Story of movie They%27re A Weird Mob Film :
They're a Weird Mob is a 1966 Australian 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 the penultimate collaboration of the British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
| They're a Weird Mob | |
|---|---|
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 Claire Dunne |
| Music by | Score: Alan Boustead Lawrence Leonard Songs: Reen Devereaux Walter Chiari Mikis Theodorakis |
| Cinematography | Arthur Grant |
| Edited by | Gerald Turney-Smith |
Production company | Williamson-Powell International Films |
| Distributed by | British Empire Films (Aust) Rank Organisation (UK) |
Release date | 18 August 1966 (premiere-Sydney) 13 October 1966 (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) |
Screenplay
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.
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 am a dago, then so is he". Realising the impossibility of referring to the pope by that derogatory term, Harry gives in.
- Walter Chiari as Nino Culotta
- Claire Dunne as Kay Kelly
- Chips Rafferty as Harry Kelly
- Alida Chelli as Giuliana
- Ed Devereaux as Joe Kennedy
- Slim DeGrey as Pat
- John Meillon as Dennis
- Charles Little as Jimmy
- Anne Haddy as Barmaid
- Jack Allen as Fat Man in Bar
- Red Moore as texture man
- Ray Hartley as newsboy
- Tony Bonner as lifesaver
- Alan Lander as Charlie
- Keith Peterson as drunk man on ferry
- Muriel Steinbeck as Mrs Kelly
- Gloria Dawn as Mrs Chapman
- Jeanie Drynan as Betty
- Gita Rivera as Maria
- Judith Arthy as Dixie
- Doreen Warburton as Edie
- Barry Creyton as hotel clerk
- Graham Kennedy as himself (cameo)
- Robert McDarra as hotel manager
- Noel Brophy
- Jacki Weaver
- Liza Goddard as girl on ferry (uncredited)
- Ken James as bellboy at King's Cross hotel (uncredited)
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.
- 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 Claire Dunne.
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."
Walter Chiari had previously visited Australia during the filming of On the Beach (1959), which starred his then-girlfriend Ava Gardner. Claire Dunne was working as a weather girl when cast in the female lead.
The film started filming in October 1965 was shot at a number of locations in the area of Sydney:
- Bondi Beach
- Circular Quay (where the ferry comes ashore)
- Clark Island (the beach party)
- Hunter Street and Elizabeth Street in the central business district
- Martin Place (where Graham Kennedy asks Nino for directions)
- Manly Beach
- Neutral Bay (final scene shot at 9 Wallaringa Ave, Neutral Bay)
- "The House That Nino Built" is located at 128 Greenacre Road in Greenacre, a suburb of Sydney. The actors dug trenches, poured concrete, laid bricks and so on, and it was then finished professionally and sold to raise funds for The Royal Life Saving Society. The stars' footprints were set in concrete slabs in the pathway.
- Punchbowl railway station, where Nino is picked up by Joe prior to his first day at work has changed over the years. In a previous configuration it was possible to park a vehicle virtually at the bottom of the northern steps.
- Balgowlah Heights The place where Nino & Kay want to build their home is referred to in the "making of " documentary as Grotto Point. Balgowlah Heights is on Dobroyd Head on the north side of the entrance to Middle Harbour.
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.
They're a Weird Mob grossed $2,417,000 at the box office in Australia, 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.
A behind-the-scenes documentary was shot called The Story of the Making of 'They're a Weird Mob'.
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.
- Cinema of Australia
