Gallipoli Summary
Gallipoli In Australia, an 18 year-old, up-and-coming track runner, Archy Hamilton, decides to join the Light Horse. At this time, World War I has been raging for a few months. One day, Archy gets in a fight with a local bully, Les. They later have a race to see who’d be faster. However, there’s a catch. Archy has to run barefoot, and Les gets to ride on horseback. During the race, Les falls off the horse which allows Archy to win the race. Unfortunately, since Archy was running barefoot, his feet get mangled. During his recovery, Archy’s uncle, Jack, reads The Jungle Book to the young family members, which encourages Archy even more to join the military. Eventually, Archy and Jack travel to the athletic carnival they’ve been planning for a while. Meanwhile, a railway worker, named Frank, decides he wants to join the athletic games to earn a little spare money. He’s a fast runner, but comes in second to Archy, who wins first. Archy gives all of his earnings to his Uncle Jack because he tells him he is going to enlist in the military. However, Archy keeps his gold medal and Jack’s stopwatch. When Archy tells his uncle about his decision to join the army, Jack tells him that he never expects Archy to return, ever. When Archy goes to enlist, the person working knows him and does not let him enlist, for 21 is the legal age. He and Frank later meet up, and they decide to travel to Perth to enlist. When they do, Frank is not eligible to be in Light Horse, so he and Archy are forced to separate. Eventually, they meet up again and travel to Gallipoli as infantry, no horses. They fight with the British, much to Franks dislike. While in Gallipoli, they face many dangerous threats as it is common in war. In the last scene, Archy, a sprinter, is shown running across a no-mans-land to a trench, and as he is so close to reaching his desired area, he is shot with a machine gun in the chest multiple times, and slowly falls to his death as the screen fades