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They're a Weird Mob (1966)
Out of date before film was made
The book was written in the middle 1950s. By the time the film was mad Australia had changed a lot and the plot was out of date.
Nino was written in the book as a Triestino, a man over 6 feet tall and fair haired. Walter Chiari looked more like a southern Italian. Australians in the 1960s were more sophisticated than Joe and his team of labourers. The slang had changed due to the influence of American and English music. I can remember people in Australia were laughing at how dated the film was. Clare Dunne was a poor choice to play a young Australian women, she was Irish and too fair skinned. Her accent was all wrong. All I remembered her for at the time the movie was made was as a "weather girl" and doing a few commercials.
Last of the Summer Wine: Potts in Pole Position (2001)
Cast member in photo error.
In Primary photo the actor with his back to the camera is not Warren Mitchell, it is Stephen Lewis. Warren Mitchell is not in the photo. It is obvious that the actor is Lewis, not Mitchell because he is taller than the other actors. Mitchell was a short man.
Riptide (1969)
Unwanted nickname
Because Hardin seemed to have difficulties in getting lines straight the Australian crews tagged him as "Try Harder." The series attracted some good Australian actors who thought the series would be better than it was. It was nor vey popular in Australia.
Me Mammy (1968)
Whose pipe?
Mammy was not always virtuous.
Benjamin comes home one night after his mother has had a man around to the house, sees a briar pipe on the sideboard
Benjamin: "Whose briar pipe is that?" Mammy (embarassed): "It's mine." Benjamin: "Don't talk rot! You smoke a clay pipe!"
Milo O'Shea's characters often seemed to be matched with unattractive women. Apart from Yootha Joyce the most notable was Phyllis Diller as Mrs Zero, his wife in "The Adding Machine" (1969).
Benjamin's Uncle John, the Catholic Priest was also a strange character. He would turn up at the house and Mammy would offer him whisky. "Now you will have a little drink."
"I won't".
"You will, you will, you will."
"I won't, I wont', I won't".
The routine would finish with Father John holding out a glass he had with him and saying "Ah, you're a terrible woman."
Onmitsu kenshi (1962)
What was that?
I remember this show from my teenage years. Koichi Ose seemed to tower over the rest of the Japanese cast, yet he was only 5'7" tall. Japanese born before the war are much shorter than their children.
It was sad to see that Fuyukishi Maki, who played loyal Tombei, died from cancer. That is a horrible way to die.
Something about the show that always made me laugh was when one of the villains would mouth about twelve words and the subtitles would read "What was that?" The same people seemed to do the subtitles for all non English language films. It was a lot of fun though, even if cheaply done. Local shows at that time were no more sophisticated. Someone would slam a door and the whole wall would shake.
The Clones (1973)
Move over Tom Mix
I was at home one day when this came on TV well after it came out. I recognized Gregory Sierra from Barney Miller and thought it may be OK.
I was then subjected to a supposed drama that nearly made it as a comedy. It was made early in Sierra's career and I doubt he would have touched anything like it after his success in Barney Miller and Hill Street Blues.
I suppose the fact that I was a Policeman and familiar with the Smith and Wesson .38 revolver at the time did not help in the one scene I can remember. I forget why, but Sierra was riding a roller coaster while firing a pistol (how he would have been able to aim at anything while traveling at that speed was a puzzle) and a woman, from what I remember not supposed used to firearms,aimed a .38 at him with one hand and shot him in the middle of the forehead.
My wife could not understand why I broke into hysterical laughter. John Wayne could not have done that in his worst film.
Hart to Hart: Murder Takes a Bow (1981)
Anthony Newley
Jerry Stiller was in his fifties when he appeared in this episode. What had me wondering is how they got actor/singer/songwriter Anthony Newley to appear in it. Was he already suffering with the renal cancer that killed him in 1999?
Newley achieved fame in England as a singer in the 1960s with novelty songs and plays he appeared in, after having been a stage actor from 1948 before becoming internationally famous as a film actor. His second marriage (to Joan Collins) had failed by this time.
No offense meant, but he must have been on the decline when he appeared in "Hart to Hart" and similar shows. He showed much promise earlier.
Summer City (1977)
John Jarratt
The star of the film was John Jarratt, who freaked a lot of people out a few years ago as Mick Taylor, the psychopathic killer in "Wolf Creek", as well as playing the Sergeant in "Australia".
"Summer City" was one of the films made in the 1970s as Australia tried to get back to rebuilding a film industry that collapsed before World War II as the cinema chains found it cheaper to import films than to pay for local films to be made. Up until the late 1960s Australian Governments had no real interest in films, more important things had to be done. We did not get television until 1956 and if Melbourne had not held the Olympics in that year it probably would have been later.
Carry on Jack (1964)
Juliet's derrière
How old was I when I saw this film? Old enough to know that no sailor worth his salted pork and rum ration would think anybody with a classical "cliffhanger" backside like Juliet Mills had at that time could possibly be a man.
Juliet Mills was a full bodied young woman who would attract stares anywhere she went wearing the tight trousers she wore impersonating a midshipman. Watching it we were supposed to suspend disbelief and believe that a rugged crew on a warship would not know the difference between the shape of Juliet's bum and that of a young man. Were we expected to believe the sailors were virgins?
Regarding the word "Jack" sailors were often referred to as "Jack Tar", probably because of the amount of tar that would be used sealing leaks on the wooden hulled ships, some of which would stick to the sailors.
Motel (1968)
Cringeworthy Series
Jill Forster must cringe every time somebody mentions this rubbish. It was her first main role in a TV series and she had to play the most over the top man eater imaginable. Every comedy show on Australian TV took the mickey out of it and it was put out of its misery in short order.
Jack Thompson had a small part in the show as a pharmacist. I am sure he does not have it in his CV. Forster and Thompson are the only actors I can remember from it. I do not think it helped the career of anybody who appeared in it. As a drama it did not even rate as a comedy.
Truly awful, even for an early Australian TV series.