Hello Disher's.. So, I don't have a copy of this film with sub-titles available. I'm pretty good with accents having grown up in a Brit family and worked with crews from New Zealand and Australia, but when the radio reporter is asking the guys about their "personal" stats, when he ask's Mitch, I can't tell if he's saying yes or no! He kinds smiles and slightly rolls his eyes, and makes some kinda vocal response, but I'm not sure if it's "neah", or "yeah".. Anyone with subtitles that can confirm that? It's not important, just curious..
Later in the film, while he is sitting on the dish with the NASA rep, he explains that his wife had died the previous year and he was sad that she would miss the event.
That was Cliff, "The Dish Master" whose wife had died the year before. The character that I was asking about is Mitch, the tech who is the mechanical eng. responsible for controlling the dish motion, etc. The other main character is Glenn, the younger guy in charge of electronics who has a crush on the girl that brings their food, and is the sister of their security guard Rudy. In the beg. of the film, they are "introduced" via a bit with a reporter who is asking for their personal info, and when he asks Mitch if he's married or single, I couldn't make out his response.
Well, not sure if he was gay... There is a point in the film where Glenn, the electronics tech with the crush on the local girl is kinda being wrestled into place by Mitch up in the control room after she has come up to deliver their food. Just a moment before, they were having some conversation about girls, and I think Mitch may have mentioned his girlfriend/wife's name, will have to go take another listen. Wish I had a sub-titled vs. of this film, will have to go order one I guess..
There's only one mention of Mitch's wife, when he answers the reporter at the beginning of the movie. After that - nothing.
I love the movie, but it is a little unrealistic. I mean, it takes place over the space of nearly a week, but the four guys at the dish never go home, never even leave (except to go to lunch at the mayor's house), yet they always have clean clothes.
Well, it is only a movie, but a good one at that! And with that being said, like most observatories, Parkes has it's own "hotel", actually, dorm's that scientists and tech's can use when they aren't on duty. I think they have enough rooms there for 14 people, along with kitchens, baths, etc. Now, those are supposed to be for the use of visiting astronomers, so in theory Al could have been staying there, but they are kinda limited compared to a hotel. But during a big event like that it would be practical that they would have lived on site during the week as part of their support contract. And these days even tourists can stay if they're willing to pay, the "twin" of the Parkes dish in Algonquin Natl. Park in Ontario now makes a big deal of trying to bring in tourists to stay at their lodge to help offset operating costs.
I didn't see this movie until after my last visit to Australia, 3 years ago. My friend and I took about 4 days to drive north from Sydney up to Brisbane, where she lives. Now I wish we'd had the time to take a detour out west to Parkes to see the Dish, although it would have been several hundred miles out of our way.
There's a black & white photo of Mitch's wife in a little frame on his desk, which he stares at longingly in one quiet scene. How many people missed this? Gay? Come on. Pay attention!
The scene you're thinking of is on the Sunday morning when everyone is going to work, Cliff, not Mitch walks to his desk and turns on the lamp over the picture of his wife and the camera moves in close on it, it doesn't actually show him looking at it, he's reading through some papers.. It's at 58min. in.