They're a Weird Mob (1966)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Michael Powell

Writers:

John O'Grady (novel)
Emeric Pressburger (writer)

Release Date:

13 October 1966 (Australia)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

The Hilarious best-seller now becomes... The funniest film ever made about Australians!

Plot:

Nino Culotta is an Italian immigrant who arrived in Australia with the promise of a job as a journalist on his cousins magazine...

Plot Keywords:

Italian Immigrant | Caper | Italian Australian | Based On Novel | Independent Film

Cast

Walter Chiari	...	Nino Culotta
Claire Dunne	...	Kay Kelly
Chips Rafferty	...	Harry Kelly
Alida Chelli	...	Giuliana
Ed Devereaux	...	Joe Kennedy
Slim DeGrey	...	Pat
John Meillon	...	Dennis
Charles Little	...	Jimmy
Anne Haddy	...	Barmaid
Jack Allen	...	Fat Man in Bar
Red Moore	...	Texture Man
Ray Hartley	...	Newsboy
Tony Bonner	...	Lifesaver
Alan Lander	...	Charlie
Keith Peterson	...	Drunk Man on Ferry

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

Australia | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | Iceland:L | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

128 Greenacre Road, Greenacre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Company:

Williamson/Powell

Trivia:

Alida Chelli was the girlfriend of leading man Walter Chiari and almost didn't get the part because she was thought to be too glamorous and might have upstaged female lead Claire Dunne.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Story of Making the Film They're a Weird Mob (1966)

Soundtrack:

Big Country

The film differs from Powell's work too.

The Powell buffs who know him mainly for his forties and fifties works,such as "a matter of life and death" "black narcissus" "gone to earth" ,not to mention "peeping tom" might be puzzled here.Actually the form is rather a mix up of Italian neorealism-but much more optimistic- and Italian comedies of the sixties and the seventies -but a bit more macho.

Actually,the lead recalls such Italian luminaries as Alberto Sordi and Nino Manfredi,but he's not got the same charisma and the same comic skills.Although the sory takes place in Australia,it's actually the same old story of the immigrante thinking that the country he's heading for is depending on him.Thus the first part is arguably the best,particularly the scenes of the hero digging the earth in a chic suit and tie,complete with hat.The movie begins with a fake documentary à la "seven years itch" (1955)but Powell 's humour is no match for Wilder's.

Only one short dialogue recalls the former work,as it happens,"Black narcissus": To his girlfriend's father who cannot stand wops,the hero shows the picture of pope Paul VI,hanging on a wall,and says :"Isn't he Italian?" It's a nod to this scene in which Deborah Kerr does not want the young Indian to study in the mission because he's a man.Shrewdly showing the Christ,he replies "HE was a man wasn't HE?

This is mainly a curio,watchable ,but which is not representative of Powell's genius.