The Dish poster & wallpaper

Bille Brown, Billy Mitchell, Frank Bennett

On July 20, 1969, six hundred million people sat glued to their televisions for man's first steps on the moon. It is an image permanently ingrained in our collective consciousness, but one that almost...( read more  read more... ) didn't make it to the airwaves. Based on true-life events, The Dish is a waggish homage to the small-town heroes responsible for a historically almost calamitous blunder. Outside the small, sleepy town of Parkes, a team of laid-back astro-technicians led by project director Cliff Buxton and NASA agent Al Burnett ready the Southern Hemisphere's largest satellite dish to transmit the historic broadcast. But amidst a swirling media frenzy and overly effusive civic pride, things start to go awry; the team has lost the signal and must scramble to find the astronauts before NASA discovers their grievous error.. And you thought Sydney 2000 was the first time we showed the world!

Flixster Users

78% liked it

7,099 ratings

Critics

96% liked it

96 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 41 min.

Directed by: Rob Sitch

Release Date: January 19, 2001

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DVD Release Date: August 28, 2001

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Stats: 446 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (446)

  • SirPant
    September 23, 2009
    SirPant
    Not as good as I?d hoped, it?s a brilliant true story, poorly executed.
  • thmtsang
    January 31, 2009
    thmtsang
    Based on a true story Sam Neill and his team in Australia are responsible for beaming the image of Neil Armstrong's moon landing around the world.
  • organgrinder136
    December 20, 2008
    organgrinder136
    interesting if you're completely obsessed with sam neill or radio dishes. however if you're not there's not much else going on except some slight light humour
  • ladyp1964
    November 12, 2007
    ladyp1964
    I stumbled across this one through pure coincidence and am most pleased that I did.

    I remember 20th July 1969 most vividly although I was only a small child but such pictures really do remain implanted for life.
    I knew absolutely nothing about these mishaps though.
    Although a w...( read more)itty film I'm sure it wasn't quite so funny at the time. But then once everything has passed, who can't laugh at their own mistakes.
  • FangsFirst
    October 29, 2007
    FangsFirst
    Some months ago, I started paying a pretty high level of attention to website DVDSpot's "statistics" capability as regards any members DVD collection. I discovered Sam Neill, my favourite actor, was very, very far down on the list of my "Top 20 Actors" (based on the number of rel...( read more)eases my collection has with each actor, in decreasing order). So I went to IMDb and began to check filmographies (this is how I also ended up with an extended list of James Woods and Christopher Walken movies on wishlists, amongst others) adding films that looked interesting and were well reviewed with my favourite actors, especially Mr. Neill. This one caught my eye and happened to show up in a sale near the beginning of this year, so I jumped on it.

    This is the (sort of--as always--true) story of the group of men running the Parkes Observatory in Parkes, New South Wales, Australia during the historic 1969 moon landing. Heading the group is Cliff Buxton (Sam Neill, of course!), a sort of fatherly, or maybe more accurately "uncle-y" figure to the other boys, as he is not only an authority figure (known affectionately as "the Dishmaster") but also a colleague, though unchallenged in his leadership position. Under him are Ross "Mitch" Mitchell (Kevin Harrington, who reminds me of John Scurti from Rescue Me) and Glenn Latham (Tom Long), the techs who maintain and run the dish, as well as NASA representative Al Burnett (Patrick Warburton, who I remember most as a similarly dressed but much goofier character in Men in Black II). The town of Parkes is terribly small and thoroughly unknown, so while the boys are excited to be a part of the project, the town itself is full of joy at this role they've found their town playing, with Mayor Bob McIntyre (Roy Billing, wonderfully, cheerfully and amusingly ignorant and oblivious as only movie politicians can be) excited to find "vindication" for his insistence on the dish's construction in the town (though his aide suspects his motivation for excitement).

    Mitch is the sarcastic one of the bunch, making great fun of Glenn at most opportunities he's given, but never cruelly, and engaging in a bit of rivalry with Al as the high-fallutin' American representative (all of the nationalistic conflict is purely good fun). Glenn is that overly nervous nerdy type who is scared to death of women and rejection, despite the attention paid to him by the very pretty Janine Kellerman (Eliza Szonert), who does not always follow the humour or ideas laid out by Mitch. Al is not always good at following the Australian slang of the three natives, but they're always happy to translate whoever is speaking too passionately to stop and think.

    The movie is actually charmingly funny and quite heart-warming, with some great, easygoing humour and a bit of absurdity. Some of the most amusing characters are Cameron (Billy Mitchell) who is an overly enthusiastic military cadet with a crush on the mayor's daughter (who has recently found feminism and politics of the most grating sort--using them only to accuse people of persecution, not to advance anyone--and becomes an amusing bit herself) and a great admiration for her father "Major McIntyre" and his real military experience and Rudi (Tayler Kane) who is the radio telescope's security guard, who takes his job entirely too seriously, assigning codenames to all locations and changing them constantly, excitedly making use of the walkie-talkies and his "required" firearm, making sure to "officially authorize" his sister Janine's entry. The dish, it should be noted He has one of the funniest lines of dialogue I've heard in a long time, but, as always, I can't bring myself to ruin it. And it's a total throwaway line, too!

    Final note? Shame about the coverart--Sam's great, but the original coverart (seen in some Region 2 releases) is perfect--
  • ZRUV
    October 9, 2009
    ZRUV
    Classic Aussie movie looks good.
  • cperr14
    August 4, 2009
    cperr14
    I HAVE BEEN TO THE PLACE AND IT IS VERY GOOD
  • Robbanflix
    July 24, 2009
    Robbanflix
    A true story based movie about an event which celebrates its 40 years now actually .. Apollo 11 and the first steps on the moon.. This is a subject i find pretty interesting and movies about space etc.. have always been rather good actually for the most time. This movie follows ...( read more)the story of a huge remote antenna settled in Australia and it was a very important one for the communications for the spaceflight. The movie focus much on the small group which must control the dish. Sam Neill is one of the more famous actors starring in this flick. Its rated as comedy/drama or lighthearted drama which i like to call this genre. Its a decent movie all in all and well made but perhaps not quite one of the typical space movies i want to see. But its always interesting if you like this subject and then you will probably enjoy a solid movie in the end.
  • hotjono21
    July 1, 2009
    hotjono21
    hmmmm.... in the middle fo the two but there's no button for it
  • mattdonovan2004
    April 7, 2009
    mattdonovan2004
    A very enjoyable, good humoured film. A pleasure to watch.

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Critic Reviews

April 6, 2001
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

A smiling human comedy. full review

April 5, 2001
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

An amusing, compelling and technologically fascinating tale.

View more The Dish reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • jenieceroxyoursox
    March 8, 2007
    jenieceroxyoursox
    I loved this movie! it was soooo funny and had a good story line! I think it was great!
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The Dish Trivia

  • what film was based on the moon landing tv coverage from australia?  Answer »
  • which australian movie starring tom long and sam neill is set in parkes?  Answer »
  • In the film The Dish, what famous event are they transmitting?  Answer »
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