''Blue Fin'' is a 1978 Australian

family film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that generally relates to children in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are made ...

directed by Carl Schultz and starring Hardy Krüger, Greg Rowe and

Elspeth Ballantyne Elspeth Ballantyne (born 1939) is a retired Australian actress, who appeared in theatre, television and film roles over a career that spanned nearly 60 years, a veteran of the industry having started her career as a child actor and becoming a ...

. It is based on a 1969 Australian novel written by Colin Thiele.

Plot

Based on the children's novel by

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n author Colin Thiele, this is a father and son story about tuna fishing of Southern Blue Fin tuna in South Australia's

Port Lincoln Port Lincoln is a city on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of South Australia. Known as Galinyala by the traditional owners, the Barngarla people, it is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, ...

fishing district. Accident-prone son Snook is forever making mistakes much to the chagrin of his father Pascoe. But when tragedy strikes the fishing boat during a deep sea fishing trek in the Southern Ocean, the boy is called on to become a man in a rites of sea passage to reconcile his past mishaps and save both his father and the ship from certain disaster. Twelve-year-old Steve Pascoe is nicknamed 'Snook' by everyone in Port Lincoln. He's thin and long-faced, like the fish he's named after. At school he's no good at sport and, at home, his father scorns him. Snook joins his father and fellow crewmen on a tuna-fishing expedition, when disaster strikes. It is up to Snook to save himself and his father from a desperate situation.

Cast

* Hardy Krüger as Bill Pascoe * Greg Rowe as Steve "Snook" Pascoe * Liddy Clark as Ruth Pascoe *

as Mrs. Pascoe * John Jarratt as Sam Snell * Hugh Keays-Byrne as Stan *

George Spartels George Bernard Spartels (born 25 April 1954) is an Australian actor, presenter, director, playwright and children's musician of Greek descent on his father's ancestry, and English and Irish on his mother's. He remains best known for his role ...

as Con * John Frawley *

Terry Camilleri Terrance Camilleri (born 7 November 1949) is a Maltese-born Australian actor who has performed actively in both the United Kingdom and United States. He is best recognised for portraying Emperor Napoleon I in the blockbuster comedy film '' Bi ...

as Truckie

Production

The film is an unofficial follow up to '' Storm Boy'' (1976) with the same writer and star, also adapted from a Colin Thiele novel. The South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) did not want to use Henri Safran as director, though, so employed another director from the ABC, Carl Schultz.David Stratton, ''The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival'',

Angus & Robertson Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature.Alison, Jennifer (2001). "Publishers and editors: A ...

, 1980 p271-272 The film was shot in Streaky Bay in mid 1978.

Reshoots

During post production editor Rod Adamson claimed the film would not cut together. Five weeks after filming had completed, Schultz had to leave the film to take up a directing job at the ABC. Accordingly, Matt Carroll of the SAFC called in

Bruce Beresford Bruce Beresford (; born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director, opera director, screenwriter, and producer. He began his career during the Australian New Wave, and has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally ...

, who was under contract to them, to re-shoot some sequences. Some of these had to be done using a body double for Hardy Kruger since he had returned to Europe. Schultz was supportive of Beresford stepping in but was unhappy with the fact he supervised the final re-cut.Peter Beilby & Rod Bishop, "Carl Schultz", ''Cinema Papers'', Jan-Feb 1979 p242

Proposed Remake

In 2017 it was announced the movie would be remade.

DVD release

A DVD was released on 1 January 2003.

References

External links

* *
''Blue Fin''
at Oz Movies
''Blue Fin''
at the National Film & Sound Archive
Blue Fin
at

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

''Blue Fin''
at the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''
Pacific International Enterprises
{{portalbar, Novels, Children's literature 1978 films 1978 drama films 1978 independent films Australian drama films Australian independent films Films about fishing Films based on Australian novels Films directed by Carl Schultz Films set in South Australia Australian survival films Australian novels adapted into films 1978 directorial debut films 1970s English-language films Works by Colin Thiele English-language independent films