Daily Dialogue — July 5, 2012

“Shoot straight, you bastards. Don’t make a mess of it.”

— Harry Morant (Edward Woodward), Breaker Morant (1980), screenplay by Jonathan Hardy, David Stevens and
Bruce Beresford

[3:58 of the clip]

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is gallows humor suggested by churnage. Today’s suggestion by Tavis Sarmento.

Trivia: Around the time just before this film was theatrically released in Australia, publisher Angus & Robertson republished a then little heard of unknown and previously out-of-print book about Harry Morant entitled ‘The Breaker’. This book had been written by Kit Denton and had been first published in 1973. The dust jacked of this re-issue announced: “Soon to be made into a major film”. As this film was not an adaptation of this book, this published statement was incorrect as no part of the book was used for the film. Playwright and scriptwriter Kenneth G. Ross took Angus & Robertson to court in the Supreme Court of South Australia for re-publishing the book with the incorrect statement. Director Bruce Beresford provided critical valuable evidence as a witness. Ross won the court case and the publisher withdrew the offending edition and pulped all the remaining copies. However, Angus & Robertson published a new edition of the book without the false blurb but instead ran a photo of the film’s star, Edward Woodward, on the new front cover! In an interview article with Kit Denton, “Breaker Morant: Hero or Ruthless Killer”, by B. Renfrew in ‘The Gainesville Sun’ on 24 June 1984, Denton declared that both his earlier draft screenplay and his later novel were “not involved with the film”. It is still often confused as to which of these two texts, the play and the book, that this film is based on. In a 26 February 2002 article “The truth about Harry” by ‘Kenneth G Ross’, Ross stated that Kit Denton’s book, ‘The Breaker’, also kicked things along” [in terms of public awareness relating to Harry Morant and the Bushveldt Carbiners].

Dialogue On Dialogue: Tavis offers this takeaway: “Watch more Australian films.”

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