They're a Weird Mob
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| They're a Weird Mob | |
|---|---|
 Poster |
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| Directed by | Michael Powell |
| Produced by | Michael Powell |
| Written by | Emeric Pressburger (as Richard Imrie) |
| Starring | Walter Chiari Clare Dunne Chips Rafferty |
| Music by | Alan Boustead Lawrence Leonard |
| Cinematography | Arthur Grant |
| Editing by | Gerald Turney-Smith |
| Distributed by | BEF Film Distributors Pty. Ltd. |
| Release date(s) | August 18, 1966 Australia |
| Running time | 112 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | AUD 600,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
They're a Weird Mob is a classic and very popular Australian novel published in 1957, and a 1966 film based on the book. The novel was written by John O'Grady, although it was published under the pen name "Nino Culotta", the name of the main character. The subsequent film was one of the last collaborations by the British filmmakers Powell & Pressburger.
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[edit] Story
Nino Culotta is an Italian immigrant, newly arrived in Australia. He is expecting to work for his cousin as a sports writer on the Italian magazine his cousin has been producing. But when he gets there he discovers that his cousin has left leaving a substantial debt to Kay Kelly. Nino declares that he will get a job and pay back the debt.
The film tells how he does this, making new mates, and the growing attraction between Nino & Kay. All this despite some difficulties with Australian slang and Kay's father and his dislike of Italians. Much of the story is taken up with Nino's attempts to understand the aspirational values and social rituals of everyday urban Australians, and assimilate. The film deals with customs and manners of 1950s and 60s Australian society.
[edit] Story - the book version
Giovanni 'Nino' Culotta is an Italian immigrant, who comes to Australia as a journalist, employed by an Italian publishing house, to write articles about Australians and their way of life for those Italians that might want to emigrate to Australia.
In order to learn about real Australians, Nino takes a job as a brickie's labourer (a labourer to a bricklayer) with a man named Joe Kennedy. The comedy of the novel revolves around his attempts to understand English as it was spoken in Australia, by the working classes, in the 1950s and 1960s (Nino had previously learned 'good' English from a textbook).
The novel is a social commentary on Australian society - specifically male, working class society - of the period. Women mostly feature as cameos in the story with the slight exception of Kay (whose surname is not revealed in the novel) who becomes Nino's wife. In the novel, Nino meets Kay in a cafe in Manly and their introduction is effected by Nino trying to teach Kay that she cannot eat spaghetti using a spoon.
The final message of the novel is that immigrants to Australia should count themselves fortunate and should make efforts to assimilate into Australian society, including learning to speak English. It is a positive, if slightly superficial, story about Australian society and values.
The book has three sequels, "Cop this Lot","Gone fishin' " and "Gone Gougin' " which feature largely the same cast of characters. "Gone Gougin' " takes place in 1975, 10 years after "Gone Fishin' ", in which Nino's two children (Young Nino and Maria) are now adults.
The novel "Gone Fishin' " is the only novel not to feature the main characters from the first two books, Joe, Edie and Dennis as the primary characters. They finally appear onwards from Chapter 11 (Page 162), and Dennis finally gets engaged.
In the following book, "Gone Gougin' ", only Nino, Joe and Dennis (now married) appear, and their wives are only briefly mentioned.
[edit] Film production
The book was optioned many times by filmmakers before a workable treatment was arrived at. Michael Powell managed to make it into a film that showed Australia from the point of view of an outsider while still avoiding many of the worse stereotypes.
There were a few attempts at writing the script but none of them worked until Powell brought in his old friend and frequent collaborator Emeric Pressburger who wrote it under the pseudonym Richard Imrie.
The film is said to have been one of the factors that led to an Australian Film Industry.
[edit] Trivia
John O'Grady makes a cameo as the grey-bearded drinker in the pub in the opening sequence of the film.[1]
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ They're a Weird Mob DVD.
[edit] External links
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