slappy and the stinkers is a 1998 adventure/comedy film directed by barnet kellman .

the film stars b. d. wong and bronson pinchot .

the film revolves around a group of children who try to save an abused sea lion from a greedy circus owner .

slappy and the stinkers

looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing slappy and the stinkers near you .
morgan brinway is a snooty principal whose biggest problem is five feisty kids nicknamed the
stinkers .
when the stinkers find a sea lion slappy , they install him in brinway ' s hot tub . the stinkers attempt to rescue slappy , as groundskeeper roy and animal thief boccoli have their own plans for him .
not to judge a book by its cover , but when you write a column about bad movies and you stumble across something called slappy and the stinkers , you tend to feel like half the work has been done for you . slappy and the stinkers sounds like its own review .
is this movie any good ? well , i ' ll tell you this : it ' s called slappy and the stinkers . the end .
it was a cute story but i felt bad for the principle always in the line of the stinkers trouble .
watching slappy for less than a minute and hearing him break wind is all the motivation the stinkers need to arrive at the decision that they must get slappy out of the aquarium and back into the ocean , where he will surely be happier and less gassy . a sequence of events too nonsensical to be described in human language leads to the stinkers getting slappy out of the facility and on to the school bus . their plan is to sneak him back to dartmoor , and then to figure out how to get him to the ocean . they contemplate this from the parking lot of the aquarium , from which the ocean is clearly visible and cannot be more than 100 yards away .
in the otherwise unremarkable comedy ' ' slappy and the stinkers , ' ' which stretches the youthful mischief of the old ' ' our gang ' ' - ' ' little rascals ' ' shorts on the rack of feature length , one of the characters has the good grace to attribute some of the film ' s sources .
' ' slappy and the stinkers ' ' is rated pg ( parental guidance suggested ) . ignoring the fact that its premise involves theft and a wide spectrum of other crimes , the film includes ungenteel language that should come as no surprise to most small children .
not all the derivative elements of ' ' slappy and the stinkers ' ' - - the ' ' home alone ' ' assaults on boccoli , for example - - are acknowledged ; but like so many innovations , the film footnote arrives with potential for improvement .
like many of their dolphin friends , several of the sea lions are movie stars . torey was thrust into the spotlight after playing the title role in the movie andre and pj also had parts in the movie . both starred alongside another one of our sea lions , murray in the movie slappy and the stinkers , and were also featured in an ad for reynolds wrap .
on a dark winter ' s day , other 7 - year - olds whose film memory bank remains similarly and understandably undernourished may find ' ' slappy and the stinkers ' ' a welcome alternative to an afternoon of snow - filled galoshes .
five 2nd - grade kids who don ' t follow strict rules by their school principal brinway are dubbed
stinkers
by him . on the class visit to an aquarium the stinkers decide that a sea lion called slappy doesn ' t feel too good there ,
free
him , and plant him into brinway ' s hot - tub .
five best friends - - enthusiastic nonconformists all - - meet slappy , the sea lion , on a field trip . the
stinkers ,
as they are called by the private school ' s disaster - prone headmaster ( b . d . wong ) think that slappy is unhappy in his small aquarium habitat . remembering free willy , the five troublemakers determine that they , too , can make a heroic rescue and return slappy to the ocean . unbeknownst to them , however , an evil sea - lion - napper has other plans for the affable mammal . he , too , intends to steal slappy , train him to do tricks , and then sell him to a circus . the rescuers confront the ' napper and the chase is on .
learning that it stars bronson pinchot , a bunch of annoying kids , and a farting sea lion is almost redundant . of course a movie called slappy and the stinkers stars bronson pinchot , a bunch of annoying kids , and a farting sea lion . what else could it be ?
it is decided that slappy will spend the night with witz ( carl michael lindner ) , the asthmatic nerd and neurotic worry - wart of the group . the rest of the stinkers tuck slappy into bed with witz and then one of them says ,
try not to wheeze ! to a sea lion , a wheeze might sound like a mating call !
this only makes witz more nervous , which makes him wheeze , which makes slappy kiss him on the forehead , which makes everyone laugh because now witz might get molested by a sea lion , lol .
the next day they load slappy into an old free - standing bathtub they have lying around , put it on a wagon , and use their bicycles to haul it to the beach . ( to their credit , they do not go to the same beach that they walked past when they left the aquarium . ) but slappy looks out into the ocean , sees stock footage of a killer whale , and refuses to enter the water because killer whales eat sea lions .
no , it ' s ok !
the stinkers tell him .
it ' s just stock footage ! it ' s from another movie !
but slappy won ' t listen , on account of not having ears . now the stinkers ' plan is to take slappy back to the aquarium they stole him from in the first place , making this the most confused conservation message i ' ve ever seen in a movie .
five 2nd - grade kids who don ' t follow strict rules by their school principal brinway are dubbed
stinkers
by him . on the class visit to an aquarium the stinkers decide that a sea lion . . . see full summary »
the stinkers have allies in roy ( bronson pinchot ) , the academy ' s destructive groundskeeper , and harriet ( jennifer coolidge ) , a teacher who brings a straight - faced slavic - scented lunacy to the proceedings .
maybe i ' m just a softy but i thought this was a wonderful ( and believable ! ) family film . the expressions on the children ' s faces when they first see slappy was priceless - - and the final scene was nothing but laughs . i ' m a literature college professor so i ' ve read and seen my share of
stinkers
. this one smells good !
nicknamed the
stinkers
by the snooty headmaster ( wong ) of the private school where they are on summer enrichment scholarships , five feisty kids wreak havoc and humor with their irrepressible sense of adventure and ingenuity . they band together to build a flying machine powered by a leaf blower , escape from the comic villain in their homemade hotrod - bathtub - bikeplane , and even pull off the daring
rescue
of a contented sea lion in a misguided effort to free slappy !
in any event , the stinkers have little patience for the classroom and devote themselves to mischief that usually results in disaster for mr . brimway , his clothing or his beloved cherry - colored jaguar xjs convertible .
the plot revolves around the efforts of five foolish but imaginative children to steal a flatulent sea lion named slappy from the local aquarium and return it to the ocean . before anyone can say , ' ' hey , you ' re lifting the plot of ' free willy , ' ' ' the children acknowledge that if the idea was good enough for the whale , it is good enough for the sea lion .
they get slappy back to dartmoor and hide him for the afternoon in mr . brinway ' s hot tub . wouldn ' t a hot tub actually be a terrible place for a sea lion ? don ' t worry , the film clears up that plot hole by having the stinkers mix in a lot of ice and salt , thereby recreating slappy ' s natural habitat . but how will they feed him ? don ' t worry , the film addresses that plot hole , too , by having the stinkers order $ 150 worth of fish from a local fish - and - chips franchise and telling the delivery guy to just charge it to brinway . you know how take - out restaurants will deliver food to your house and you can just say ,
oh , charge this to so - and - so ?
it ' s like that .
in the long historical march of motion pictures , studded with images and effects that dazzle the eye , assault the ear and boggle the mind , now comes film with footnotes .
the stinkers wreak havoc at summer camp when they kidnap a sea lion . pure family fun ! © 1998 tristar pictures , inc . all rights reserved .
meanwhile , a villain named boccoli ( sam mcmurray ) has been trying to steal slappy himself so that he can sell him to a circus on the black market . this was before craigslist , when the only way circuses could get animals was from the back of a guy ' s van . but never fear , the kids pull a lot of painful pranks on boccoli , home alone - style , and rescue slappy and get him back to the aquarium , where he ' ll live happily and fartily ever after .
after an applause greeting by mangers and staff and being told that they were the first official guests , the portugues party were given an informative and educational lecture regarding sea lions and were then led to the sea lion habitat .
it ' s during this field trip that the stinkers encounter slappy the sea lion . within seconds of being introduced as a character , slappy farts loudly , as if the movie was worried that his being a sea lion wouldn ' t be enough of a novelty to hold our interest .
sure , he ' s an aquatic mammal who does tricks ,
said a producer .
but today ' s kids have already seen that ! i ' ll be damned if they ' ve seen a farting seal , though ! !
slappy farts three more times in the movie , and also has a scene where he gorges on chocolate - flavored laxative and then sits on a toilet . kind of a waste that the movie paid for a whole sea lion when all it needed was the anus .
the stinkers had no adults that could be counted upon to help them . does that feel like a real situation ? if you need help , who can you count on ?
you agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for the new york times ' s products and services .
common sense is the nation ' s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information , education , and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century .
slappy tells the kids that he is happiest in his home at the aquarium . there is controversy about whether or not to keep wild things in captivity for education and / or entertainment . what do you think ? how could you find out more about this subject ?
slappy and the stinkers is the kind of generic - brand , pseudo - disney children ' s comedy that you ' ll see playing on the vcr in a pediatrician ' s waiting room , and which will one day be logged into evidence after a receptionist loses her mind from watching it all day and murders someone . it was conjured into existence , perhaps using dark magicks , after the success of free willy made marine animals all the rage in hollywood . sats doesn ' t even bother to hide its inspiration . when the kids decide to help a sea lion escape from an aquarium , one of them says ,
like free willy ! it ' s free slappy !
i ' m surprised that wasn ' t the movie ' s advertising tagline .
it ' s like free willy , but with a seal !
witz ? two pieces of advice : don ' t insult him [ slappy ] . and try not to wheeze . because , to a sea lion , a wheeze can sound like a mating call .
coolidge had a regular role in the nbc sitcom joey as joey ' s agent , appearing in 37 of 46 episodes in the series . she originally starred in an episode of friends in its final season as amanda , a tactless and uninhibited wannabe whom phoebe and monica try to shake off . prior to her friends appearance , she was a regular on she tv , a very short - lived sketch comedy that also featured nick bakay , elon gold , simbi khali , and linda kash . she also has appeared on according to jim , playing jim ' s sister and in an episode of sex and the city , and on frasier as frederica , martin crane ' s new physical therapist . coolidge also appeared in the kiddie comedy slappy and the stinkers and as adam sandler ' s wife ' s friend , janine , in the 2006 comedy film click .
brinway is assisted by a woman named harriet , played by jennifer coolidge doing an annoying scandinavian comedy accent . when something goes wrong and brinway starts mincing and flouncing and blustering like a fey yosemite sam - - in other words , about every eleven seconds - - harriet is usually there to calm him down with her annoying scandinavian comedy accent . jennifer coolidge and b . d . wong are both skilled actors who have been delightful to watch in other productions , and if you asked either of them about slappy and the stinkers i bet they would pretend not to know what you were talking about .
and when they run afoul of boccoli ( sam mcmurray ) , a villain bent on stealing poor slappy for himself and then teaching the creature a few stereotypical tricks before peddling it to a bulgarian circus , boccoli ' s ability to bounce back from all manner of mayhem reminds the children of ' ' terminator . ' '
sign up for a fanalert and be the first to know when tickets and other exclusives are available in your area .
the stinkers - - sonny ( joseph ashton ) , witz ( carl michael linder ) , lucy ( scarlett pomers ) , loaf ( travis tedford ) and domino ( gary leroi gray ) , who quotes films - - are an appealing lot . the film ' s humor , including peanut butter and jelly sandwiches , whipped cream , slushy drinks and bird droppings in the face , as well as the destruction of the school carnival , is on a level calculated to appeal to their contemporaries .
dolphin encounters is a member of the international marine animal trainers association ( imata ) , the largest organization of its kind . in 1997 , the facility was accepted into the prestigious alliance of marine mammal parks and aquariums ( ammpa ) , and in 2004 became an accredited member of the group , cementing its status as one of the top marine parks in the world . in 2003 , dolphin encounters and project b . e . a . c . h . received the prestigious cacique award , the bahamas ministry of tourism’s highest honour for excellence in tourism and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country .
in 1996 , dolphin encounters was chosen by universal studios to help produce the movie ‘flipper’ , starring paul hogan and elijah wood . in 2001 , the dolphin starred in mary kate and ashley olsen’s movie , ‘holiday in the sun . ’ the dolphins have also been featured in countless television , film and print media all over the world , and many international celebrities have swum with them at blue lagoon island in the bahamas .
and that you own all rights to the image or have authorization to upload it .
the kids figure brinway never comes home early and never uses his hot tub anyway , whereupon brinway decides to do both . ( he makes the decision immediately , lest we forget the comedy set - up that has been put into place . ) so then there are shenanigans and hijinks related to getting slappy out of the hot tub before brinway sees him , and to brinway wearing an american flag speedo , and to whatever other assorted humiliations the movie can conceive to inflict upon brinway in this short space of time , lest we forget that without farting sea lions and abused authority figures , the movie would just be 15 minutes of over - acting children shouting dumb dialogue .
victor portugues also enjoyed the sea lion encounter . “we have been coming to the bahamas since 1996 and have been to dolphin encounters on blue lagoon island before and really enjoyed the dolphin programs and had booked dolphin swims for this trip . then we learned about the sea lion encounter and wanted to try something new and i am really glad we did . it was really different and a great deal of fun – each one of us enjoyed it immensely . ”
the facility has also made the lifetime dream of many children come true by participating in the make - a - wish foundation program .
trippy indie madeline ' s madeline is the movie that lakeith stanfield and boots riley from sorry to bother you want to see the most .
“this day marks a very special milestone for our company , ” added mr . meister . “our goal is to offer our guests educational , fun , safe and interactive programs that allow participants to connect with our animals on a personal level and the new sea lion encounter does that . we continue to innovate and to offer new experiences . the official grand opening is planned for later in the year but the program is open and we welcome all bahamians and visitors alike to come and experience this exciting and very entertaining program . ”
it looks like we don ' t have a synopsis for this title yet . be the first to contribute ! just click the
edit page
button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the synopsis submission guide .
the stinkers of the title are a group of five kids , all about 8 years old , who are attending a summer program at the prestigious dartmoor academy , a snooty private school run by fussy headmaster morgan brinway ( b . d . wong ) . the group consists of a tough - talking leader , a good kid , an asthmatic nerd , a girl , and a black boy , which means they meet the federal requirements to be registered as a little rascals knock - off and are therefore eligible for grant money . brinway calls them the stinkers because they are always getting into trouble - - nothing serious , just whimsical mischief along the lines of attaching a leaf - blower and some wings to a desk chair to see if they can make it fly . ( they cannot . ) they also like to sneak out of the opera appreciation class that brinway teaches , though that can hardly be described as
stinky
behavior when it is the only natural response to such a class .
“it is with great pleasure that we welcomed the portugues family and their friend as the first guests of our exciting new sea lion program , ” said robert meister , managing director of dolphin encounters ltd . “one of the few programs of its kind in the world , the sea lion encounter is truly unique as it allows guests to interact with these extraordinarily playful animals face - to - face in a fun and educational experience . the portugues family is the first to participate in our sea lion encounter and we wanted to mark the occasion with a celebration . ”
all the grownups are one - dimensional and portrayed as bumbling , self - absorbed , or clueless . the kids are a stereotypically diverse mix of
fiesty girl ,
the leader ,
witty african - american ,
asthmatic , but cute scared kid ,
and
problem - solver .
the kids do work together with integrity to save an animal , defeat school bullies and an evil sea - lion - napper , and wreak havoc on the dim - witted school principal .
the sea lion encounter program , the first of its kind in the bahamas , is based on dolphin encounters’ highly successful and award - winning dolphin interactive programs and allows guests to meet california sea lions up - close in their pristine all - natural marine mammal habitat which allows even more things to do on paradise island in the bahamas .
our ratings are based on child development best practices . we display the minimum age for which content is developmentally appropriate . the star rating reflects overall quality and learning potential .
the family of talented cook , hassan kadam , has a life filled with both culinary delights and profound loss . drifting through europe after fleeing political violence in india that killed the family restaurant business and their mother , the kadams arrive in france . once there , a chance auto accident and the kindness of a young woman , marguerite , in the village of saint - antonin - noble - val inspires papa kadam to set up a indian restaurant there . unfortunately , this puts the kadams in direct competition with the snobbish madame mallory ' s acclaimed haute cuisine establishment across the street where marguerite also works as a sous - chef . the resulting rivalry eventually escalates in personal intensi . . .
a comedy concert film that captures the on - stage performance and inspirational success story of gabriel
fluffy
iglesias .
she also has played comic parts in the improv mockumentaries best in show , a mighty wind , and for your consideration , all directed by christopher guest . she also appeared in the 2006 film date movie as a spoof of barbra streisand ' s meet the fockers character . epic movie , released in 2007 and made by the same people behind date movie , was the first movie in which she starred .
coolidge was born in boston , massachusetts , the daughter of gretchen ( née knauff ) , and paul constant coolidge , a plastics manufacturer . she was raised in norwell , massachusetts , alongside a brother , andrew , and two sisters , elizabeth and susannah . coolidge attended norwell high school , the cambridge school of weston , emerson college in boston , and the american academy of dramatic arts in new york city . her charitable work has included a history of supporting aids assistance and animal rights .
coolidge is known for her supporting roles in many comedy movies and guest spots on television . she is best known for playing
stifler ' s mom ,
the consummate
milf ,
character in the american pie films , though she is also known for supporting parts in other films , including hilary duff ' s stepmother in a cinderella story ; paulette , the manicurist in legally blonde and its sequel ;
hottie police officer
in a night at the roxbury ; and the voice of aunt fanny in the animated movie robots .
© 2018 viacom international inc . all rights reserved . mtv and all related titles and logos are trademarks of viacom international inc .
blue lagoon island – victor and michelle portugues , along with daughter gabriella rodriguez and her friend maria vigoreaux , all of puerto rico , were the first guests to participate in the new sea lion encounter program offered by dolphin encounters on blue lagoon island .
the portugues party was given a mini - reception beside the sea lion habitat after their program and presented with gift bags , souvenir photos , a dvd of their experience and certificates to return to enjoy a complimentary encounter with their new sea lion friends .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
jennifer audrey coolidge ( born on august 28 , 1961 ) is an american actress best known for playing hilary duff ' s evil stepmother in a cinderella story ( 2004 ) ; paulette , the manicurist in legally blonde ( 2001 ) and its sequel ; the voice of aunt fanny in the animated feature robots ( 2005 ) ; for her role in the secret life of the american teenager as betty ; and for her regular role in the nbc sitcom joey as joey ' s agent , bobbie morganstern .
this is silly , mindless , often crude fun for those who like their humor on the broad side . it ' s got clueless adults who fall and get banged up a lot , ridiculous pie - in - the - face villains , and oh - so - cutesy kids who grin a lot and utter sassy wisecracks on cue .
guarantee the perfect movie night with tickets from fandango . find theater showtimes , watch trailers , read reviews and buy movie tickets in advance .
the other employee at dartmoor is roy , the groundskeeper and bus driver and all - around handyman played by bronson pinchot . roy is clearly meant to be a stoner , but he has to be the pg - rated , kid - friendly kind of stoner who just comes across as incredibly stupid , like shaggy in scooby - doo or tara reid in real life . during a field trip to the local aquarium , roy hears the word
octopus
and says ,
octopus ? here , puss , puss , puss ! ,
because he thinks it ' s a kind of cat . then the octopus in question reaches out of the water and grabs roy ' s hair with its tentacles , for comedy . it is that kind of movie .
amelia lives only with her son samuel , who ' s still afraid of monsters under the bed or in the closet . . .
clownish action from beginning to end . there are only two brief and perhaps disturbing scenes in which the villain tries to train a kidnapped sea lion by chaining him and using an electric prod . otherwise there are no serious injuries and there is no actual suspense , just lots of slapstick action .
“the animals very quickly became adapted to their home here at dolphin encounters and enjoy learning new behaviours , ” said ms . terrell . “our new program is a wonderful experience for the animals as well as visitors . it is a new opportunity to interact with another marine mammal species and provides extraordinary educational opportunities for the thousands of students that visit our facility . ”
potty humor throughout includes : farting , mention of peeing and wetting pants , smelly poop references ; characters get hit in the crotch numerous times ; the seal lion accidentally eats an entire package of laxative after which the creature is seen on the toilet . infrequent coarse language including
hell ,
pissant ,
farthead ,
crap .
do not upload anything which you do not own or are fully licensed to upload . the images should not contain any sexually explicit content , race hatred material or other offensive symbols or images . remember : abuse of the urltoken image system may result in you being banned from uploading images or from the entire site – so , play nice and respect the rules !
receive a free * exclusive ' ant - man and the wasp ' poster with ticket purchase ( * shipping & handling not included ) . buy tickets
hank palmer ( robert downey jr . ) is one of the best defense attorneys in chicago . he ' s in the bathroom . . .
get full reviews , ratings , and advice delivered weekly to your inbox . subscribe
kim terrell , marine mammal director of dolphin encounters greeted the family and introduced them to p . j . a female sea lion . standing on specially designed , waist - deep water platforms immersed in a calm , private lagoon , the guests were able to pet , kiss , hug , feed and interact with p . j . face - to - face . the 30 - minute program also allows plenty of time for guests to ask questions and learn about marine mammals .
families can talk about the difference between make - believe live action , animated action , and real action . are any of the crashes , falls , hits , in this movie meant to be taken seriously ? how can you tell ?
from the new york times . you may opt - out at any time .
more tickets = more points = more movies on us ! rack up vip + points for every ticket you buy to score streaming movies and discounts on tickets and movie gear .
the six sea lions , pj , kalika , xena , maggie , torey , all female , and murray a male , came to dolphin encounters over a year ago after surviving hurricane katrina and the destruction of their former home at marine life oceanarium in gulfport , mississippi . having all been born under human care , their habitat at blue lagoon island was first time the animals had ever been in a natural ocean environment .
a former soldier is taken captive and awakens in the back of a van where he learns that he only has a few moments to figure out how he got there .
( note : bronson pinchot ' s character serves no function in the story . it is possible that he was included only because pinchot was under contract and had to rack up another 10 minutes of screen time before the studio would let him go . )
combined with an abundance of fart and poop jokes , it ' s juvenile humor at best - - a time - waster with a few good laughs and an engaging sea lion .
candy richards ,
carly summers ,
and
roxy st . james
can ' t find a community you love ? create your own and start something epic .
directed by barnet kellman ; written by bob wolterstorff and mike scott ; director of photography , paul maibaum ; edited by jeff wishengrad ; music by craig safan ; production designer , ivo cristante ; produced by sid , bill and jon sheinberg ; released by tri - star pictures and the bubble factory . running time : 78 minutes . this film is rated pg .
there aren ' t any reviews yet . be the first to review this title .
common sense is a nonprofit organization . your purchase helps us remain independent and ad - free .
( interesting trivia fact : do you know the difference between a sea lion and a seal ? you do ? well , good for you , smarty - pants . nobody cares . )
common sense media ' s unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren ' t influenced by the product ' s creators or by any of our funders , affiliates , or partners .
want to share imdb ' s rating on your own site ? use the html below .
website is owned and published by immediate media company limited . urltoken © immediate media company ltd 2018 .
we open with a montage explaining what a drop bar is . its the central bar that holds all the collection money from other mob owned businesses to be picked up later . . .
five teenagers considered troublemakers by their high - school principal and threatened with expulsion decide to relieve the unrelenting boredom of a field trip by rescuing a sea lion from an aquarium . comedy adventure , starring bd wong , bronson pinchot , jennifer coolidge , sam mcmurray , joseph ashton and gary leroi gray .
headquartered in san francisco , with offices in los angeles , new york , and washington , d . c .
regular show - terror tales of the park v ( episode clip 1 ) [ mr . boss man ]
advocates sensitivity and compassion for wild creatures , in this case a sea lion . there ' s value in teamwork .
“we also want to thank the staff who are so wonderful , ” said michelle portugues . “they each made us feel so comfortable and so welcome . special thanks to kim for showing our family such a great time with pj . ”
get your swag on with discounted movies to stream at home , exclusive movie gear , access to advanced screenings and discounts galore .
“this was an amazing experience , ” said gabriella rodriguez after participating . “i have never done anything like this before . we have been in with the dolphins and loved that but this was really great – i didn’t want to get out ! ”
common sense , common sense media , common sense education , and common sense kids action , associated names , associated trademarks , and logos are trademarks of common sense media , a 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) nonprofit organization ( fein 41 - 2024986 ) .
a soldier introduces himself to the peterson family , claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action . after the young man is welcomed into their home , a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence .
film review ; children freeing a sea lion ? if it worked for willy . . . . - the new york times
her friend maria also agreed . “this was a once - in - a - lifetime experience . to be honest i was a little afraid at first before we went in and i wasn’t sure , but pj was so sweet and kim was really good about teaching us about sea lions that it was just so much fun – i wanted it to last longer and i definitely want to do it again . ”
we know life happens , so if something comes up , you can return or exchange your tickets up until the posted showtime .
amanda and dawson are soul mates who met as teens and were from different backgrounds . but circumstances would force them to part ways . 20 years they are brought back together by the passing of a mutual friend . so they go back home to fulfill his final wishes they run into each other . while amanda is married , albeit unhappily , she still has feelings for dawson but she can ' t forgive him for pushing her away .
a bus full of children arrives at a museum . they ' re a rowdy bunch that frighten the guards . a young . . .
own all of the previous ' mission : impossible ' movies to watch at home for just $ 3 . 99 each with ticket purchase . buy tickets
lots of products on display : coca cola , morton salt , fizzie ' s , sharper image , laidlaw buses , johnson & johnson , and z lax , jr .
you must only upload images which you have created yourself or that you are expressly authorised or licensed to upload . by clicking
publish
, you are confirming that the image fully complies with tv . com’s
movies and tv shows are certified fresh with a steady tomatometer of 75 % or higher after a set amount of reviews ( 80 for wide - release movies , 40 for limited - release movies , 20 for tv shows ) , including 5 reviews from top critics .
some parts of this page won ' t work property . please reload or try later .
cabrillo marine aquarium - 3720 stephen m . white drive , san pedro , los angeles , california , usa
] that is one big gopher . his mom must have been messing around with a seal .
5 of 9 people found this review helpful . was this review helpful to you ? yes no | report this
sorry , we just need to make sure you ' re not a robot . for best results , please make sure your browser is accepting cookies .
what ' s on your mind ? get answers to top parenting questions here .
common sense media , a nonprofit organization , earns a small affiliate fee from amazon or itunes when you use our links to make a purchase . thank you for your support .
collect bonus rewards from our many partners , including amc , stubs , cinemark connections , regal crown club when you link accounts .
also sign me up for fanmail to get updates on all things movies : tickets , special offers , screenings + more .
receive a free * exclusive ' jurassic world : fallen kingdom ' poster with ticket purchase ( * shipping & handling not included ) . buy tickets
choose 1 of 2 free * posters with ticket purchase ( * shipping & handling not included ) . buy tickets
home | movies | movie reviews | trailers | dvd | blog | contests | about us | help | contact us movie reviews © 2003 - 2018 erik samdahl . all other content © of its respected owner . read our privacy policy . filmjabber is a client of this seo consultant .
urltoken no longer supports internet explorer 9 or earlier . please upgrade your browser .
film review ; children freeing a sea lion ? if it worked for willy . . . .
we’re interested in your feedback on this page . tell us what you think .
accessibility concerns ? email us at accessibility @ urltoken . we would love to hear from you .
ella mai – boo ' d up ( remix ) ft . nicki minaj & quavo
© 2018 cbs interactive inc . all rights reserved . tv guide digital network | privacy policy | ad choice | terms of use
joseph ashton , pine bodhi elfman , b . d . wong , bronson pinchot , gary grey
linda cardellini | alex hirsch | jason ritter | kristen schaal | j . k . simmons
brad abrell | dee bradley baker | jillian bell | jackie buscarino | jennifer coolidge | grey delisle | jessica dicicco | john dimaggio | carl faruolo | keith ferguson | will forte | will friedle | mark hamill | ken jenkins | robert lacko | scott menville | t . j . miller | nick offerman | michael rianda | kevin michael richardson | stephen root | paul scheer | jorma taccone | fred tatasciore | gregg turkington | thurop van orman | kari wahlgren | frank welker | april winchell | niki yang
stuart allan | mariah amundsen | diedrich bader | cecil baldwin | jonathan banks | lance bass | jeff bennett | blake bertrand | brian bloom | kurt braunohler | kimberly brooks | corey burton | frank caliendo | ken campbell | carmen carter | matt chapman | gregory michael cipes | coolio | jim cummings | greg ellis | nathan fillion | mckenna grace | a . smith harrison | carter hastings | ariel hirsch | nicolas isler | mikey kelley | larry king | christian mardini | sam marin | alfred molina | kimberly mooney | john o ' hurley | genesis ochoa | john oliver | patton oswalt | chelsea peretti | john roberts | justin roiland | joshua rush | daryl sabara | horatio sanz | peter serafinowicz | tara strong | neil degrasse tyson | conrad vernon | amory watterson | dave wittenberg | robbie wyckoff |
weird al
yankovic
for more information about dolphin encounters or to make reservations call 242 - 363 - 7150 ( general inquiries ) or 242 - 363 - 1003 ( reservations ) .


newsfront is a 1978 australian drama film starring bill hunter , wendy hughes , chris haywood and bryan brown , directed by phillip noyce .

the screenplay is written by david elfick , bob ellis , philippe mora , and phillip noyce .

the original music score is composed by william motzing .

this film was shot on location in sydney , new south wales , australia .

incorporating much actual newsreel footage , the film is shot in both black and white and colour .

newsfront

screenshot / 01 _ preview _ 590x300 . png screenshot / 02 _ home . png screenshot / 03 _ home _ newsfront _ 2 . png screenshot / 04 _ newsfront _ 3 . png screenshot / 04 _ products _ newsfront . png screenshot / 05 _ newsfront _ 4 . png
announcement that president ellis will join on newsfront for the may 3 , 2016 news .
with the headline : film : ' newsfront , ' mood of the 50 ' s .
newsfront is an excellent australian film that covers the important role that newsreels played in this country .
whih newsfront asks the public once again , as to where they stand regarding the sokovia accords .
newsfront is 100 % compatible with woocommerce and allows it to integrate seamlessly with the theme . view the
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing newsfront near you .
as much history as fiction : john ewart ( left ) and bill hunter in newsfront . aap image
some believe that newsfront , set in the late 1940s and incorporating extensive newsreel footage , is australia’s best film .
the marvel cinematic universe wiki has a collection of images and media related to whih newsfront ( web series ) .
newsfront includes a powerful video management plugin that has been specifically built for use with this theme . the plugin include :
the twitter profile of whih newsfront is part of promotional campaign of the movies ant - man and captain america : civil war . it started with the ant - man promotional campaign in july 2015 . [ 1 ] it supported the videos of the whih newsfront web series . this is a page which includes all the twitter posts of whih newsfront . [ 2 ]
newsfront reviews in depth this is a collection of twenty seven reviews of the film from both the australian and international press .
newsfront is a classic australian film portraying the lives of newsreel camera men during the 1940s and 1950s , just before the introduction of television .
newsfront , a feature packed wordpress & ecommerce theme , designed & developed for premium modern blog , news & content production websites . free lifetime updates
place of publication from publisher ' s website . originally released as a motion picture in 1978 . special features : audio commentary with writer / director phillip noyce , writer bob ellis and producer david elfick ;
the last newsreel
;
the newsfront story
; 1978 australian film awards excerpts ; theatrical trailer ; study guide ( dvd - rom ) ;
newsfront
reviews in - depth ( dvd - rom ) ;
the restoration of ' newsfront ' ( dvd - rom ) ; original assessment for the production of
newsfront
( dvd - rom ) .
the film will be shown in the domain theatre on wednesday 31 october at 2pm and 7 . 15pm . for details , see newsfront screening .
the restoration of newsfront this extremely interesting fourteen page document is written by frans vandenburg who was responsible for overseeing and coordinating the restoration of newsfront . this document concentrates on sourcing the original materials rather than the actual dvd authoring process , and gives an insight into the efforts required to restore older films .
there has been a large and substantial amount of catholic material from fred schepisi and devil ' s playground to films like the settlement and newsfront . what influence has catholicism had ?
study guide this is a 23 page file that includes an overview of the film by director phillip noyce , two discussions of the themes and the images of newsfront by barbara boyd , and a collection of assignments , suggested readings and discussion topics for the classroom . this guide is an excellent starting point for educators wishing to include newsfront in their curriculum .
newsfront also celebrated another , often overlooked , facet of australian cinema and that is its long and meritorious delivery of documentary films . newsfront celebrates this history , not only by utilising black - and - white archive footage from the forties and fifties but also by a judicious use and mix of colour footage which melds a reality in which at some moments we don ' t quite know whether we are watching a documentary or a feature film . this gives the newsfront an historic reality and vivacity that will always have a validity . top of page
“newsfront , ” . which opens at cinema ii today , is gentle , mannerly australian film that fully realizes its ambitions , which ate intriguing though small . the young director phillip noyce has used carefully selected vintage newsreel footage as a way of exploring the personal and professional ethics of a time that is long gone , yet not so far away . one of the minor miracles of “newsfront” is its synthesis of present and past , its way of introducing modem moral dilemmas without rupturing a perfectly realized mood of the early 1950 ' s . even when it is most thoroughly immersed in period details , “newsfront” is too mindful of the present to feel like nostalgia .
a number of love affairs animate “newsfront , ” which would be lively and charming even without them . but to the extent that the film is romantic , its passions go beyond the vicissitudes of individual lovers . bustling with excellent but not conventionally glamorous players ( wendy hughes and angela punch are radiant exceptions ) , and polished but in no way slick , “newsfront” embraces the end of an era just as knowingly as it revels in more promising times . there ' s something attractively rueful about its evenhandedness and its scope .
another aspect of newsfront is the religious theme in the context of the 50s and the cold war . angela punch mcgregor ' s character , the righteous catholic wife who gives up her faith , had not been seen before on our screens . was that your contribution ?
aesthetic touches such as actual documentary footage and recreations of events including the 1951 referendum to ban the communist party and the 1955 hunter valley floods give the film a time capsule - esque quality , but newsfront has maintained an almost eerie relevance as the years rolled forward .
showcasing the latest design techniques , newsfront for wordpress features a crisp , clean design and boasts super fast page load time by utilising world class tools in modern development . of course it is fully responsive , creating a compelling user experience across all of today ? s modern devices .
the first - class film that captures his story has not suffered the same fate . newsfront kicked along a distinguished career for noyce ( whose films include dead calm , patriot games , the bone collector and rabbit - proof fence ) and very much stands the test of time .
newsfront [ presented by ] palm beach pictures ; in association with n . s . w . film corporation , australian film commission , village roadshow ; produced by david elfick ; directed by phillip noyce ; screenplay by phillip noyce ; based on an original screenplay by bob ellis ; from a concept by david elfick .
the full - length feature film debut of director phillip noyce , 1978’s newsfront , focuses on a very specific industry at a very specific time . noyce hones in on newsreel postproduction in australia from 1948 to 1956 , capturing the personal and professional lives of film - makers and editors during a period just before television fundamentally changed the entertainment industry .
newsfront [ videorecording ] / [ presented by ] palm beach pictures ; in association with n . s . w . film corporation , australian film commission , village roadshow ; produced by david elfick ; directed by phillip noyce ; screenplay by phillip noyce ; based on an original screenplay by bob ellis ; from a concept by david elfick . – national library
whih newsfront is an american web series , based on an online news program with the same name supported by the television network whih world news . it airs on youtube and is part of the promotional campaigns for the movies ant - man and captain america : civil war . it aired on july 2 , 2015 and was renewed in april 22 , 2016 .
ecommerce is also another typical pain point for wordpress users with limited functionality out of the box , not so with newsfront . developed behind the scenes and integrated perfectly with our theme , woocommerce functionality has been extended to help you create visual perfection with your ecommerce shop front . create beautiful product descriptions that display fluidly across any device , add wishlists , shopping carts and much more with the layout builder .
newsfront is a film with a great deal of integrity . it ' s superbly crafted and acted with a real feel for the times it deals with . it ' s a film made by australians for australians with a sense of , and love for , australia ' s past . it ' s also funny , honest and moving . i ' ve seen it many times now and it gets better with each viewing . i value bill hunter especially and , as an australian , am proud of his achievements and his contribution to the cinema . i can ' t think of an australian film that has affected me in quite the same way newsfront has . it ' s a near flawless achievement and to those who think it too long i really think you ought to work on your attention spans .
' ocker ' films are , by their very subject matter , a series of set pieces based around a visual or verbal gags and situations , which required the minimum amount of subtlety to communicate with an audience . a quality script requires a greater subtlety of exposition to transfer it to film . newsfront is a fine example of this process and phillip noyce was well - qualified to develop the project .
unlike my brilliant career 1979 ( gillian armstrong ) or picnic at hanging rock 1975 ( peter wier ) , the other two best - known successful quality productions of the late seventies . newsfront was not an adaptation from a novel but was based on a script idea by bob ellis , developed by phil noyce . the film also focussed on a more recent period in history that has deeper resonance with audiences .
not super confident with html5 & css3 ? you don ? t need to be with newsfront , this is all taken care of with a powerful theme options panel that allows you to change all theme elements in a simple , easy to understand & familiar way . with five strikingly different demos to select as soon as you checkout , you will have a professional & functional website up and running in no time .
newsfront fits the category of local product
that seemed to be an almost ' seamless ' web between working to the local and being internationally successful
. it was financed locally the through village roadshow , directed by the australian director philip noyce , the cinematographer was another australian , vincent monton , as were the crew . the major cast are australians , with at least four of them going on to reach almost iconic status . bill hunter , wendy hughes , brian brown and gerard kennedy .
“newsfront” is , in any case , a pleasant and nostalgic movie , told in a key a little too low to constantly involve us , about a fiercely proud middle - aged cameraman ( bill hunter ) who takes all sorts of risks to get his stories , who battles and sometimes compromises through the period of mccarthyism , who marries a smart young assistant and then loses her , who covers fires and floods and the arrivals of ocean liners and who finds his trade replaced almost overnight by television .
newsfront is full of examples of the director ' s craftsmanship . the music score with its road to gundagai motif carried forward from the non - diegetic opening newsreel sequences and culminating in the diegetic performance of the song is inspired . it is ironic that the performance is by an american lounge singer , and sung as a tribute to franks return from america . in addition , the soundmatch of the crescendos at the end of the newsreel sequences gives authenticity to and underscores the historic feel of the film .
but there are more specific moments in newsfront that crystallise contemporary issues and debates . take a scene in which a bunch of film - makers and editors watch footage of the second world war in a screening room . images of soldiers in action switches to footage of legendary photographer damien parer who , as the voiceover explains , “gave his all for a cause in which he truly believed” . we hear the sound of a bugle playing the last post , the musician’s face superimposed on to footage of troops in action .
newsfront also fits well with tom ryan ' s description of australian film making mentioned by o ' regan , where he says .
perhaps the most significant recurring narrative pattern is that which locales the characters in positions of powerlessness in relation to the movement of the historical periods in which they are placed .
all these elements are ever present in the plot of newsfront . the news reel industry facing the arrival of television . len maquire ' s helplessness in the face of his wife ' s puritanical catholicism . the subsequent failure to hold a relationship with amy after his brother frank returns from america . the strife caused by the government reaction to the communist party threat , seen in the recorded newsreels used in the film and within the cinetone narrative as staff and management clash over matters of politics and professional ethics . the reflection on attitudes to sexuality , current at that time in australia ' s recent past . all these factors place the protagonists on the back foot and there is no real heroic action to save the day .
but “newsfront” finally lacks a deep and real level of personal emotion : if the cameramen ' s loss of work is the problem , then we can wish them well in their next line of work . or if they don ' t find new jobs , then that is the tragedy . but there ' s a basic fault in the reasoning here , because we can ' t really be expected to find this film depressing simply because television was invented . or … can we ? but that ' s another question .
reg cribb’s script , from his play , wobbles here and there ; the film , like rex’s ride , could be shorter ; but the changing landscapes , desert into jungle and back , are more than minor characters . we have here another return home story , one that couldn’t have been made in the newsfront period ; gentle as this film is , it registers elements that , in 1978 , were a long way outside the frame . last cab to darwin is one film that knows which country we’re in . •
just 20 years after the original release of newsfront in 1978 , this australian cinema classic was close to being lost forever – through the ravages of time , changes in technology , politics and legal battles . in 1998 director phillip noyce , and the film’s original assistant editor , frans vandenburg , combined forces with an impressive collection of film technicians and professionals to restore the film . their seemingly impossible mission involved scouring film archives around the world for original negatives , protracted legal battles over copyright and painstaking repair and restoration work .
the 2015 series of whih newsfront consists of several videos on youtube about scott lang and his future release . it was part of the promotional campaign for the movie ant - man in 2015 . in these online newsreports , the main item is about scott lang , a cyber criminal who is almost set to be released from prison . however the battle of sokovia is discussed as well , and in the news headline ticker at the bottom of the screen , other references to the marvel cinematic universe can be seen as well .
newsfront , directed by phillip royce ; screenplay by mr . noyce , from an original screenlay by sob ellis . from a concept by phillipe mora and david eltick : photography , vincent monton : editor , john scott ; music . william motzing ; produced by mr . eltick ; production companies , palm beach pictures association with the new south wales film corporation and the australian film commission ; released by new yorker films . at the cinema 2 theater , third avenue and filth street . running time : 110 minutes : this film is not rated .
the film makers who appear in “newsfront” aren ' t much above turning anything into a light‐hearted story ; that , after all , is the curious trick of their trade . mr . noyce has wittily se - lected footage of chico marx singing “waltzing matilda” on a visit to australia , a politician making a speech as flies converge on his face , a dog who croons hideously when his master plays the piano , and many other testimonials to the silliness that newsreels often celebrated . this works as a fine , stark contrast with the characters behind the camera , who manage to be serious , imaginative , and intelligently interested in what they do .
newsfront was the liveliest work on that 1970s list , the days of the feature - film revival and the beginnings of film - craft training at the newly established national film school . cinematographers , producers , editors , directors and even writers were making their names ; journalists backed them energetically , and with all the prestige of the director as artist , the energy was , insistently , for the industry rather than for cinema . paradoxically , the re - established industry was there to produce art films – high - end , internationally tradeable objects – or , in another corner of the scene , the brash populism of alvin purple and his kin .
artfully integrating old newsreels into a story about a crew of film makers who supposedly shot , edited and took enormous pride in them , mr . noyce has structured “newsfront” like a scrapbook . key occurrences are represented , both large and small : the events the film crew covered , the changing fortunes of the company that employed them , the different ways one man regards his wife from one year to the next . the transitions are missing , and somehow that makes the material all the more fascinating . in imitation of his characters , mr . noyce records things without trying to explain them . the audience is left to contemplate the permanence and elusiveness of change .
if you are interested in australian cinema this is a film for you . although it is long , you will be thankful you sat it through . ' newsfront ' takes us back in time to a different australia - a country that has no television or other technologies of today . noyce uses the backdrop of the rivalry between the two newsreel production companies to explore the tensions that exist in the character ' s lives , set against the historical moments recorded in the newsreels . with engaging characters and a superb depiction of what life was like in the newsreel industry of the 1950s , noyce gives us an enjoyable and memorable experience of australian film and national history .
cinematic memory is something of a jungle ; we misremember films seen long ago , or else recut them to suit ourselves . at the end of a packed conference on media history at the national film and sound archive in canberra earlier this month , we were treated to a rare screening of newsfront ( 1978 ; director , phillip noyce ) in a restored print . however it can be faulted , this invaluable work is as much history as fiction . its re - creation of the last days of the cinema newsreels is irreplaceable ; how many now can remember the advent of television in the mid 1950s , with its impacts on film crafts so quickly made obsolete , thrown backwards into history ?
yes . i said at the time it ' s like ringing up fellini and saying , ` i really liked juliet of the spirits . we ' re going to offer you a lot of money to come here and direct a country practice . ' that ' s precisely what happens to australians who go to hollywood . from newsfront to sliver is not a career path , you know . from gallipoli to green card is not a career path . from the chant of jimmie blacksmith to mr baseball is not a career path . there ' s a career path of a certain kind - which is selling out , winding up as a really competent hack in a system which shouldn ' t be there .
newsfront was also true to the newsreel men of the time - that their marriages were wrecked by their sexual opportunities while travelling . but they were an interesting bunch . we had a phrase for them , ` buccaneers on mortgages ' . they didn ' t get much money but they had great jobs and they saw the best of it . but the other side of it was that they were just men who , when they got home , didn ' t mow the lawn or go into the garage and build something in the usual way or go to the 6 o ' clock swill with their mates . and that was interesting . they were , in a way , a peacetime version of the wartime australian ordinary man who saw tremendous events and was changed by them .
new feature | breaking news bar colors are now customizer new feature | option to set publisher schema - person or organization new feature | disable date , author , category , views and social buttons on elements bug fix | post list offset field fixed bug fix | major update for query arguments . prevent conflict between modules bug fix | fixed inbuilt loop archive queries bug fix | fixed default style for post slider bug fix | fixed thumbnails for post slider style selector bug fix | fixed author box social icons bug fix | fixed structured - data errors bug fix | replaced mb _ strripos ( ) with strripos ( ) to prevent fatal error when mbstring php module is not installed bug fix | fixed styling bug in breaking news bar when content is text bug fix | fixed generation of links for social icons bug fix | updated customizer color selectors to match header and footer update | newsfront . po has been updated with new translation strings
the difficulty with a film like
newsfront
is how it tends to have the same approach to its characters as the characters have to themselves . which is to say , a lot of emotional distance . the film is especially well directed , but it never really becomes the sum of all its parts . the best bits revolve around the newsroom stuff , so that the relationships seem rather unimportant by comparison . a much more recent film ,
good night and good luck
is more balanced and intense in this respect . vincent monton ' s cinematography is particularly good ( he would work with noyce 4 years later again on
heatwave
) . this is a film that ' s always fun to look at . the black & white is crisp and clean and the colour footage is warm and vibrant . but , in the end , it ' s like a pretty picture postcard . fun to watch , but just too hard to get into .
newsfront ' s sub - plots are equally soundly constructed and marvellously captured by vincent monton ' s eloquent cinematography . for example in the sequence when len ' s marriage is on the verge of break down and his wife refuses to let him touch her , len gathers together his belongings from the shared bedroom . monton shot this in close - up as we see len ' s hands gather up his possessions from the dressing table . this is coupled with a mid shot of len removing his belongings from the communal cupboard , len is cramped into the left of frame as if events are crowding him . we then cut to a high angled shot , looking down on len as he removes the clothes ; this dominant camera position victimises len and his position . finely in the sequence , len is left baffled and perplexed in the centre of the room . as he hears one of his children cry out he looks up . the camera pans from lens face out of the room , not to find the child as expected but to focus on the front door to the house symbolising len ' s final exit from the marriage .
html public
- / / w3c / / dtd xhtml 1 . 0 transitional / / en
urltoken
well , not as vast as it might have been . i ' ve got about 33 scripts in drawers that weren ' t made and films that were made that irritate me a bit in how they differed from what was intended : man of flowers ; there ' s a shocking film called winds of jarrah which , would you believe , started out as a very good script and only about one sentence of it survived ; another similar one which was eventually called ebb tide , which was a really terrific chandleresque film noir that bears no resemblance to the eventual film .
i ' m putting together a book of writings on film which i hope will be formidable and telling and impressive , in hopefully more than one volume , structuring it around the years of my life from when i ran a threepenny cinema in our garage at the age of 10 , through university , kind of half - making campus films and working in the abc and ending with me as a director sort of auteur and so on , a long love affair with the medium .
i ' m lucky to have come from that generation that was not cecil holmes ' generation and those people who really had it hard , who would have been very fine film directors had they had opportunities . but i ' m unlucky in not being of the present very young generation where , apparently at 22 , they write a good script , are given the money to make it and immediately go to hollywood and sell themselves , make a lot of money and ruin their promise .
on an australia talks back program on australian film you lamented the directors who have left australia to work in hollywood and overseas .
on the very day that i decided i would henceforth work only on my own ideas , i was rung by elfick and offered the best idea i ' d ever heard , which was the lifestyles and work habits of newsreel cameramen in the 1940s and 1950s , structured around existing newsreels with a hit - list of events . i wrote the first draft in collaboration with howard rubie , who was a newsreel cameraman at cinesound at the same time , and it was understood that he would direct it . somehow noyce played meaningful ping - pong with elfick and was able to displace howard from the thing .
there was some nonsense about how long it was ; we ' d set it out , one short scene per page and it finally came out about 300 pages or so but , in fact , it was maybe two and a quarter hours long , which wasn ' t too bad then or now for something that covered 10 years . but a legend started about how huge it was . when i saw it , i was appalled . i could only see what was missing and abruptly took my name off it . then when it won all the prizes , i sort of shamefacedly put my name back on it .
it was a quite painful experience and i think a very good film , but not as good a film as might have been made . one of the models for it was the film , yanks , which was a moment in history in particular culture perfectly captured . it had a lot more than the politics in it but , partly because of the budget and partly because of the length , it was pruned back to the politics . now , the politics was all there in the original but it was surrounding other things , such as the way people spent their christmases . that was removed .
and it was round about that time i became known as a contentious person who takes his name off the credits but has never really gone away .
but i ' ve become more philosophical and more chandleresque about it since . chandler said , correctly , that you have to be wearing your second - best suit , professionally speaking , to write screenplays . you must learn to care but not too much .
that was mine , and my wife wrote a bit of it , too . you needed the catholic thing because of the politics of the time . the overwhelming event of the 50s among those who remember it was the communist dissolution bill and the threat and , to some extent , the actuality of mccarthyism
in australia . so you needed the catholic thing and the soft option was to make the central character a catholic and to have an unyielding catholic wife . then you needed the characters to do something more than stay and simply posture over the 10 years . that ' s roughly what happened .
in my memory there was no particular model for the wife . it was written particularly for angela punch mcgregor
, who at the time was acting stark naked in our theatre and impressing us a great deal thereby from many angles . all the parts were written , more or less , for the people who played them . they were given the roles a bit reluctantly by noyce after finding that they did the best auditions - the haywood role was for haywood and the lorna leslie role was for lorna leslie . the hunter role wasn ' t initially for him , but once i saw him in backroads , i thought it ' s got to be him because he had that interesting thing of a ferocious clerk , the way you describe that character .
but it was not a work of passion , it was a work of research , casting , history and filling in between the existing bits of newsreel which we knew we were going to use and bits that weren ' t used but were intended to be used , like bradman ' s last test and the queen ' s first visit , the locust plagues . they were all originally written in . i ' m really fond of the original script . it ' s been a slow acceptance of what you can ' t do .
it was also the first australian film of overt political content and , therefore , it was a groundbreaker and , i think , gave permission for the eventual films of the dismissal , which went at it head - on , and true believers which i co - wrote , which dealt with the politics of precisely the same 1945 - 1955 period .
well , i don ' t know . i ' ve never seen true believers because they changed lots of it and i ' ve never looked at it . for some reason i think i live in the time about october 1951 . that ' s the place where i ' m most comfortable . i ' ve lately written a musical called man the musical , set in the offices of man magazine in 1951 and 1952 . and it wasn ' t until i lately saw , for the first time , out of the past with robert mitchum , that i thought , ` this is my country . this is my country town . those are my remembered women and school friends and heroes . ' so , somewhere in a country town in the 1950s is where i feel at home , so any subject set there suits me - like that very good film the settlement .
yes , it ' s a wonderful film . it ' s a great film . it ' s like a film that lawson never wrote but might have . it ' s sort of a menage a trois outside a country town . i like , particularly , the man played by tony barry . he waits for his wife outside while she goes to church . that ' s what my father did to my mother .
well , it was a strange thing . what happened was i was asked , for no good reason , to direct a film , a very cheap film , and to write it . and i said , ` well , why don ' t we do a film like my dinner with andre , in which we have a guided but improvised conversation between two interesting people who shall be john clarke and patrick cook , and we ' ll call it business lunch ' . they reckoned this was a good idea and the money , which was about $ 60 , 000 , was raised . all we basically had to do was set aside about three days and shoot it .
then clarke became iffy and wouldn ' t turn up and we found that there was no time in the calendar when he was actually available to do it . the time to spend the money under 10 ba was running out and the producer , rebel penfold - russell , said to me , ` can you write a script that ' s basically a two - hander that contains in the title either the word business or lunch ? ' so i thought of unfinished business , then remembered this idea i ' d had for a long time about the deliberate impregnation of a woman . and i thought , ` well , i ' ll shoot it here ' .
we were in fact in transition from here to a place in wahroonga ; so we had the use of a place in wahroonga and a place here in palm beach and a flat in bellevue hill . we used all three locations and wrote it for them . we thought of having this older husband , played by norman kaye , and asked norman to write and to perform the music as well , for a total of $ 1000 or something . and so it was confected - and it ' s one of the most enjoyable experiences i ever had . although the actor and the actress were both acting on stage - one was rehearsing in the daytime and the other was performing at night . the net result was that we ' d sometimes converge at midnight and begin shooting , which is about the worst thing you can do .
but it was wonderful . it took 11 days and i wish it had taken 13 . we would have got some more close - ups . but it was written in three days and the time between the beginning of the writing and the world premiere was three and a quarter months , which may be a world record . i ' ve always been very fond of it , particularly that lovely kind of marriage with those two gumnut babies , michelle fawdon and john clayton . they have this marsupial , cuddly quality . neither of them are particularly good - looking but they ' re very warm and , therefore , the effect , i think and believe , was very sexy and very sad . it was also to some extent a self - indulgence . i always loved peter dawson singing i ' ll walk beside you .
so it was just a happy convergence of preferences arrived at very suddenly under a whole lot of pressure , which is often the best way to work - as a lot of people will tell you , including the makers of casablanca .
it was one of the best scripts i ' ve ever written . we made the grave error of agreeing to let dimsey produce it and then the worse error of moving the whole thing to melbourne . so i was away from home . and there was this whole 10 ba set - up with shifty lawyers who , i didn ' t know , had kind of agreed to fire me at a certain point if i fulfilled certain expectations . which i didn ' t . but i got fired quite late in the day and then 64 laughs , by my count , were removed . it wasn ' t meant to be funny , but it was a viable experience .
i had yuri sokol shooting it . he ' s a wonderful cameraman but he ' s an awful bastard and he would sometimes light with candles . . . it was a nasty experience , as nasty as i ' ve experienced . so it really ditched me as a director . because it would have been - had my cut , which fortunately several people like al finney and bob weiss saw and said it would have been the best australian film - had my cut survived and been shown ( but it was burnt with our house ) , i would have then had a directing career not unlike that of , say , simon wincer where i would have had some credibility overseas and so on .
nostradamus kid was pitched to me as an idea by david putnam . he sold me the idea of my own life . it was quite an amazing experience , written against his impatience in 11 days in a shed that i rented two houses up , written out of memory and written with a great deal of anguish because i realised what a fool i ' d been all my life and i was continuing to be the same kind of fool in the same kind of ways . various people were going to direct it . cox was going to direct at one point . duigan was going to direct it . carl schultz was going to direct it . chris mcgill
was going to direct it and didn ' t . and by the time 1990 rolled around i was already a director and determined to do it myself . i put it in one chook raffle where it was narrowly knocked back and , then , a subsequent chook raffle where it was narrowly knocked back on the grounds that it didn ' t have an acceptable producer who would sit on me . then the next time around it was narrowly accepted - when i provided for the producer .
i didn ' t know noah taylor at the time and assumed he was wrong for the film until we auditioned a lot of kids and cast one . and then , correctly , the film finance commission said , ` look , he ' s okay but he probably won ' t last in the difficult business of charming the audience for the 98 minutes or whatever . please look further ' . and we called on noah . he was much less the sort of soft wimp that i ' d assumed , and it was one of the happiest experiences i ' ve ever had , working with him and those wonderful young actors .
the cut was less pleasant because we were deceived by the continuity girl and the long cut , which we fully expected to be 125 minutes , was 148 minutes . i thought i ' d have to kill myself but the editor said , ` no , let ' s make the best film we can and then defend it ' . it was very good advice . we did , and we had a wonderful film at about 124 minutes and an even better film at 122 minutes . then i pushed my luck , ` let ' s get it down under 2 hours ' . i didn ' t exactly stuff it but really hurt it in those last two and a half minutes that went . then a couple more shots were removed by the producer , and one of them , which involved the transition from the young noah to the old one , really hurt the ultimate effect .
then odd things happened . we had very bad distributors , beyond international , who insisted it go to cannes , which was ridiculous once it wasn ' t accepted for competition . then it was going to open in august , which was fine ; then , somehow , it ended up opening in october when all the kids who might have otherwise gone to see it were studying for exams and so on . so it didn ' t quite break out
it was dogged at every turn by the piano , which i both detest and resent because it is a conscienceless piece of american betrayal of a story that wasn ' t very good in the first place .
it was a little heightened , a little norman rockwellised , i think , but it reflected accurately my feelings of enduring affection and exasperation with the religion . they ' re quite wonderful people and they were right about many things like roughage , lung cancer , health foods and so on but so stupendously wrong about their central tenet , which was the imminent arrival of the vengeful christ . it ventilated those memories .
in one ' s early teens . i think mine dated from when i was either 13 or 14 - and there ' s that weird feeling you have of being entrapped in a moral system that ' s not only wrong but a little zany .
if it hadn ' t been written so ferociously fast and painfully , it wouldn ' t have been as good as it is . and if it hadn ' t been written in 1979 but had been written in , say , 1989 , a lot of the memory and a lot of the emotional recall would have been gone . the idea of mixing the two stories , which she knew of , was my wife ' s . i had never actually thought it . but she obviously picked on the notion that i wait impatiently in attendance on the end of the world .
it should ' ve been a nightmare . there were 192 scenes and we shot 194 . there were eight weeks and we used eight and a half . there were 50 different locations and a young cast , shooting desperately at all hours and magically warding off the rain . we had about an hour of rain during the whole shoot . if we ' d had three hours , there probably wouldn ' t have been enough strands to put the story together .
i sent up a copy to avondale . i was invited up to lecture them , and i did , on why i am an atheist . and it went down pretty well . then i sent up the film . i had a notion of either premiering it or having a special screening there or in an adjacent town , and they were horrified - or the principal of avondale college was - but an amazing number of ex - adventists and present adventists came up to me and expressed they were able to imagine their own youth and childhood . a lot of people of other religions , fundamentalist religions , salvation army , people like that , did much the same thing . the campground scenes really got to them for some reason . apparently everybody has been through that kind of organised outdoor hypocrisy .
apparently . in my days you couldn ' t go to the pictures and couldn ' t watch television unless it was a factual program . now it ' s all different . i don ' t know if you can dance , maybe you can . they used to say , ` ye are god ' s peculiar people ' - that ' s a terrible phrase . and the way you were barred from ordinary events , like playing cricket on saturday because it was saturday , going to the saturday afternoon matinees and dancing . . . it was quite awful . you knew you were special and you knew you were serving god ' s purpose and doing his work , but you just wanted to be with the others .
yes , and very persuasive . i still have dreams where the adventists are right and christ comes . the dream always ceases at the point where i ' m about to be condemned to eternal hellfire , but it ' s very persuasive and very sad . i ' m moved by the extent to which people wish unhappiness on themselves and on others . i do think masochism is a genuine human and universal emotion in a way that , say , gratitude is not . actual gratitude doesn ' t exist . i ' m sure guilt exists . i ' m sure gratitude is a manufactured emotion . but masochism is a very strong thing and it afflicts the current generation of vegetarians and bodybuilders and people who won ' t lose their temper for any cause , and all these new ethics .
well , i knew she was innocent from the start because adventists don ' t tell lies like that . there ' s almost an edict in the mind to own up to something you ' ve done wrong and , when she decided rather to go to jail for 20 years than to admit guilt and get off with a warning - which is what she did - it ' s clear that she was innocent . but what it unleashed was a kind of witch - hunting , a witches of salem kind of thing , which was very ugly . it showed how the desire to persecute the out group is very strong in any society .
my interpretation of it was that the fiercest pursuers of lindy were women who themselves had had abortions . they were projecting their guilt on to her , truly wanting to hang her . i think that ' s perceptive . i wanted to write the film , obviously , and schepisi talked to me . but he then felt i ' d be too close and went , perhaps correctly , to caswell . but it was a very good film , i thought , and it was schepisi ' s greatest grief that he had to cut 15 minutes out of it . those dinner party scenes were much longer and her time in jail was much longer . it looks like she went to jail for the weekend . but he had the choice of not getting a release and cutting out 15 minutes and he mourned - i ' d love to have seen the longer version . it ' s one of the very few projects that was a much more natural mini - series than a film . judy davis rejected the role of lindy , would you believe - she ' s a fool on the grounds that she ' d already played an adventist in hoodwink . she would have been superb . not that streep wasn ' t fine , as she always is , but on the other hand judy has that manic intensity of lindy .
oh , he ' s a swine . well , in brief , we wrote man of flowers in nine hours , my first wife in a day and a half . i mean , he wouldn ' t tolerate working for any longer . i ' d write scenes in the dialogue form and he ' d take them away and that was it . then he would , in his view , improvise magnificently on the set , go through sleepless agonies and all that and i ' d say , ` you don ' t have to do it like this , cox . we could spend four weeks writing a film and it would be really good , believe me it would be really good ' . no , no , he never believes me . of course , the insufficiency of many of his subsequent films has shown this insane process of his . the best film he made was lonely hearts and it had a producer , a director , a script editor , you know , the usual apparatus and , of course , it ' s a full and wonderful film . his other ones are like brief , infinitely prolonged screams or sonatas or something . . .
there was a point in australian history when half the population were irish and that must mean that something close to half the population is of irish or part irish descent . i mean , they multiply so thoroughly . it ' s not till i got to ireland itself and saw australian faces staring from behind every bar and down every street corner and all these names which i thought were restricted to australian politicians up and down the streets that i realised how irish we are . i think it ' s probably true to say that australia is something close to being the first agnostic society on earth , with the expectation of catholicism which was , as it were , the loyal opposition to the agnosticism which prevailed .