Waterfront is a 1984 Australian miniseries about industrial disputes on the Australian waterfront during the Great Depression.
Contents
Premise
In 1928, industrial unrest erupts on the Melbourne waterfront.
Cast
Jack Thompson as Maxey Woodbury
Greta Scacchi as Anna Chieri
Warren Mitchell as Laughing Les
Noni Hazlehurst as Maggie
Ray Barrett as Sam Elliott
Chris Haywood as Ernie Donaldson
Jay Mannering as Savo
Elin Jenkins as Vera Donaldson
Frank Gallacher as Paddy Ryan
Jan Friedl as Sheila Ryan
Mark Little as Allan Williams
Wynn Roberts as Inspector Legge
Tony Rickards as Snowy Williams
Eileen Chapman as Florence "Flo" Williams
Edward Hepple as Harry Geahry
Sylvie Fonti as Teresa Callini
Peter Sardi as Paolo Callini
Steve Bastoni as Emilio Callini
Joseph Spano as Giorgio
Simon Chilvers as Cross
David Cameron as Albert Maple-Brown
Bruce Myles as Premier Hogan
John Lee as The Governor
Anthony Hawkins as Sir William McPherson
Kirk Alexander as Commissioner Blamey
Robert Meldrum as Parsons
Wilfred Last as Purcell
Production
The production was originally envisioned as a feature film. It was based on a script by Mac Gudgeon, who worked on the docks in the 1960s when he was avoiding the draft for the Vietnam War. He heard stories about the 1928 strike and became fascinated by it. Gudgeon wrote the script in six weeks and showed it to Bob Weis, who was producing Women of the Sun, a mini series on which Gudeon was unit manager. Weis liked it but wanted to do it as a mini series. Gudgeon spent the next 18 months rewriting.
Weis hired Chris Thompson to direct on the basis of 1915. It was the first Australian television Jack Thompson had appeared in except for Spyforce as "I fell in love with the Waterfront script." Greta Scacchi agreed to play the female lead after her breakthrough role in Heat and Dust.
Filming started in February 1983 and took place in Melbourne over 14 weeks with a budget of $2.5 million. The mini-series sold to Channel Ten.
Reception
The Sydney Sun Herald called it "stunning. It will make you cry, it will make you laugh, and it will make you weep with anger. It is superbly made." The Age called it "gritty, gutsy drama... a rattling good yarn... not to be missed."
The mini-series was popular, with a market share of 30 in Sydney and Melbourne.