Nino Culotta is an Italian immigrant, newly arrived in Australia. He expected to work for his cousin as a sports writer for an Italian language magazine. However, on arrival in Sydney, Nino discovers that the cousin has abandoned the magazine, leaving a substantial debt to Kay Kelly. Nino declares that he will get a job and pay back the debt. Working as a labourer Nino becomes mates with his co-workers, despite some difficulties with Australian slang and culture of the 1960s. Nino endeavours to understand the aspirational values and social rituals of everyday urban Australians, and assimilate. A romantic attraction builds between Nino and Kay despite her frosty exterior and her conservative Irish father's dislike of Italians. A tone of mild racism exists in the film between Anglo-Saxon/Anglo-Irish characters such as Kay Kelly's dad Harry and Nino. Harry says he doesn't like writers, brickies or. Nino is all three. But this is undermined when Nino, sitting in the Kelly house notices a picture of the pope on the wall. Nino says "If I am a dago, then so is he". Realising the impossibility of referring to the pope by that derogatory term, Harry gives in.
John O'Grady, the author of the novel, makes a cameo appearance as the grey-bearded drinker in the pub in the opening sequence of the film.
Alida Chelli was the girlfriend of Walter Chiari, but almost did not get the part because she was thought to be too glamorous and might have upstaged Claire Dunne.
Production
Development
They're a Weird Mob was optioned in 1959 by Gregory Peck but he could not come up with a workable screenplay. Michael Powell first read the novel in London in 1960 and wanted to turn it into a film but Peck had the rights. Powell obtained them three years later and brought in his long-time collaborator Emeric Pressburger, who wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym "Richard Imrie."
Finance
The film was one of a series of movies financed together by Rank and the NFFC. £166,925 of the budget came from the NFFC and Rank, the rest from the production company Williamson-Powell International Films.
Casting
had previously visited Australia during the filming of On the Beach, which starred his then-girlfriend Ava Gardner. Claire Dunne was working as a weather girl when cast in the female lead. It was one of the last acting roles from Muriel Steinbeck.
Shooting
The film started filming in October 1965 and was shot at a number of locations in the area of Sydney:
"The House That Nino Built" is located at 128 Greenacre Road in Greenacre, a suburb of Sydney. The actors dug trenches, poured concrete, laid bricks and so on, and it was then finished professionally and sold to raise funds for The Royal Life Saving Society. The stars' footprints were set in concrete slabs in the pathway.
Punchbowl railway station, where Nino is picked up by Joe prior to his first day at work has changed over the years. In a previous configuration it was possible to park a vehicle virtually at the bottom of the northern steps.
The film has been credited with the revival of the moribund Australian film industry, which led to the Australian "New Wave" films of the 1970s.
Box office
They're a Weird Mob grossed $2,417,000 at the box office in Australia, which is equivalent to $26,127,770 in 2009 dollars. However it performed poorly outside Australia. The NFFC reported its overseas earnings on the film as £207,821. In 1968 John McCallum wrote that of the $2 million the film had then earned, only $400,000 had been returned to the film-makers. A behind-the-scenes documentary was shot called The Story of the Making of 'They're a Weird Mob'.
DVD
The film has been released on Region 4 DVD by Roadshow. The DVD includes a TV special, "The Story of Making the Film They're a Weird Mob" as well as a picture gallery, theatrical trailer and optional subtitles. The film has been released on Region 2 DVD by Opening in the Les films de ma vie series. The DVD has fixed French subtitles for the original English soundtrack.
