Charlie & Boots
| Charlie & Boots | |
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| Directed by | Dean Murphy |
| Produced by | Shana Levine David Redman |
| Written by | Stewart Faichney Dean Murphy |
| Starring | Paul Hogan Shane Jacobson Roy Billing Morgan Griffin |
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Release dates
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Running time
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101 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Box office | U.S.$3.4 million[1] |
Charlie & Boots is a 2009 Australian film starring Paul Hogan and Shane Jacobson. It had the best opening weekend for any Australian film in 2009 when it was released on Father's day (1 September 2009).[2] The film features many small towns in country Australia. It also has a cameo by Reg Evans, who died in the 2009 Victorian bushfires before the film was released, and the film is dedicated to the victims of the fires.[3]
Plot
Shane Jacobson plays Boots who takes his father (Paul Hogan) on a trip to fish on the northernmost tip of Australia because of something his father told him when he was a kid. Although he probably wasn't serious and can't remember it Boots decides to carry it out. They travel on a road trip from Victoria to the Cape York Peninsula in a Holden Kingswood, passing through towns like Tamworth. The film starts with the death of Gracie, Boots' mother and Charlie's wife. After Gracie's death, Boots goes to visit Charlie on the family farm, finding him locked away in the house in the dark, curtains drawn. Boots looks at a calendar on the wall with a picture of Cape York and remembers his father promising to take him fishing off the northernmost tip of Australia. As the trip starts out, Boots and Charlie seem tense but as the days pass they begin to rekindle their father-son relationship.
Their journey involves visiting different towns,hang-outs in different restaurants,visiting famous attraction . On their way, they start to reconcile and express their emotions about the recent death of Gracie, Charlie's wife and Boots's mother and the drama unfolding around the death of Ben, Boots' son, by drowning.
They even help a young 16-year-old girl named Jess by allowing her to escape her boyfriend Tristan and aid her in her dream to go to the famous country city of Tamworth. The trio manage to arrive in the town, and Jess plays one of her songs in the famous large hall, after passing a manager. They push a car owned by a Tristan out of a car park at night and end up damaging it. They fly in a small aircraft with a pilot (Roy Billing). From the craft they see the Great Barrier Reef. The pilot continuously hits the altitude meter, making Boots feel nervous. They are dropped off by the pilot and they both wave goodbye as it leaves. In the end Charlie and Boots both make it to their destination, Cape York, the northernmost tip of Australia. They take their fishing rods and quote a few sentences they travelled with on their journey. As the credits roll we learn that Jess has been discovered by a music industry manager and has made a single about an obnoxious boyfriend. At the end of the credits we see a brief clip of Charlie and Boots travelling over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. They look up from their car in awe, causing Boots to marvel at how big the bridge is. Charlie quips "Yeah... imagine having to paint (it)" - a dig at Hogan's pre-fame occupation as a worker on it.
Production
Filming took place in Warrnambool,[4] Horsham, Echuca, Hay, Tamworth, Tenterfield, Emerald and the Cape York Peninsula.
Reception
The film received generally positive reviews with 64% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 11 reviews as of September 2009.[5] It was called a "likeable family comedy" by Sandra Hall of The Sydney Morning Herald[6] and "a superbly relaxed and good-natured film." by Evan Williams of The Australian.[7]
Trivia
At the end of the movie it shows Charlie & Boots driving over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Boots remarks "She's a big bridge, isn't she dad?", to which Charlie replies "Yeah! Imagine having to paint the bastard!". This is a reference to the fact that Hogan, before he started working in television, worked as a rigger on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, where he did in fact 'paint the bastard!'
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ ABC news, Charlie And Boots storms Aussie box office
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Rotten Tomatoes, Charlie and Boots
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Hoges is king of the road The Australian 5 September 2009[dead link]
