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:

Small Town | Space | Apollo 11 | Australia | Blackout

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

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

Filming Locations:

Crawford Productions, Box Hill, Victoria, Australia

Company:

Dish Film Ltd.

Trivia:

Visa d'exploitation en France : # 1O4714. MPAA certificate # 38002.

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:

Cliff Buxton: We stuffed?
Glenn Latham: Yep. We're stuffed.

Movie Connections:

References "Hawaii Five-O" (1968)

Soundtrack:

Hawaii Five-O

What a Pleasant Surprise...

Once and a while a true surprise comes along. A film that is pleasantly surprising and enjoyable. Well, that's what "The Dish" is. It never takes itself too serious and never takes itself too lightly. It is just right.

It is centered around the true story of the largest satellite dish in the world, found in the middle of a sheep paddock in Australia. The dish, at one time, broadcasted the Apollo 11 moon landing to the world, and this is the story of the problems the men who ran the dish went through.

Sam Neill and Patrick Warburton lead the group of four that manage the dish; the characters are all nice and pleasant and likable. No one is unlikable in this film.

Sam Neill is a great actor; I've liked him in films since "Dead Calm," but my real respect for his performances rose after he brought Dr. Allen Grant to life in "Jurassic Park."

Patrick Warburton, in my opinion, is one of the most underrated comedic actors in Hollywood. He always gets throwaway roles ("MIIB," "Big Trouble," et cetera, et cetera, etc...), but in this film he gets a leading role (sorta) and handles it excellently. He proves he really can act--serious or comedic--in films.

One thing that is so nice about "The Dish" is that it doesn't try to really prove anything extremely memorable. It's not trying to be the next big hit. It sticks to the facts while presenting some great actors and a twist of humor. And because of this, it is, possibly, one of the most pleasant film experiences I've had in recent years. Sometimes it's nice to sit back, relax and just watch a movie.

4/5 stars -

John Ulmer