Mr. Reliable | |
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Directed by | Nadia Tass |
Written by | Don Catchlove Terry Hayes |
Produced by | Jim McElroy |
Starring | Colin Friels |
Distributed by | PolyGram Filmed Entertainment |
Release dates |
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Running time | 112 minutes |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Box office | $266,329 (Australia)) [1] |
Mr. Reliable (also known as My Entire Life [2] ) is a 1996 film directed by Nadia Tass based on the true story of the Wally Mellish siege, starring Colin Friels and Jacqueline McKenzie. [3] It is the second film to be inspired by Mellish's story, after 1993's Shotgun Wedding .
In 1968, Wally Mellish has just been released from Long Bay Jail, moving into a new house in the Sydney suburb of Glenfield with his girlfriend, Beryl, and her baby. Police arrive at their door to question Mellish about some car thefts in the area, to which he responds by firing off a warning shot with his shotgun. A misunderstanding leads the police to believe that Beryl and the child are being held hostage. The matter quickly escalates to the Police Commissioner and the New South Wales Premier, then becomes a media circus. All are expecting an "American-style" siege situation, and the NSW Police are keen to publicly display their patience with Mellish having recently been accused of excessive force while handling protests against the Vietnam War.
Negotiations follow over the next eight days. He demands to be allowed to marry Beryl, and a prison chaplain is sent in alongside police to officiate a small ceremony inside the house. Meanwhile, a growing number of people gather outside Mellish's house in support as he becomes a folk hero in Australian culture. Eventually, the police offer him in a deal in which he will come out and surrender himself with no charges laid, on condition that he publicly announces he will go and fight in Vietnam "to make up for the trouble (he's) caused." When it comes time to sign the enlistment papers, Mellish tells officials that he is illiterate. This lack of education disqualifies him from military service, and since the police agreed that charges would not be laid, he returns to his house in Glenfield to continue with his life.
Terry Hayes was attached to produce the film. He showed a script to Nadia Tass, who liked the story and the characters but wanted it rewritten. Hayes made the changes and Tass came on board to direct. [4] Also released as My Entire Life.
In real life, Beryl sought to have the marriage annulled the day after the siege ended, declaring that Mellish had abused her and she had only agreed to it under duress. Some accounts also have it that Mellish actually did threaten to kill her and the child. [5] Mellish denied these claims, later telling the Sydney Morning Herald: "I swear on my kids' dying oath that the wedding was 100 per cent fact. I never did anything to her. She told the reporters that I chained her up and that. I never did. That part does hurt me. I'm against all that." Mellish was also not returned to his home in Glenfield but in fact sent to Morisset Hospital as a psychiatric patient. Upon release, NSW Police told him to leave the state - which he did, moving to Queensland, remarrying and living the rest of his life out under the alias "John Mellish." [6]
The film opened in the UK on 22 November 1996. It opened in Australia on 30 January 1997 on 64 screens and grossed $139,939 in its opening week, placing 14th at the Australian box office. [7] It went on to gross $266,329 in Australia. [1]
The independent critic Adrian Martin said of the film: "with its cute animal jokes, lovable ordinary folks and little-battler pathos, Mr Reliable is the kind of film today labelled Capraesque – except that Frank Capra never made a film as mushy or flabby as this." [8]
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Glenfield is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Glenfield is located 36 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region.
Jacqueline Susan McKenzie is an Australian film and stage actress.
Deborra-Lee Furness Jackman, is an Australian actress and producer.
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Colin Friels is an Australian actor of theatre, TV, film and presenter.
Nadia Tass is an Australian theatre director and film director and producer. She is known for the films Malcolm (1986) and The Big Steal (1990), as well as an extensive body of work in the theatre, both in Australia and internationally.
Norman Thomas William Allan, was the Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force, from 1962 to 1972.
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The 2011 Hectorville siege took place between the hours of 2:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Friday, 29 April 2011, at the small suburb of Hectorville, east of Adelaide in the state of South Australia, Australia. It began after a 39-year-old resident of the suburb, later identified as Donato Anthony Corbo, entered his neighbours' property and shot four people, killing three and severely wounding one. An eight-hour stand-off with police followed, during which time he shot and wounded two officers. The stand-off culminated in his arrest by members of the Special Tasks and Rescue unit of South Australia Police.
Trooper O'Brien is a 1928 Australian silent film from the team of John and Agnes Gavin. It was a melodrama set during the "Ned Kelly era" about an orphaned girl raised by a policeman in the bush. It is one of the rare early Australian films that still exist in its entirety.
Shotgun Wedding is a 1993 Australian film based on the Wally Mellish siege. Directed by Paul Harmon, it stars Aden Young and Zoe Carides. The 1996 film Mr. Reliable was also based on the same story.
Traps is a 1994 Australian film directed by Pauline Chan and starring Saskia Reeves, Jacqueline McKenzie, and Sami Frey.
Solo is a 2006 Australian film directed by Morgan O'Neill and starring Colin Friels.
Say You Want Me is a 1977 Australian film directed by Oliver Howes. It is about a woman who is raped by one of her husband's business associates.
Satellite Boy is a 2012 Australian adventure drama film about a young Aboriginal boy struggling to maintain the traditions of his heritage in the modern world when a mining company expands into the region. Written and directed by Catriona McKenzie, the film premiered domestically on 10 December 2012 at the Perth International Arts Festival, two days after being released at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Lindt Café siege was a terrorist attack that occurred on 15–16 December 2014 when a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt Chocolate Café hostage in the APA Building in Martin Place, Sydney, Australia.
$106,824; $1=A$1.31