The Great Macarthy

(1975)

The Great Macarthy is a 1975 Aussie Rules comedy about country football star McCarthy (John Jarratt on debut) who is recruited to play football in the big leagues by the South Melbourne Swans. In the country, he worked in his dad's garage as a mechanic. In the city, he is well looked after, given an office job, which is basically a token position. And he soon becomes the star player at full forward. Then he starts taking night classes and he meets his teacher Miss Russell (Judy Morris), a cultured professional. He falls for her hard, but things don't go as planned and they break up. McCarthy moves on, but she is still in the back of his mind even when he quickly marries Andrea (Kate Fitzpatrick), the ballsy daughter of the club's owner Col Ball-Miller (Barry Humphries, criminally underused). And quickly divorces. McCarthy then loses his love for the game, but who knows, maybe Miss Russell will help him find it. The Great Macarthy is a bizarre relic that is a rare example of Aussie Rules on the big screen (I think The Club and Australian Rules are the only others). The movie is all over the place. It places itself as a bawdy comedy, but anytime Judy Morris' cultured character is on screen, the film almost turns into an arthouse love story which doesn't fit at all. Most of the comedy is pretty crass and dated, but there's a laugh or two. The footy scenes are a mix of acting and real live action with a lookalike playing McCarthy and the footage is really good, so is the incorporation of the League Teams crew (although Jack Dyer is strangely missing from the film, but appears in the trailer...). Max Gilles plays two different characters who look exactly the same, which is just out and out baffling. Barry Humphries' character probably seemed funnier on paper, which is a shame. But, there's one thing that amused me unintentionally and that is McCarthy wears the number 39 and plays full forward for the Swans just like a rather flamboyant show-off (who admittedly could play) in the 80s named Warwick Capper, who was the Great McCarthy of his day (as the tag line says, 'He's footy's most forward full forward'). Now, that is a bizarre coincidence.

Judy Morris film clips (collages below)