Gallipoli is a 1981 Australian war drama film directed by Peter Weir and produced by Patricia Lovell and Robert Stigwood, starring Mel Gibson and Mark Lee.

The film revolves around several young men from Western Australia who enlist in the Australian Army during World War I.

The climax of the film occurs on the Anzac battlefield at Gallipoli, depicting the futile attack at the Battle of the Nek on 7 August 1915.

Gallipoli, which had a budget of $2.6 million, provides a faithful portrayal of life in Australia in the 1910s—reminiscent of Weir's 1975 film Picnic at Hanging Rock set in 1900—and captures the ideals and character of the Australians who joined up to fight, as well as the conditions they endured on the battlefield, although its portrayal of British forces has been criticised as inaccurate.

It followed the Australian New Wave war film Breaker Morant (1980) and preceded the 5-part TV series Anzacs (1985), and The Lighthorsemen (1987).

Due to the Gallipoli battlefields becoming tourist destinations in the 21st century, the film is often shown at the hostels and hotels in Eceabat and Çanakkale on the Dardanelles.

[citation needed] In Western Australia, May 1915, Archy Hamilton, an 18-year-old stockman and prize-winning sprinter, longs to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).

Archy gives all the prize money he won at the race to Jack and tells him that he will not be coming home for he has decided to enlist.

The station attendant informs them that they could either wait a fortnight for the next train, or walk 50 miles across the dry lake bed to reach a location with a more frequent service.

Archy immediately sets off while Frank chases behind trying to persuade him to stay, reminding him that they could die in the desert much as members of the Burke & Wills expedition did.

Some months later, Frank and his fellow soldiers train near the Pyramids and spend their free time in Cairo, drinking and visiting brothels.

Afterwards, a traumatised Billy tells Frank what happened to the others, Barney has been killed and Snowy is in a hospital but in such bad condition that he is denied food and water.

The following morning, Archy and Frank are ordered to take part in the charge at the Nek, a diversion in support of the British Landing at Suvla Bay.

The brigade's commander, Colonel Robinson, insists the Anzac attack proceed; the first wave is cut down by the Ottomans within seconds.

The phone line goes dead, and Barton gives Frank a message to carry to Brigade HQ, but when he arrives, the Colonel insists the attack continue.

Frank sprints back to convey this news, but the phone lines are repaired and Colonel Robinson orders the attack to continue.

The final frame freezes on Archy being hit by bullets across his chest, head flung back, as if breaking the tape at the finish of a 100-yard sprint, and falling backwards.

An early scene in the film shows Uncle Jack reading from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book about how Mowgli has reached manhood and now must leave the family of wolves that raised him.

[16] Peter Weir cast Mel Gibson in the role of the cynical Frank Dunne, and newcomer Mark Lee was recruited to play the idealistic Archy Hamilton, after participating in a photo session for the director.

[2] A large set recreating the Turkish Gallipoli peninsula was built on a stretch of coastline 30 miles (48 km) west of Port Lincoln.

The film includes excerpts from Oxygène by French electronic music pioneer Jean Michel Jarre during running scenes.

[citation needed] On 1 May 1981, the Australian Classification Review Board announced that the film would receive a PG certificate rating.

The site's critical consensus states, "Peter Weir's devastating anti-war film features a low-key but emotionally wrenching performance from Mel Gibson as a young soldier fighting in one of World War I's most deadly and horrifying battles".

[42] In 2001 Gallipoli was released for the first time on DVD widescreen with two extra features, an interview with director Peter Weir and cinema trailer.

[43] In 2005 a North American and 2006 (UK) Special Collector's Edition DVD was released with a different extra feature and includes a 63-minute documentary titled Entrenched: The Making of Gallipoli with interviews from the cast and crew and production.

[44] A 2015 2-disc Commemorative Edition was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on DVD and for the first time, on Digital HD and Blu-ray exclusively in Australia.

Archy Hamilton's athlete character was inspired by a line from Australian war historian Charles Bean's Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, describing Private Wilfred Harper of the 10th Light Horse during the forlorn Battle of the Nek, "Wilfred... was last seen running forward like a schoolboy in a foot-race, with all the speed he could compass".

In his popular history novel Gallipoli, published in 2001, Les Carlyon agreed that the film unfairly portrays the English during the battle, with Carlyon laying the blame for the debacle squarely at the feet of Antill and 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade commander, Brigadier-General Frederic Hughes, "The scale of the tragedy of the Nek was mostly the work of two Australian incompetents, Hughes and Antill".

[51] The British command's low regard for the discipline of Australian troops behind the lines has been widely documented by earlier historians, such as Charles Bean, and more recent ones such as Carlyon, as well as by the oral tradition of survivors.