by most Mel Gibson fans. Gibson plays a young, mentally challenged Australian in a romantic relationship with an older, American business executive (Piper Laurie). A youthful Mel Gibson shows his talent to create believable characters and make us forget he's acting.

The film examines the theme of star-crossed lovers in the context of age, mental capacity, and social acceptance. The emotional tide of Tim's family, his lover, and their peers pulls at our heart-strings, and forces a sometimes uncomfortable self-examination of how we judge others and how we may define "love."

This movie is a great, romantic tear-jerker. The slower pace and gritty texture of early Australian cinema may deter some viewers, but the fresh story-line alone makes this movie well worth watching.

You'll like this movie if:
You liked Kevin Costner's "Message in a Bottle," and enjoyed Mel Gibson in "Man Without A Face" and "What Women Want."

You'll be disappointed if:
You're expecting a light, romantic comedy like "What Women Want," or the action of "The Road Warrior."

Did you know that Mel Gibson starred as a mentally retarded young yardworker at age 19 in an Australian film, TIM? In this love story, Tim is working odd jobs, living with his parents and older sister, and jumping with hormones and bulging with muscles. He's a looker alright, and many women notice him, but then they find out that he's a "few bob short of a quid", while his mates tease him mercilessly.

Piper Laurie plays a business woman living alone who needs yard help. She's smart, independent and doing great for 1979. Only one thing: no man in her life, none can please her, until puppy-like Time, half her age, appears with a rake at the door, and follows her every word. Now how's that for a man, and a gorgeous hunk to boot?

What's interesting in this story - both book and film are well-done - is the deliberate set up done by Colleen McCullough, later known for the bestseller, "The Thorn Birds". She was an Australian biologist who got as far as working in research at Harvard in the 1960's. As a female, she got just over half of what the male researchers were earning, based on the fact that "they're men". She was furious about it, and champed at the bit, but couldn't afford to quit. So she started writing this first book, purposefully creating a story of impossible tension where the love affair simply cannot - well, almost - cannot be consummated, much as all the readers are rooting for it. The book sold 50,000 copies and brought her enough money to quit the ripoff research job.

Inspired by this sucess, she turned on the same formula to create the Thornbirds plot, where a Catholic priest is in love with a girl, who later as a woman does bed him, well, much later, but that provides many pages of tension for the reader.

McCullough remains an excellent researcher in all her novels, and of course, you may know that THe Thornbirds became a film.

In this regard, I recommend TIM, because it is an engaging film, it shows Australia in the late 1970's (feminist days), and it is all a very deliberate wink at women's yearning for impossible matches.

Mel Gibson was just beginning to enter some years of debauchery, full of drinking and promiscuity, which he now fully admits. In fact, when interviewed about his controversial film, THE PASSION, he freely states that his 20's were a crazy time, for which he now feels himself in an unremitting contrition. That is why he became interested in reviving the old traditions of the Catholic Church, full of judgment, recrimination and punishment, chastising sin heavily but promising redemption. IN this film, you can see him BEFORE he ruins his youthful body and face with the devil's business.

Ach, Mel, what a devil you are. And handsome, too! Rake, broom?

I originally viewed this movie on TV and loved it. My sister and I are Mel Gibson fans and so I purchased her a copy. The copy she received had a rather faded (not sharp) picture quality, which ruined the movie by making Mel Gibson look not as young/innocent as he is supposed to look, and Piper Laurie look younger (her wrinkled face was smoothed out). The "big deal" about the movie is the obvious big difference in age between the two principal characters, but the lack of image sharpness in the copy my sister received ruined this by making both characters look much closer in age than in the first-rate copy I viewed on TV.

I love the movie, Mel Gigson, Piper Laurie & the cast are very good acter & actersses that make this movie great to watch. I watch all the time, I never get tired of watching it.
Patricia Seiber

Based on the book by the author of The Thorn Birds, this is a gem of a movie. I hadn't been able to find it in any format for many years and now it is on DVD. It is totally worth the price. A sweet love story and it's one of Mel Gibson's first roles. I don't think you will be sorry if you purchase it. Indulge yourself...I did!!