At the outset I believe should declare my own interest. Bob Ellis and I have been friends since we were introduced by Quadrant’s current literary editor, Les Murray, in 1970 just after I was appointed foundation lecturer in film at Mitchell College of Advanced Education and Ellis was reviewing films for Nation Review. With anyone else, Les’s introduction would have been enough to start a lifelong feud: “Neil thinks your reviews are really emotional autobiography.” “Not so much lately,” Ellis responded; and so began nearly forty years of conversation about movies. In the 1980s Bob became a regular visiting lecturer…