They're a Weird Mob (film)

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They're a Weird Mob
215px
DVD cover
Directed by Michael Powell
Produced by Michael Powell
Written by Emeric Pressburger (as Richard Imrie)
Based on novel by John O'Grady
Starring Walter Chiari
Chips Rafferty
Clare Dunne
Music by Score:
Alan Boustead
Lawrence Leonard
Songs:
Reen Devereaux
Walter Chiari
Mikis Theodorakis[1]
Cinematography Arthur Grant
Edited by Gerald Turney-Smith
Production
company
Williamson-Powell International Films
Distributed by British Empire Films (Aust)
Rank Organisation (UK)
Release dates
 18 August 1966 (1966-08-18)
(premiere-Sydney)
13 October 1966 (1966-10-13)
(Aus.-general)
October 1966 (UK)
Running time
 112 minutes
Country Australia
Language English
Budget A$600,000 (est.)
Box office $2,000,000 (Australia by 1968)[2]

They're a Weird Mob is a 1966 film based on the novel of the same name by John O'Grady under the pen name "Nino Culotta", the name of the main character of the book. It was one of the last collaborations of the British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

Plot

Nino Culotta is an Italian immigrant, newly arrived in Australia. He expected to work for his cousin as a sports writer for an Italian language magazine. However, on arrival in Sydney Nino discovers that the cousin has abandoned the magazine, leaving a substantial debt to Kay Kelly. Nino declares that he will get a job and pay back the debt.

Working as a labourer Nino becomes mates with his co-workers, despite some difficulties with Australian slang and culture of the 1960s. Nino endeavours to understand the aspirational values and social rituals of everyday urban Australians, and assimilate. A romantic attraction builds between Nino and Kay despite her frosty exterior and her conservative Irish father's dislike of Italians.[3]

A tone of mild racism exists in the film between Anglo-Saxon/Anglo-Irish characters such as Kay Kelly's dad Harry (Chips Rafferty) and Nino. Harry says he doesn't like writers, brickies or dagos. Nino is all three. But this is undermined when Nino, sitting in the Kelly house notices a picture of the pope on the wall. Nino says "If I'm a dago, then he's a dago". Realising the impossibility of referring to the pope by that derogatory term, Harry gives in.

Cast

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Cast notes

  • John O'Grady, the author of the novel, makes a cameo appearance as the grey-bearded drinker in the pub in the opening sequence of the film.[6]
  • Alida Chelli was the girlfriend of Walter Chiari, but almost did not get the part because she was thought to be too glamorous and might have upstaged Clare Dunne.[7]

Production

They're a Weird Mob was optioned in 1959 by Gregory Peck but he could not come up with a workable screenplay. Michael Powell first read the novel in London in 1960 and wanted to turn it into a film but Peck had the rights. Powell obtained them three years later and brought in his long-time collaborator Emeric Pressburger, who wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym "Richard Imrie."[8]

Walter Chiari had previously visited Australia during the filming of On the Beach (1959), which starred his then-girlfriend Ava Gardner. Clare Dunne was working as a weather girl when cast in the female lead.[8]

The film started filming in October 1965 was shot at a number of locations in the area of Sydney:[9]

The film has been credited with the revival of the moribund Australian film industry, which led to the Australian "New Wave" films of the 1970s.[10]

Box office

They're a Weird Mob grossed $2,417,000 at the box office in Australia,[11] which is equivalent to $26,127,770 in 2009 dollars.

In 1968 John McCallum wrote that of the $2 million the film had then earned, only $400,000 had been returned to the filmmakers.[2]

A behind-the-scenes documentary was shot called The Story of the Making of 'They're a Weird Mob'.[12]

DVD

The film has been released on Region 4 DVD by Roadshow. The DVD includes a TV special, "The Story of Making the Film They're a Weird Mob" as well as a picture gallery, theatrical trailer and optional subtitles.

The film has been released on Region 2 DVD by Opening in the Les films de ma vie series. The DVD has fixed French subtitles for the original English soundtrack.

See also

References

  1. ↑ IMDB Soundtracks
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p238
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ They're a Weird Mob DVD.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). They're a Weird Mob at IMDb
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ IMDB Filming locations
  10. ↑ Stafford, Jeff "Age of Consent" (TCM article)
  11. ↑ Film Victoria – Australian Films at the Australian Box Office
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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