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MILESAGO - Film

THE GREAT McCARTHY
(aka A SALUTE TO THE GREAT McCARTHY)

DATE: 1975
PRODUCTION CO.: Stony Creek Films
CATEGORY: feature film
GENRE: comedy
DURATION: 106 mins
FORMAT: 35mm colour film

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Richard Brennan
PRODUCER / DIRECTOR: David Baker
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Alan Benjamin
SCRIPT: David Baker / Barry Oakley / John Romeri
Based on the novel A Salute To The Great McCarthy (Heinemann, 1970) by Barry Oakley
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Bruce McNaughton
FILM EDITOR: John Scott
ART DIRECTION: David Copping
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Richard Brennan
FIRST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Hal McElroy
SECOND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Errol Sullivan
SOUND: Ron Green
GAFFER: Brian Bansgrove
CAMERA OPERATOR: Keith Wagstaff
ORIGINAL MUSIC: Bruce Smeaton

CAST:
John Jarratt (McCarthy)
Judy Morris (Miss Russell)
Kate Fitzpatrick (Andrea)
Sandra McGregor (Vera)
Barry Humphries (Col Ball-Miller)
John Frawley (Webster)
Colin Croft (Tranter)
Chris Haywood (Warburton)
Colin Drake (Ackerman)
Ron Fraser (Twentyman)
Max Gillies (Stan)
Dennis Miller (Macguinness)
Lou Richards (Lou Arnold)
Jim Bowles (Les)
Bruce Spence (Bill Dean)
Peter Cummins (Rerk)
Cul Cullen (McCarthy Sr.)
Maurie Fields (Company Director)
Tim Robertson (Herb)
Sally Conabere (Nurse)
Jon Finlayson (Vincent)
John Derum (Flatulent Man)
Tina Bursill (Miss Deevil)
Alan Hardy (Drive-in Attendant)
David Atkins (Kid in Cubicle)
Terry Norris (Vera's Dad)
Frank Wilson (Mayor)
Vivean Gray (Mrs Thompson)
Myrtle Woods (Myrtle)
Bill Garner (Bearded Player)
Max Meldrum (Player)
Luigi Villani (Player)
Burt Cooper (Player)
Bill Bennett (Player)
Cliff Ellen (Player)
John Stanton (Player)
Ron Pinnell (Player)
Ivan Williams (Spectator)

Soundtrack: CAM, 1975

NOTES

The basic plot of this rarely-seen feature is remarkably similar to two other well-known Australian football-based comedies of the period -- Alan Hopgood's And The Big Men Fly and David Williamson's The Club. Based on Barry Oakley's popular 1970 novel, which has been in print for over 25 years and sold more than 75,000 copies, it's a spoof of Australia's obsession with sport, and the conflict between the corporate, amoral city and the virtuous if slightly slow-witted country. Like the heroes of the Hopgood and Williamson stories (both of which originated as plays) McCarthy (Jarrat) is a simple country lad with tremendous football talent. He is pursued by a troupe of rapacious and exploitative first-grade VFL clubs, to the dismay of the townsfolk with whom he grew up. McCarthy is abducted and brought to Melbourne to play for a team run by Colonel Ball-Miller (Humphries) who also puts McCarthy to work in his insurance company, but the young footballer finds more to life after he embarks on a series of affairs with a secretary, a night-school teacher, and the colonel's daughter.

The film had its genesis in a 1973 grant by by the Film & Television Board of the Australian Council for the Arts. $3800 was granted to David Baker to develop a script from Oakley's novel. The grant was part of a group of grants totalling $102,660 awarded to film and television artists and announced on 7 December 1973.

The Great McCarthy won two AFI Awards in the 1974/75 period: Best Supporting Actor (Barry Humphries) and Best Original Music Score (Bruce Smeaton) an award which was shared with Smeaton's score for Peter Weir's The Cars That Ate Paris. Despite an all-star Aussie cast that featured many of the leading actors of the period, it was not well received at the time, possibly because of the critical backlash against the so-called "Ocker" genre, and it has rarely been screened since.

"...a lamentable failure." (David Stratton, 1980).

"...confounded many critics..." (Pike & Cooper 1980)

REFERENCES / LINKS

IMDb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073074/maindetails

TV Guide Online
http://www.tvguide.com/movies/database/showmovie.asp?MI=29082

The Whitlam Institute
http://www.whitlam.org/collection/1973/19731207_Film_Grants/