''Fatty Finn'' is a 1980 Australian film, directed by Maurice Murphy and starring

Ben Oxenbould Ben Oxenbould is an Australian actor and comedian. His brother Jamie Oxenbould is also an actor, as is Jamie's son, Ed Oxenbould. Early career He was educated at North Sydney Boys High School. In 1980, Oxenbould was cast as "Hubert 'Fatty' F ...

with

Rebecca Rigg Rebecca Rigg is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles in television and film. She started out as a child actor in '' Fatty Finn'' (1980), and was later featured in the films ''Hunting'' (1991), ''Spotswood'' (1992) and '' Ellie P ...

. It is based on the 1930s cartoon-strip character, ''

Fatty Finn ''Fatty Finn'' was a popular long-run Australian comic strip series, created in 1923 by Syd Nicholls. It ran in Syndication agency, syndication until the creator's death in 1977. History In 1923 Syd Nicholls, a senior artist at Sydney's ''Evenin ...

'', created by

Syd Nicholls Sydney 'Syd' Wentworth Nicholls (20 December 18963 June 1977) was an Australian cartoonist and commercial artist, best known for the long-running comic strip ''Fatty Finn''. Biography Syd Nicholls was born in Frederick Henry Bay, Tasmania on ...

and is loosely based on the 1927 silent film, ''

The Kid Stakes ''The Kid Stakes'' is a 1927 Australian silent black and white comedy film written and directed by Tal Ordell. The screenplay is based on characters created by Syd Nicholls in his comic strip, ''Fatty Finn''. Plot summary Fatty Finn ( Robin 'Po ...

''.

Plot

Set in inner-city

Woolloomooloo Woolloomooloo ( ) is a harbourside, inner-city eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1.5 kilometres east of the central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is in a low-lying, former dockla ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in 1930, the neighbourhood nice guys are led by Fatty (real name Hubert Finn), an ambitious 10-year-old with an eye for making a quid. From shady frog jumping contests to a fixed goat race, Fatty uses his enterprise to raise enough money to buy a crystal set (radio without a separate power supply) that's worth seventeen shillings & sixpence (17/6), more than his Dad is able to save up in a year. Bruiser Murphy the bully and his gang try to stop him. Fatty uses his brains against his enemies' brawn to eventually triumph.

Cast

as Hubert 'Fatty' Finn *

as Tilly * Jeremy Larsson as Headlights * Martin Lewis as Skeet * Hugo Grieve as Seasy * Sandy Leask as Lolly Legs * Greg Kelly as Bruiser Murphy * Christopher Norton as Snootle *

Bert Newton Albert Watson Newton (23 July 1938 – 30 October 2021) was an Australian media personality. He was a Logie Hall of Fame inductee, quadruple Gold Logie–winning entertainer, and radio, theatre and television personality and compère. Ne ...

as John Finn *

Noni Hazlehurst Leonie Elva "Noni" Hazlehurst is an Australian actress, director, writer, presenter, and broadcaster who has appeared on television and radio, in dramas, mini-series, and made for television films, as well also on stage and in feature films ...

as Myrtle Finn *

Gerard Kennedy Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ca ...

as Tiger Murphy *

Su Cruickshank Susan Cruickshank (31 August 1946 – 8 December 2009) was an Australian jazz singer, actress and writer. She was regarded as one of the finest female jazz singers in Australian history. Early life Cruickshank was born in Newcastle, New South Wa ...

as Mrs Murphy *

Lorraine Bayly Lorraine Daphne Bayly AM (born 16 January 1937) is an Australian retired actress of film, television and theatre, narrator, presenter, singer, dancer, pianist and theatre director, stage manager and writer. Bayly has been a performer since s ...

as Maggie McGrath *

Bill Young William, Will, Bill or Billy Young may refer to: Arts and entertainment * William Young (composer) (died 1662), English composer and viola da gambist * William Young (architect) (1843–1900), Scottish architect, designer of Glasgow City Chambe ...

as Officer Claffey *

Ross Higgins Ross Higgins (14 June 1930 – 7 October 2016) was an Australian vaudevillian, character actor, television host, comedian, singer and voice actor. He was best known for his role as Ted Bullpitt in the 1980s television situation comedy seri ...

as Radio Announcer *

Peter Rowley Peter Rowley (sometimes credited as Harrison Rowley during his early career) (born 29 April 1952) is a New Zealand comic actor and writer. He is best known for his television roles, where he has played in numerous popular television series as co ...

as Chauffeur * Frank Wilson as Lord Mayor *

Henri Szeps Henri Szeps () (born October 2, 1943), also spelled Henry Szeps, is a Swiss-born Australian character actor of theatre and television. He has also featured in films and worked in voice roles, and has worked in productions in the United Kingdom. ...

as Mr Zilch * Peter Carroll as Teacher

Production

Screenwriter

Bob Ellis Robert James Ellis (10 May 1942 – 3 April 2016) was an Australian journalist, screenwriter, playwright, filmmaker, and political commentator. He lived in Sydney with author and screenwriter Anne Brooksbank; they had three children. Early ye ...

says it was his idea to make the film. He complained about interference from the film's producers, John Sexton and

Yoram Gross Yoram Jerzy Gross (18 October 192621 September 2015) was a Polish-born, Australian film and television producer, animation director, and writer of children's and family entertainment. He founded the animation studio Flying Bark Productions. ...

, claiming Sexton in particular wanted a lot of changes, but changed his mind after

David Puttnam David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam, CBE, HonFRSA, HonFRPS, MRIA (; born 25 February 1941), is a British-Irish film producer, educator, environmentalist and former member of the House of Lords. His productions include '' Chariots of Fire' ...

praised Ellis' original draft. He later said of the film that "all the performances are dreadful, the conspicuous exception being Bert Newton's." Of the $350,000 budget, $120,000 came from the

Australian Film Commission The Australian Film Commission (AFC) was an Australian government agency was founded in 1975 with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a product ...

. The movie was set in Woolloomooloo but the area had changed a lot since then so was shot in and around

Glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

. Filming took place in January and February 1980.David Stratton, ''The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry'', Pan MacMillan, 1990 p343

Reception

Box office

''Fatty Finn'' grossed $1,064,000 at the box office in Australia.

Awards

The film was nominated for seven

Australian Film Institute Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industr ...

in 1981 winning in the categories of 'Best Achievement in Costume Design' and 'Best Original Music Score'.

References

External links

*
''Fatty Finn''
at Oz Movies
Fatty Finn at the National Film & Sound Archive''Fatty Finn''
at Peter Malone {{AACTAAward BestMusicScore 1980-1999 1980 films Australian fantasy comedy films 1980s fantasy comedy films Films based on Australian comics Films set in the 1930s Live-action films based on comics Films set in Sydney 1980s English-language films Films directed by Maurice Murphy English-language fantasy comedy films