The Dish (2000)

Director:

Rob Sitch

Writers:

Santo Cilauro (conceived and written by) &
Tom Gleisner (conceived and written by) ...

Release Date:

27 April 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Man's first step on the moon nearly stumbled on earth

Plot:

A remote Australian antenna, populated by quirky characters, plays a key role in the first Apollo moon landing.

Plot Keywords:

NASA | Satellite Dish | Australia | Moon Walk | Space

Awards:

3 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Sam Neill	...	Cliff Buxton
Billy Mitchell	...	Cameron
Roz Hammond	...	Miss Nolan
Christopher-Robin Street	...	Damien
Luke Keltie	...	Graeme
Naomi Wright	...	Melanie
Ben Wright-Smith	...	Nicholas
Beverley Dunn	...	Secretary (voice)
Grant Thompson	...	Mr. Callen
Bille Brown	...	Prime Minister
Bernard Curry	...	Newspaper Reporter
Kevin Harrington	...	Ross 'Mitch' Mitchell
Tom Long	...	Glenn Latham
Patrick Warburton	...	Al Burnett
Roy Billing	...	Mayor Robert 'Bob' McIntyre

Also Known As:

Het länk till månen (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Kuuma linkki kuuhun (Finland) [fi]
L'antenne (Canada: French title) [fr]
La luna en directo (Spain) [es]
Müholdvevö a birkák közt (Hungary) [hu]
The Dish (Italy) [it]
The Dish (France) [fr]
The Dish - Verloren im Weltall (Germany) [de]
To fengari sto piato (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

Runtime:

101 min | France:97 min (DVD)

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Netherlands:12 | Italy:T | Australia:M | Chile:TE | France:U | Germany:6 | Spain:T | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Crawford Productions, Box Hill, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Company:

Working Dog

Trivia:

This movie is actually based on a true story, the name of the real director of the Parkes antenna was Dr. John Bolton.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Although shown as such out the window of the antenna control room, the Moon was never full during the Apollo 11 mission.

Quotes:

[Giving oral presentations]
Student: I haven't done the moon landing, Miss.
Teacher: Thank God.

Movie Connections:

References "Hawaii Five-O" (1968)

Soundtrack:

Guitar Heaven

An opportunity to use the word "nice" in a positive way.

As with all "true story" movies, I have no idea how much of this is actually true - particularly in relation to the crises just before the actual moonwalk. But frankly, I don't care, because "The Dish" as a movie is a splendid experience.

Being heavily promoted as "from the makers of 'The Castle' " may get a few extra punters in the door - particularly here in Australia where the exploits of the Working Dog team are rightly well known and loved; but those expecting "The Castle 2" will be in for a surprise.

But a pleasant one. This film is much more ambitious, much larger in scope. As is to be expected, the writing here is very sharp - a likeable group of characters are defined very well very quickly, the simple plot flows smoothly, and there is a constant stream of funny (and some downright hilarious) moments. Much of the humour is distinctly Aussie, and much of it arises from the culture clash between the locals and the visiting Americans. Yet despite this, the film does not stoop to the level of "Ocker cliché" which plagues several other Australian films. There is a core of simple humanity here which makes it very engaging. It is for this reason also that I think the film will play very well in other countries.

The cast is also very impressive, from the habitually sound Sam Neill, who projects an immense dignity, and Patrick Warburton as the pressured NASA official sent to oversee the operation, right down to the Mayor's son, reeling off technical details of the spacecraft to his bemused dad. It is a credit to the cast, and to Rob Sitch as a director that I was rarely aware that I was watching a film, I was simply drawn into the experience.

Those, like me, who wanted to be an Astronaut when they were little, and maintained an interest in the space program, will enjoy seeing the famous footage again in a new light. Those looking for a comedy will find many laughs herein. Those curious to understand the nature of being Australian will find some clues. And those just looking for a film to make them feel good could do much much worse. In short, "The Dish" is one of those rare movies which will appeal to pretty much everyone. I can't really think of any serious criticisms, and left the cinema feeling... well, "nice". I have no doubt it will play well in Australia, but I also hope it does well overseas too, in the US and elsewhere. I'd recommend it to everyone I know, and everyone else.

When this one comes out on DVD I'll be getting a copy, and it'll be going straight to the pool room!