y separately published work icon A Salute to the Great McCarthy single work   novel   humour  
Issue Details: First known date: 1970... 1970 A Salute to the Great McCarthy
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon The Great McCarthy John Romeril , ( dir. David Baker ) Australia : Stoney Creek Films , 1975 Z1342728 1975 single work film/TV

Based on Barry Oakley's popular 1970 novel, The Great McCarthy is a satire concerning not only Australia's obsession with sport but also the perception that city folk are amoral, corporate, and greedy, while their country brethren are virtuous, innocent, but somewhat slow witted. As comedy, The Great McCarthy is a pastiche of styles suspended somewhere between Alvin Purple and Barry McKenzie, while the concept of the hero as a recessive figure, acted upon rather than acting, is reminiscent of other Australian films of the 1970s, such as Between Wars.

The storyline revolves around McCarthy, a country lad with tremendous football talent, who is pursued by a number of first-grade Victorian Football League (VFL) clubs, to the dismay of the townsfolk with whom he grew up. McCarthy is abducted and brought to Melbourne to play for a team run by Colonel Ball-Miller, who also puts McCarthy to work in his insurance company. But the young footballer finds more to life after he embarks on a series of affairs with a secretary, a night-school teacher, and the colonel's daughter.

Notes

  • Epigraph: 'Notwithstanding the sight of all our miseries, which press upon us and take us by the throat, we have an instinct which we cannot repress, and which lifts us up.' - Pascal, Pensées.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Harmondsworth, Middlesex,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin ,
      1971 .
      Extent: 198p.
      ISBN: 0140033017
    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 1985 .
      Extent: 197p.
      ISBN: 0140033017

Other Formats

  • Also sound recording.

Works about this Work

Footy - the Passion, the Poetry and the PhDs Vin Maskell , 2006 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 11 April 2006; (p. 12)
Paperbacks Veronica Sen , 1995 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 22 January 1995; (p. 24)

— Review of A Salute to the Great McCarthy Barry Oakley , 1970 single work novel
Criticism v Egotism Laurie Clancy , 1993 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 27-28 February 1993; (p. rev 6)
The Coffee on the Moviola Barry Oakley , 1985 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Island Magazine , Autumn no. 22 1985; (p. 18-20)
The Picaro in Disguise : The Novels of Barry Oakley Helen Daniel , 1980 single work criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 25 no. 2 1980; (p. 51-57)
Fiction Chronicle Leon Cantrell , 1971 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin Quarterly , Autumn vol. 30 no. 1 1971; (p. 125, 127, 129, 131, 133, 135, 137, 139)

— Review of Let's Hear It for Prendergast : A Novel Barry Oakley , 1970 single work novel ; The Age of Death William Marshall , 1970 single work novel ; Clean Straw for Nothing : A Novel George Johnston , 1969 single work novel ; A Salute to the Great McCarthy Barry Oakley , 1970 single work novel ; The Tea-Time of Love : The Clarification of Miss Stilby Martin Boyd , 1969 single work ; The Survivor Thomas Keneally , 1969 single work novel ; The Vivisector Patrick White , 1970 single work novel
The Melbourne Thing R. Burns , 1970 single work review
— Appears in: Nation , 25 July 1970; (p. 20-22)

— Review of A Salute to the Great McCarthy Barry Oakley , 1970 single work novel ; The White Thorntree : A Novel Frank Dalby Davison , 1968 single work novel
Untitled Thelma Forshaw , 1970 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 15 August 1970; (p. 22)

— Review of A Salute to the Great McCarthy Barry Oakley , 1970 single work novel
Living by Rules Nancy Keesing , 1970 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 12 September vol. 92 no. 4721 1970; (p. 50-52)

— Review of A Salute to the Great McCarthy Barry Oakley , 1970 single work novel
Untitled Brian Kiernan , 1970 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 25 July 1970; (p. 20)

— Review of A Salute to the Great McCarthy Barry Oakley , 1970 single work novel
Footy - the Passion, the Poetry and the PhDs Vin Maskell , 2006 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 11 April 2006; (p. 12)
The Picaro in Disguise : The Novels of Barry Oakley Helen Daniel , 1980 single work criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 25 no. 2 1980; (p. 51-57)
Barry Oakley and the Satiric Mode Betty L. Watson , 1975 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 7 no. 1 1975; (p. 50-63)
Criticism v Egotism Laurie Clancy , 1993 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 27-28 February 1993; (p. rev 6)
The Coffee on the Moviola Barry Oakley , 1985 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Island Magazine , Autumn no. 22 1985; (p. 18-20)
Last amended 19 Dec 2006 11:43:02
X