Before his film career, McAlpine was a physical education teacher in Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. He began using a 16mm Camera to film athletes preparing for the Melbourne Olympics.
McAlpine's early career in Australia found him collaborating with other great Australian filmmakers from 1972 to 1981. In particular,
Bruce Beresford. McAlpine filmed many of Beresford's early films including,
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie,
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own,
Don's Party,
The Getting of Wisdom,
Money Movers,
Breaker Morant and
The Club. McAlpine also worked with another great Australian filmmaker,
Gillian Armstrong, in
My Brillant Career.
After three of McAlpine's films were released in New York,
My Brilliant Career, Breaker Morant and
The Getting of Wisdom, Director Paul Mazursky noticed McAlpine's work and offered him the chance to travel to Greece to work on the film
Tempest. After a successful shoot, work in the United States began to find its way to McAlpine.
McAlpine is also a member of the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) and the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal in the 2001 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to Australian society and Australian film production.
