The Great Macarthy

The Great Macarthy is a 1975 comedy about Australian rules football. It was an adaptation of the 1970 novel A Salute to the Great McCarthy by Barry Oakley. It stars John Jarratt as the title character (in his film debut) as a local footballer who is signed up (or more appropriately, kidnapped) by the South Melbourne Football Club (now Sydney Swans). It also stars Barry Humphries and Judy Morris. It was released at a time of resurgence in Australian cinema but was not very successful despite its high profile cast.

The Great Macarthy
Directed byDavid Baker
Produced byDavid Baker
Richard Brennan
Written byJohn Romeril
Based onthe novel A Salute to the Great McCarthy by Barry Oakley
StarringJohn Jarratt
Barry Humphries
Judy Morris
Music byBruce Smeaton
CinematographyBruce McNaughton
Production
company
Stoney Creek Films
Distributed bySeven Keys
Release date
  • 7 August 1975 (1975-08-07)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetA$250,000[1]

Plot

Macarthy is a country football player who is kidnapped by the South Melbourne Football Club and made a star player in the city. The Club Chairman, Colonel Ball-Miller, gives Macarthy a job in one of his companies and makes him attend night school. He is seduced by his English teacher, Miss Russell, and has an affair with Ball-Miller's daughter, Andrea.

Macarthy and Andrea get married but then divorce. Macarthy goes on strike to claim the family fortune.

Cast

Production

David Baker was an emerging director who was interested in Barry Oakley's novel. Richard Brennan optioned it for him and they agreed to make the film together, hiring playwright John Romeril to do the adaptation. According to Brennan, Romeril's second draft was "fantastic" but later drafts included too much sex and slapstick to make it more like other successful Australian films at the time such as The Adventures of Barry McKenzie and Alvin Purple.[2]

Philip Adams later claimed he always knew the film would struggle "because of its idiosyncratic and complex nature".[3]

The film was shot in mid 1974. Half the budget was provided by the Australian Film Development Corporation.[1]

Release

The film performed poorly critically and at the box office.[2]

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References
  1. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p289
  2. David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p223-224
  3. Gordon Glenn & Scott Murray, "Phil Adams: Producer", Cinema Papers, March–April 1976 p343
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