form y separately published work icon Mack's Back single work   film/TV   crime  
Issue Details: First known date: 1976... 1976 Mack's Back
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Bluey hounded "Mack" McKenna until, in desperation, he moved his criminal operations across the Victorian border where N.S.W. police quickly shot him into Long Bay Gaol for five years - nearly two thousand days to allow Mack's hatred of Bluey to fester; two thousand days in which to plan his revenge. And now, Mack's back!

'With time to think, Mack has matured. Whereas once he would have enjoyed putting a bullet in Bluey's back in some quiet alley on a dark night, now he wants his adversary to suffer first. He wants Bluey to endure the ignominy of watching him expand his operations into a criminal empire ... wants Bluey to suffer the torments of seeing his associates tortured and done away with - while all the time Mack remains outside the reaches of the law, safe from detection.

'And Mack's scheme has all the hallmarks of success about it. Bluey's assistant, Detective Gary Dawson, is marked down for death and falls hopelessly into McKenna's clutches.

'Terry Carter, a reformed crim who finds within himself the courage to defy McKenna and "talk" to Bluey, meets a similar fate.

'Bluey is forced to realise you can't win 'em all - but having to lose one to McKenna is more than he can come to terms with. The situation quickly simplifies itself into a matter of "him or me" - Mack or Bluey!'

Source: Synopsis held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection (RMIT).


The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'TERRY CARTER: About 40, Carter is a hard worker who made one mistake in his life: he received stolen property. Since then he has mended his ways, worked hard and tried to forget it. He owns a nice little business - a motor repairs works. Car driving required.

'JEAN CARTER: Terry's wife, about the same age. She, too, has struggled to forget Terry's mistake. She tries a little too hard to keep Terry up to scratch and eventually learns it's not all as simple as it looks. A highly nervous soul who falls to pieces once things really start to go wrong.

'"MACK" McKENNA: About 50, a somewhat different crook. He has a happy, open face and a smile is his trade mark. He has the slightest trace of an accent, Irish. Mack was chased by Bluey many years ago and had to leave Victoria rather hurriedly for N.S.W. where, because of his lack of knowledge of local conditions, he quickly got himself five years in Long Bay. Car driving required.

'KENNETH JOHN PALMER: A crook, late 30's, a great Lieutenant who knows his limitations and, realising he'll never make General, he is happy to work for Mack.

'DESMOND ARTHUR REED: A crook, early 30's. Palmer's "Sergeant". Happy in his service.

'DETECTIVE RAY NOBLE: Mid-30's, a member of the Homicide Squad who likes Bluey and works well with him - but with his happy disposition, Noble works in well with everyone.

'BARMAN: An efficient Barman who enjoys an association with the criminal element. One gets the impression he'll be a member of them one day.

'SERGEANT ROLLEY: A member of the Electronics Squad of the police force. Young, keen, efficient.

'BOY: A young kid who can ride a skateboard.

'ARSON SQUAD DETECTIVE: Been in the force a long time. Easy-going. Knows you can't win 'em all and is happy with those wins he does have.

'NON-SPEAKING DRIVER: A uniformed policeman who drives the Mobile Detection unit attached to the Electronics Department. Car driving required.

'MAXIE CHAMBERS: A crook heavily involved in the stolen car racket. We never see his face. Car driving required.

'PLAINCLOTHES POLICEMAN: Young. Must look like a policeman.

'VOICE OVER:

'RADIO ANNOUNCER:

'CONTROL: Attached to the Electronics Department of the police.'

Notes

  • This entry has been compiled from archival research in the Crawford Collection (AFI Research Collection), undertaken by Dr Catriona Mills under the auspices of the 2012 AFI Research Collection (AFIRC) Research Fellowship.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Crawford Productions , 1976 .
      Extent: 46 min. 1 sec. (according to the script)p.
      Series: form y separately published work icon Bluey Robert Caswell , Vince Moran , Everett de Roche , James Wulf Simmonds , Tom Hegarty , Gwenda Marsh , Colin Eggleston , David Stevens , Peter A. Kinloch , Keith Thompson , Gregory Scott , Peter Schreck , Denise Morgan , Monte Miller , Ian Jones , John Drew , David William Boutland , Jock Blair , Melbourne : Crawford Productions Seven Network , 1976 Z1815063 1976 series - publisher film/TV crime detective

      According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian Television Series, Bluey (and its Sydney-based rival, King's Men) 'constituted an attempt to revive the police genre after the cancellations of Homicide, Division 4 and Matlock Police'.

      Don Storey, in his Classic Australian Television, summarises the program as follows:

      Bluey is a maverick cop who breaks every stereotype image. He drinks, smokes and eats to excess, and therefore is rather large, but it is his unusual investigative methods that set him apart. He has bent or broken every rule in the book at some stage, to the point where no-one else wants to work with him. But he gets results, and is therefore too valuable to lose, so the powers-that-be banish him to the basement of Russell Street Police Headquarters where he is set up in his own department, a strategem that keeps him out of the way of other cops.

      Moran adds that 'Grills, Diedrich and Nicholson turned in solid performances in the series and the different episodes were generally well paced, providing engaging and satisfying entertainment.'

      The program sold well overseas, especially in the United Kingdom. But though it rated well domestically, it was not the success that the Seven Network had hoped for, and was cancelled after 39 episodes.

      Bluey had an unexpected revival in the early 1990s when selections from the video footage (over-dubbed with a new vocal track) were presented during the second series of the ABC comedy The Late Show as the fictional police procedural Bargearse. (The Late Show had given ABC gold-rush drama Rush the same treatment in series one.)

      Number in series: 6
      1976 .
      person or book cover
      Script cover page (Crawford Collection at the AFI Research Collection)
      Extent: 63p.
      (Manuscript) assertion
      Note/s:
      • The script is labelled on the cover page 'Code 11509' and 'Episode No: Nine', although it was produced as episode six. There is no indication on the cover page of to whom this copy of the script was designated.
      • The script is an original script, typed on thin, white paper, annotated throughout (including the cover page) with liquid paper. The character notes are typed on thicker paper, but also show signs of amendment. Alterations are at the copy-editing level: for example, on page 6, the line 'We’ll all get our just deserts one day, won’t we?' has been altered to 'We’ll all get our just desserts one day, won’t we?'
      • The Crawford Collection holds three copies of this script, only one of which is held in this file: the other two are filed separately.

      Holdings

      Held at: AFI Research Collection
      Local Id: SC BLU : 6
Last amended 4 Apr 2013 15:45:39
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