Gallipoli - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Gallipoli or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Gallipoli

[camila]

The book that Jack reads to the children early in the film is Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book." The part he reads discusses the main character Mowgli's passage to manhood, and for the purposes of the film, foreshadows Archie's passage to manhood, as he leaves for the war.

[jessie]

At the time of filming, Peter Weir felt that his young star, Mel Gibson, was "full of beans, and really with no grand career ambitions."

[gerald]

One of the producers was media mogul Rupert Murdoch. His father, Keith, had been a journalist in World War I. He visited Gallipoli briefly in September 1915, and became an influential agitator against how the British top brass had conducted themselves during the battle.

[liam]

David Williamson adapted his screenplay from Bill Gammage's book "The Broken Years", which is a collection of diary excerpts and letters from around one thousand soldiers, who all fought at Gallipoli.

[amber]

With a cost of $2.8 million, Gallipoli (1981) was, at the time, the most expensive Australian film produced.

[dustin]

Producers advertised for four hundred skilled male horse riders for the movie, yet only two hundred turned up for shooting. The remaining two hundred horse riders in the movie were women, dressed to look like men.

[lonnie]

The movie was initially to be made by the South Australian Film Corporation, who were the original team behind the production. However, they withdrew support for the film, over creative differences with the script. However, the movie was still partially filmed in South Australia. The Gallipoli Peninsula was filmed at Port Lincoln, while the market sequence was also filmed in South Australia, at a fish market.

[chad]

Carries the disclaimer: "Although based on events which took place on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915, the characters portrayed in this film are entirely fictitious."

[harry]

The war movie 'The Lighthorsemen' (1987) set during World War One features a pacifist character who does not kill. In the later Australian feature film, 'Hacksaw Ridge' (2016), it featured a central character who was also a pacifist character, with his pacifism in World War Two being the major theme in the picture. 'Hacksaw Ridge' (2016) was made and first released almost thirty years after 'The Lighthorsemen' (1987) (twenty-nine to be exact) and was directed by Mel Gibson who had starred in the classic Australian feature film about World War One, 'Gallipoli' (1981), which was directed by Peter Weir. Both 'Gallipoli' (1981) and 'The Lighthorsemen' (1987) shared two major filming locations of Port Lincoln and the Flinders Ranges which are both located in South Australia. Both 'Gallipoli' (1981) and 'Hacksaw Ridge' (2016) won several AFI / AACTA Australian film awards, including Best Film, with 'The Lighthorsemen' (1987) winning a couple of AFI awards, the same number as 'Hacksaw Ridge' (2016) won Oscars.

[russell]

For a great deal of the cast and crew, ANZAC Day - the day in Australia that commemorates the war dead - meant little more than a vacation from school. Working on the film made them realize its true significance.

[kristina]

Director Peter Weir was inspired to make the film after visiting a World War I battle site. Originally, he and screenwriter David Williamson planned to encompass the entire Gallipoli campaign from all sides, but instead opted to focus on one small group of characters who would be able to humanize the whole tragedy.

[mathew]

The music Major Barton is playing the night before the attack is the famous duet from The Pearl Fishers by Georges Bizet, in which two men swear to remain friends and be united until death.

[jesse]

Due to the popularity of the Gallipoli battlefields as a tourist destination, this film is shown nightly in several hostels and hotels in several towns on the peninsula.

[phyllis]

Mel Gibson and Robert Grubb also appear together in "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome."

[cameron]

Although he is seen wearing an AIF uniform, Colonel Robinson is often mistaken for an Englishman, due to his accent, which is in fact a clipped Anglo-Australian accent, typical of the time, and not a deliberate attempt to mislead the audience.

[morris]

Introducing his song "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" (which is about Gallipoli - look it up on YouTube), Australian singer and songwriter Eric Bogle mentioned that while the battle was at its worst, Australia was considering adopting conscription to meet manpower needs. There was a vote, and the plan was rejected. Soldiers were allowed to vote, and, although it would possibly have reduced their own load and risks, the soldiers at Gallipoli rejected the plan, by double the margin of the civilian vote.

[darrell]

Shortly after Archie and Frank arrive at Gallipoli, they cross through the trenches to try and take what they think is a shortcut to the beach, when the soldier guarding the point informs them it's a shortcut to "the bloody cemetery." The guard is sitting beside a sign that says "Abandon hope past this point." This is a paraphrasing of "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here," a famous line from fourteenth century poet Dante Alighieri's poem "Inferno", and the inscription above the gate of Hell as the poet walks through it.

[steve]

It took three years for the filmmakers to secure funding. The reason it took so long, was because the Australian government's film agency declined to provide money for it, deeming the film to be "not commercial".

[sylvia]

David Williamson: The screenwriter is the tall, dark-haired football player who gets tackled hard when the soldiers play football in Egypt.