Blue Fin
Blue Fin is a 1978 Australian family film directed by Carl Schultz and starring Hardy Krüger, Greg Rowe and Elspeth Ballantyne.[3] It is based on an Australian novel written by Colin Thiele and published in 1969.
| Blue Fin | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Carl Schultz |
| Produced by | Hal McElroy |
| Written by | Sonia Borg |
| Based on | novel by Colin Thiele |
| Starring | Hardy Krüger Greg Rowe Elspeth Ballantyne |
| Music by | Michael Carlos |
| Cinematography | Geoff Burton |
| Edited by | Rod Adamson |
Production company | South Australian Film Corporation McElroy and McElroy |
| Distributed by | Pacific International Enterprises |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | AU $750,000[1] |
| Box office | AU $703,000 (Australia)[2] |
Plot
Based on the children's novel by South Australian author 'Colin Thiele', this is a father and son story about tuna fishing of Southern Blue Fin tuna in South Australia's Port Lincoln 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
- Elspeth Ballantyne as Mrs. Pascoe
- John Jarratt as Sam Snell
- Hugh Keays-Byrne as Stan
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.[4]
The film was shot in Streaky Bay in mid 1978. [5]
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, 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.[4] Schultz was supportive of Beresford stepping in but was unhappy with the fact he supervised the final re-cut.[6]
Proposed Remake
In 2017 it was announced the movie would be remade.[7]
DVD release
A DVD was released on 1 January 2003.
References
- Greg Kerr, "Blue Fin", Australian Film 1978-1992, Oxford Uni Press 1993 p15
- Australian Films at the Box Office - Report to Film Victoria Archived 9 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine accessed 5 October 2012
- Blue Fin (1978) Archived 4 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p271-272
- "How the little town of Streaky Bay got into films". The Australian Women's Weekly. Australia. 27 September 1978. p. 50. Retrieved 23 June 2020 – via Trove.
- Peter Beilby & Rod Bishop, "Carl Schultz", Cinema Papers, Jan-Feb 1979 p242
- Treloar, Casey (28 September 2017). "Port Lincoln setting for new Colin Thiele Blue Fin film". Port Lincoln Times.
External links
- Blue Fin at IMDb
- Blue Fin at Oz Movies
- Blue Fin at the National Film and Sound Archive
- Blue Fin at Screen Australia
- Blue Fin at The New York Times
- Pacific International Enterprises