The Great Macarthy

The Great Macarthy is a 1975 comedy about Australian rules football. It was an adaptation of the novel A Salute to the Great Macarthy by Barry Oakley. It stars John Jarratt as the title character in his film debut as a local footballer who is signed up or more appropriately, kidnapped by the South Melbourne Football Club now Sydney Swans. It also stars Barry Humphries and Judy Morris. It was released at a time when Australian films were starting to reemerge. It was not very successful despite its high profile cast.

MacArthy and Andrea get married but then divorce. MacArthy goes on strike to claim the family four tine.David Baker was an emerging director who was interested in Barry Oakleys novel. Richard Brennan optioned it for him and they agreed to make the film together, hiring playwright John Romeril to do the adaptation. According to Brennan, Romerils second draft was fantastic but later drafts included too much sex and slapstick to make it more like other successful Australian films at the time such as The Adventures of Barry McKenzie and Alvin Purple. ........

Source: Wikipedia