''The Great Macarthy'' is a 1975 comedy about

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

. It was an adaptation of the 1970 novel '' A Salute to the Great McCarthy'' by

Barry Oakley Barry Kingham Oakley (born 24 February 1931)''Who's Who in Australia'' (2010) is an Australian writer.Luke Slattery"10 questions: Barry Oakley, author, 81"''The Australian'', 15 December 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2016.- Graeme Blundell"Wittily i ...

. It stars John Jarratt as the title character (in his film debut) as a local footballer playing for

Kyneton Kyneton ( ) is a town in the Macedon Ranges region of central Victoria, Australia. The Calder Freeway bypasses Kyneton to the north and east. The town has three main streets: Mollison Street, Piper Street and High Street. Piper Street has ...

, who is signed up (or more appropriately, kidnapped) by the South Melbourne Football Club (now

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

). It also stars

Barry Humphries John Barry Humphries (17 February 1934 – 22 April 2023) was an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He was best known for writing and playing his stage and television characters Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He appeare ...

and

Judy Morris Judith Ann Morris (born 17 February 1947) is an Australian character actress, as well as a film director and screenwriter, well known for the variety of roles she played in 58 different television shows and films, starting her career as a child ...

. It was released at a time of resurgence in Australian cinema but was not very successful despite its high-profile cast, including many well-known footy personalities.

Plot

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

Cast

* John Jarratt as MacArthy *

as Miss Russell * Kate Fitzpatrick as Andrea *Sandy Macgregor as Vera *

as Colonel Ball-Miller * John Frawley as Webster *Colin Croft as Tranter *

Chris Haywood Chris Haywood (born ) is an English-born Australian actor, writer and producer, with close to 500 screen performances to his name. Haywood has also worked as a casting director, art director, sound recordist, camera operator, gaffer, grip, lo ...

as Warburton *Colin Drake as Ackerman * Ron Frazer as Twentyman * Max Gillies as Stan * Dennis Miller as MacGuinness *

Lou Richards Lewis Thomas Charles "Lou" Richards (15 March 1923 – 8 May 2017) was an Australian rules footballer who played 250 games for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1941 and 1955. He captained the team f ...

as Lou Arnold * Jack Dyer as Jack Diehard *Jim Bowles as Les *

Bruce Spence Bruce Robert Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand-born Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre. Career Spence won an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in the 197 ...

as Bill Dean * Peter Cummins as Rerk * Vivean Gray as Mrs. Thompson * Doug Elliot as Team Manager * Frank Wilson as Mayer *

Maurie Fields Maurice Fields (born Maurice Sheil, 4 August 1926 – 18 December 1995) was an Australian vaudeville performer, actor and stand-up comedian. Career Fields became a well-known face on television first thanks to his comic sketches on live progra ...

as Company Director * Bob Davis as Broadcaster (with Lou Richards) *

Jon Finlayson Jon Douglas Finlayson (23 March 1938–12 September 2012) was an Australian stage and screen character actor, radio performer, writer, director, producer and singer Early life Jon Finlayson was born in Coburg, Victoria to Clorine and Ron Finl ...

as Vincent * Walter Pym

Production

David Baker was an emerging director who was interested in Barry Oakley's novel. Richard Brennan optioned it for him and they agreed to make the film together, hiring playwright John Romeril to do the adaptation. According to Brennan, Romeril's second draft was "fantastic" but later drafts included too much sex and slapstick to make it more like other successful Australian films at the time such as '' The Adventures of Barry McKenzie'' and '' Alvin Purple''.David Stratton, ''The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival'', Angus & Robertson, 1980 p223-224 Phillip Adams later claimed he always knew the film would struggle "because of its idiosyncratic and complex nature".Gordon Glenn & Scott Murray, "Phil Adams: Producer", ''Cinema Papers'', March–April 1976 p343 The film was shot in mid 1974. Half the budget was provided by the Australian Film Development Corporation. As he looked like Jarratt, South Melbourne player Garry Scott doubled for the star in the match long shots.

Release

The film performed poorly critically and at the box office.

References

External links

*
''The Great Macarthy'' at the National Film and Sound Archive''The Great Macarthy''
at Oz Movies {{DEFAULTSORT:Great Macarthy, The 1975 films 1970s sports comedy films Films based on Australian novels Australian rules football films Australian sports comedy films Films scored by Bruce Smeaton Australian slapstick films 1975 comedy films 1970s English-language films Films directed by David Baker English-language sports comedy films