The Odd Angry Shot

The Odd Angry Shot is a 1979 Australian war film written, directed and produced by Tom Jeffrey (with Sue Millikin). It is based on the book of the same title by William Nagle, and follows the experiences of Australian soldiers during the Vietnam War. The movie, which was shot on location in New South Wales and Canungra, Queensland, traces the tour of duty of an Australian Special Air Service Regiment reconnaissance team from their departure to their return home to Australia. It avoids much of the political comment on Australia’s involvement in Vietnam, unlike Hollywood films which tend to explore the rights and wrongs of the Vietnam War.

The film focuses on the soldiers in their cantonments away from the battlefield, where they spend the bulk of their time playing cards, smoking, drinking beer, nursing their tinea, making jokes and messing about with American forces. The film also contains some small scale battle scenes. When the men return to Australia, they reflect on how both they and the general Australian society have changed. (In particular, they find it unwise to disclose that they fought in Vietnam: to do so invited abuse in a society divided about whether Australians should have been sent to fight there.) (See Australia in the Vietnam War)

The film was sold to several countries including the US, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway and Greece.