They're a Weird Mob (film)
| 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 Clare 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) |
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.
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 . 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.
Cast notes
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. Clare Dunne was working as a weather girl when cast in the female lead.
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