They're a Weird Mob

Clip 2: ‘Why don’t you go back to your own bloody country’

Taken from the feature They're a Weird Mob (1966)

Original title classification G – this clip chosen to be G

Curator’s clip description

A drunken Anglo-Australian (Keith Petersen) abuses an Italian migrant family on a Sydney ferry. Nino Culotta (Walter Chiari) watches in discomfort.

Curator’s notes

The scene is nicely balanced between slapstick comedy and harsh truth, laced with irony. Migrants in the 1950s and ‘60s in Australia were often subjected to torrents of abuse such as these. Powell lets the scene run until it’s not remotely funny, even allowing compassion for the drunkard.

Paul Byrnes, curator

Teachers’ notes

provided by The Le@rning Federation

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This clip shows a drunk man (Keith Peterson) on a ferry, verbally abusing a family of Italian passengers. He is watched by other passengers, including Nino Culotta (Walter Chiari). The drunk man staggers about, complaining about ‘dagos’, and tells the Italians to get off the ferry. Nino speaks to the family in Italian, which surprises the drunk man, who then sits down beside Nino, perplexed. The drunk man claims he is a war veteran and prepares to physically attack the Italians, but ends up falling off the ferry himself. The clip ends as he is thrown a lifebuoy.

Educational value points

The clip provides a vignette of common Australian attitudes of the time, as interpreted by British filmmaker Michael Powell, a keen observer of social mores. The drunk man voices attitudes towards migrants that were widely held in the 1950s and 60s.

These attitudes illustrate one of the shifting waves of Australian racism in the second half of the 20th century, directed first towards post-Second World War European migrants and later towards South-East Asian immigrants and, more recently, towards migrants and refugees from Middle Eastern countries. Racism in Australia is based on a distrust and rejection of ‘difference’.

The character of the drunk man, who shows no respect for Italians’ rights to maintain the culture and language of their country of origin, could be read as illustrating the assimilationist policies of the Australian Government throughout the middle and second half of the 20th century. Under these policies migrants were expected to give up any customs that set them apart from mainstream Australian society. Migrants’ rights to maintain their own culture and language were only recognised in the 1970s, with the advent of multiculturalism. The debate about multiculturalism versus assimilation is a continuing one, however, and is often revived in the wake of specific racial tensions within the community.

Although They’re a Weird Mob has been criticised for making Nino’s assimilation look too easy, the clip illustrates some of the difficulties faced by immigrants in seeking to be accepted into Australian society. Between the late 1940s and 2006, more than 6 million migrants from more than 200 countries came to Australia. In the 1960s, their arrival coincided with a surge of Australian nationalism as the idea of an Australian identity, as distinctly different from that of Britain, was beginning to be acknowledged.

They’re a Weird Mob is an important Australian film and was based on the best-selling book by John O’Grady, published in 1957. It was a huge local hit, earning $2 million. The first Australian film to be made in 7 years, its success meant that the Australian Government was pressed to provide money for further film funding. They’re a Weird Mob is sometimes credited with reviving the Australian film industry.

The film is an example of the work of famous British filmmaker Michael Powell (1905–90). During his career, Powell made more than 50 feature films, often in collaboration with writer Emeric Pressburger. The two films that Powell made in Australia, They’re a Weird Mob (1966) and The Age of Consent (1969) are seen as precursors to the hit Australian comedies of the late 20th century. Powell, one of the great filmmakers of the 20th century, is notable for his sharp wit and incisive social criticism, both of which are evident in They’re a Weird Mob. His most famous films include Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948) and A Matter of Life and Death (1946).

The clip showcases the work of Italian actor Walter Chiari in the role of Nino Culotta. Chiari was an experienced actor, having appeared in many Italian comedies as a suave leading man. His considerable charm and ingenuous receptivity to Australian life in this role are often presented as reasons for They’re a Weird Mob’s success.