The Coolangatta Gold (film)

The Coolangatta Gold is a 1984 Australian film which led to the establishment of the iron man race The Coolangatta Gold.[3][4]

The Coolangatta Gold
Directed byIgor Auzins
Produced byJohn Weiley
Written byPeter Schreck
Story byTed Robinson
Peter Schreck
Based ondeveloped from an idea by Max Oldfield
StarringJoss McWilliam
Colin Friels
Nick Tate
Josephine Smulders
Robyn Nevin
Music byBill Conti
CinematographyKeith Wagstaff
Edited byTim Wellburn
Production
company
Distributed byHoyts Distribution
Release date
1984
Running time
112 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetA$5.6 million[1]
Box officeA$1,365,000[2]

Plot

Joe Lucas is determined that his son Adam will become a champion iron man. He neglects his younger son, Steve, who is an aspiring band manager and enjoys karate, as well as being his brother's training partner.

The leading iron man event is The Coolangatta Gold, an arduous competition for $20,000 prize money. The favorite for this event is champion iron man Grant Kenny. Kenny's father beat Joe Lucas for the iron man title in 1960.

Steve falls in love with a ballet dancer, Kerri, who inspires him to compete with his brother in The Coolangatta Gold.

Cast

Production

Writer Peter Schreck and director Igor Auzins had worked together successfully on We of the Never Never (1982) and decided to collaborate on another project. They wanted to do a contemporary love story in the sporting genre, and originally thought of doing a $1.5 million film shot in Bondi. However, after a few days it became obvious they wanted to do something more ambitious. Auzins and Schreck formed a company, Angoloro Productions, with John Weiley as a third partner in December 1982. They then approached Hoyts Edgley who agreed to finance within 24 hours.[5]

Soundtrack
Main article: The Coolangatta Gold: Original Soundtrack Recording

Reception

The film performed disappointingly at the box office. Jonathan Chissick, managing director of Hoyts, said "I thought it was the best script to come out of Australia. So, we failed there somewhere. I don't want to point my finger but there was obviously a failure."[6]

The Coolangatta Gold was parodied by the Australian comedy troupe The D-Generation in the 1993 season of The Late Show. The sketch "The Last Aussie Auteur: A Tribute to Filmmaker Warren Perso" features excerpts from various (fictional) Australian films, one being a box-office flop titled The Bermagui Bronze.

Home media

The Coolangatta Gold was released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in November 2012. The DVD is compatible with all region codes and includes special features such as a photo gallery, the making of The Coolangatta Gold and a Good Morning Australia segment.[7] The music recording of The Coolangatta Gold: Original Soundtrack Recording was produced by Ashley Irwin and edited for the soundtrack album by Philip Powers.[8]

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References
  1. David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p357-359
  2. "Australian Films at the Australian Box Office", Film Victoria accessed 24 October 2009
  3. About the Coolangatta Gold at Surf Life Saving
  4. Vagg, Stephen (30 December 2019). "10 Aussie '80s Films That Attempted to Jazz Up Things with an Inappropriate Rock Soundtrack". Filmink.
  5. Jim Schembri, "Peter Schreck", Cinema Papers, Feb-March 1985 p35-37, 84-85
  6. Nick Roddick, "The budgets, the pictures, the problems...", Cinema Papers, September 1986 p10
  7. "Umbrella Entertainment". Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  8. The Coolangatta Gold: Original Soundtrack Recording CD back cover
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