| Blue Fin | |
| Based On: | novel by Colin Thiele |
| Starring: | Hardy Krüger Greg Rowe Elspeth Ballantyne |
| Director: | Carl Schultz |
| Producer: | Hal McElroy |
| Studio: | South Australian Film Corporation McElroy & McElroy |
| Distributor: | Pacific International Enterprises |
| Runtime: | 95 minutes |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Music: | Michael Carlos |
| Cinematography: | Geoff Burton |
| Editing: | Rod Adamson |
| Budget: | AU $750,000[1] |
| Gross: | AU $703,000 (Australia)[2] |
Blue Fin is a 1978 Australian family film directed by Carl Schultz and starring Hardy Krüger, Greg Rowe and Elspeth Ballantyne.[3] It is based on a 1969 Australian novel written by Colin Thiele.
Based on the children's novel by South Australian author Colin Thiele, this is a father and son story about tuna fishing of Southern Blue Fin tuna in South Australia's Port Lincoln fishing district. Accident-prone son Snook is forever making mistakes much to the chagrin of his father Pascoe. But when tragedy strikes the fishing boat during a deep sea fishing trek in the Southern Ocean, the boy is called on to become a man in a rites of sea passage to reconcile his past mishaps and save both his father and the ship from certain disaster.
Twelve-year-old Steve Pascoe is nicknamed 'Snook' by everyone in Port Lincoln. He's thin and long-faced, like the fish he's named after. At school he's no good at sport and, at home, his father scorns him. Snook joins his father and fellow crewmen on a tuna-fishing expedition, when disaster strikes. It is up to Snook to save himself and his father from a desperate situation.
The film is an unofficial follow up to Storm Boy (1976) with the same writer and star, also adapted from a Colin Thiele novel. The South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) did not want to use Henri Safran as director, though, so employed another director from the ABC, Carl Schultz.[4]
The film was shot in Streaky Bay in mid 1978.[5]
During post production editor Rod Adamson claimed the film would not cut together. Five weeks after filming had completed, Schultz had to leave the film to take up a directing job at the ABC. Accordingly, Matt Carroll of the SAFC called in Bruce Beresford, who was under contract to them, to re-shoot some sequences. Some of these had to be done using a body double for Hardy Kruger since he had returned to Europe.[4] Schultz was supportive of Beresford stepping in but was unhappy with the fact he supervised the final re-cut.[6]
In 2017 it was announced the movie would be remade.[7]
A DVD was released on 1 January 2003.