Film Information
'Bootmen'
A Fox Searchlight Pictures Presentation
Directed by Dein Perry
Produced by Hilary Linstead
Screenplay by Steve Worland
Cinematography by Steve Mason
Music: Cezary Skubiszewski
Production Design: Murray Picknett
Cast:
Sean Okden Adam Garcia,
Linda Sophie Lee
Mitchell Okden Sam Worthington
Gary Okden Richard Carter
Colin Andrew Kaluski,
Angus Christopher Horsey,
Derrick Lee McDonald
Johnno Matt Lee.
Walter William Zappa
Sara Susie Porter
Smaller roles were played by Anthony Hayes, Justine Clarke, Grant Walmsley, Andrew Doyle, Bruce Venables and Dein Perry makes an appearance as Anthony Ford!
On the 5th of October 2001, the release of 'Bootmen' into Australian cinemas marked the film debut for Director Dein Perry, who is best known for his creation of rock stage shows such as 'Tap Dogs' and 'Steel City'.
The film opened to a warm crowd and rated 3rd in the top 20 Most Popular Films for that week, in its first week of screening, already making $674, 893 (urbancinefile.com). After just 9 weeks in the top 20 favourite films, 'Bootmen' had taken a total of $2,630,530.
On 2nd of May 2001 Fox Home Entertainment released it on video.
Perry made the transgression from stage to screen with the inspiration and motivation from his Manager, Hillary Linstead, who later became the films Producer.
The screenplay, written by Steve Worland, was adapted from a story that was created as a collaborative effort between himself, Perry and Linstead. After extensive work on the script, Fox Searchlight, and the Australian Film Finance Corporation provided the necessary funding for the project.
Bootmen was co-produced by Antonia Barnard with Dein Perry taking on the role of Executive producer.
The film was shot on location in Sydney and Newcastle by Cinematographer Steve Mason, who won two awards for his efforts in 'Bootmen'. He received 'Best Achievement in Cinematography' at the 2000 AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards and 'Best Cinematography' the following year at the FCCA (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Awards.
After being unsuccessful in my 'Bootmen' search at the Library, I decided to stick to what I knew, the Internet. A world of information at your fingertips! In all honesty, I imagine there were relevant resources at the Library, I think perhaps I was not looking in the right places or under the right titles.
I found a fair amount of information on 'Bootmen', on the internet. I was surfed the web for hours, sorting through articles, reviews and general information.
The official 'Bootmen' site is an advanced and entertaining site. It hosts an array of interesting elements including dancing men, film clips (including trailer), great graphics and a game: "How Aussie are you?"(I'm a "bloody legend" by the way!). It also offers extensive information on the production of the film, and detail about the cast, crew and significant dates.
Along with the official site, there is an endless amount of data relating to 'Bootmen' on the web. This was, in fact my sole source of information, as there was more than enough to cover my requirements and also very little to speak of, on paper.
Bibliographical details:
Adam Garcia- Unofficial Website
http://www.efanguide.com/~adamgarcia/
Articles, Information and Interviews
Bootmen
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0210584
Ebert & Roeper and the Movies
http://asp.tvplex.go.com/ebertandthemovies/ebert.asp?mode=display&page=movie&id=3738&ref=index
Review
Fox Searchlight
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/production/bootmenwed.html
Movies.com
http://movies.go.com/movies/B/bootmen_2000/index.html
Overview, Synopsis, Cast and crew details
Movie Show
http://www.sbs.com.au/movieshow/reviews.php3?id=76
Review by Margaret Pomeranz
Official Bootmen Site
http://www.bootmenmovie.com
Peter Thompson's Film Review
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/film_reviews/article_690.asp?s=1
Film Review
Urban Cinefile
http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/scripts/cinefile/Reviews.idc?Article_ID=4079
Contains Reviews, Box Office Info, Cast and Crew details, and synopsis
Upcomingmovies.com
http://www.upcomingmovies.com/bootmen.html
Variety
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_vrty/m1312/6_380/65861253/p1/article.jhtml
Reviews and articles
yahoo! movies: bootmen
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1800424135
Dein Perrys' Bootmen
A review by Nikki Weaver
Set in the coastal town of Newcastle, 'Bootmen' tells the rather clichéd story of brothers Sean and Mitchell Okden. Two young men who have completely different ambitions but share one common talent and one mutual desire. Mitchell, the eldest (Played by Sam Worthington) is a stereotypical 'small town boy'. He has aspirations to buy a trucking rig and start up his own company; Sean (Adam Garcia) on the other hand, dreams of leaving Newcastle to pursue a career in Tap Dancing.
Sean finally gets a break when a talent scout offers him a position in a Sydney based tap show starring Mr Anthony Ford (who is played by Dein Perry himself). Before Sean leaves, however, he falls in love with Linda (Sophie Lee), a beautiful young hairdresser who has just gotten into town.
As Sean strives to begin his tap career, Mitchell, spirals further into a life of crime by selling stolen car parts from the boot of his car. To make matters worse, when Sean gets kicked out of the tap show (for punching Ford), he returns home early to find Mitchell asleep (and naked) in Lindas' bed. This creates a huge rift between the once close brothers, which is further compounded when Linda becomes pregnant to Mitchell.
With the rest of his life in tatters, Sean decides to start up his own Tap show, and with the help of his mates, composes a radical performance. Discarding traditional tap routines, that use polished wooden stages and dainty tap shoes, in exchange for concrete floors, steel grates and Blundstones, the boys create a show like no other.
When an unexpected tragedy strikes the Okden household Sean gives up the show and goes back to his job at the steel works. His interest in the concert is only renewed, when 400 labourers are retrenched from the Steel mill, Sean ceases the opportunity and decides do a benefit gig. This time the show is bigger and better than ever before.
Predictably, the film resolves itself with Seans father, who has never supported his Tap Dancing, coming to the show, and finally acknowledging his sons skill.
'Bootmen' is the first film effort of choreographer, Dein Perry, and unfortunately it shows! After the international success of his stage creations, 'Tap Dogs' and 'Steel City', his manager Hillary Linstead talked him into Directing a film.
Linstead fell into the role of Producer as it was a "Process she had really begun, without even knowing it." Says Perry. Besides her managing duties, Linstead has Produced a few films prior to 'Bootmen.' According to the IMDb website, Linstead produced films such as 'Heatwave' in 1982, 'Molly' in 1983 (for which she also wrote the script) and 'The Castanet Club' in 1990. Hillary Linstead appears to have done very little on the Writer/ Producer side of things since 'Bootmen'.
Perry grew up in Newcastle himself and, whilst fictional, the story idea for 'Bootmen' came from his own experiences. The film was in fact shot in the very same Steel mill that Perry worked in as a young man. It was this experience from which he came up with the revolutionary idea for 'Tap Dogs', combining the aspects of his life that he knew best, dancing and labouring.
'Bootmen' is essentially a stage show on screen, with a potentially wonderful plot coming off pretty weak. Shamefully, it seems that Perry has not yet discovered the versatility of film. The blocking, the script, and indeed the tap routines themselves, all contribute towards the films distinctively theatrical flavour.
The dance scenes, particularly the final ones at the benefit, are shot much like that of a concert video. Whilst this is incongruent to the rest of the film, this actually lifts the quality, giving it a motivated 'gritty' feel. In watching the closing few scenes we could be watching a recorded 'Tap Dogs' gig.
There is a pronounced difference between the dance scenes and the rest of the film, which highlights Dein Perrys' flair for stage production (and consequently highlights his lack of flair for film!).
While the dance routines are fast paced and engaging, the 'story' part of the film seems somewhat artificial and juvenile. For example, the scene in which Sean and Linda are walking along the beach is slow and seems to take too long to get to the point (which is their first kiss). The rehearsal scene, on the other hand, when the boys have acquired an empty warehouse and started rehearsals with their new equipment, is well paced and enjoyable to watch.
Disappointingly, the under-developed plot is grossly overshadowed by the dance routines; it would have been nice for the storyline to be more smoothly incorporated into the film! A promising plotline was let down by a clichéd and predictable script that could have been much better developed. The characters were very shallow and not explored deeply enough; the dialogue was trite and unoriginal with a tendency to explain the blatantly obvious; and the plot could have been re-worked a little to make the story less predictable.
Despite the feeble script, Sam Worthington is brilliant as big brother Mitch; in fact his skilled performance earned him a nomination for 'Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role' in the 2000 Australian Film Institute Awards. Worthington began his acting career with the Belvoir Theatre Company and has since gone on to take a small role in 'Hart's War' staring Bruce Willis, and 'Dirty Deeds' with Bryan Brown. His solid screen presence in 'Bootmen' helps counteract the poor performances given by Adam Garcia and Sophie Lee. This lead couple are both so stilted in their acting, that their joint scenes are truly cringe worthy!
Taking into consideration, however, that 'Bootmen' is Garcias' first acting role, he does show some budding acting ability. Garcia himself admits, "I am still a novice in this art form". (www.efanguide.com/adamgarcia/media/aticles/003.html) Obviously his stage experience with shows such as 'Hot Shoe Shuffle', 'Grease', and 'Saturday Night Fever', was not enough to prepare him for the craft of screen acting. We can only hope that he shall get better with experience! From his role as Sean, Garcia in fact did manage to pick up a lead role as the heartthrob in 'Coyote Ugly'. Since then he has gone on to star in 'Riding in Cars With Boys' alongside Drew Barrymore.
The acting abilities of the tap group barely deserve a mention, besides that of Matt Lee, previously from Australian production of 'Rent', who seemed to have no trouble fitting into his role as young Johnno. They did well, in light of the fact that they are in the same boat as Garcia, i.e: tappers turned actors. In fact three of the five 'stompers' were actually members of Tap Dogs companies, one of which (Andrew Kaluski) was one of the original Taps Dogs.
Perhaps this proves that dancers should stick to dancing?! (Just in case Centre Stage had not convinced you of this!)
If you are willing to look past the wooden acting and corny dialogue, 'Bootmen' is a visual feast. The tap sequences are dazzling and it is hard to sit still with the pure energy of the tap numbers. The amalgamation of rock music, creative lighting (including laser shows), workmen's gear, innovative cinematography and great choreography, really brings the film to life.
The editing, done by Jane Moran, was, in my opinion, quite average, although the FCCA (Film Critics Circle of Australia) disagree with this statement as, Moran won 'Best Editing' at the 2001 FCCA Awards.
I felt there was one sequence of editing however, that, on the contrary, was cut together particularly well. This is the scene in which Sean is dancing on an empty stage in Sydney. Throughout this number, vision of Mitch stealing a car has been cut in, creating a great juxtaposition between the opposite attitudes that the two boys possess.
On the whole, it is a fun film that should be watched for the dancing and not the acting or the plot! As a first feature film, it is a good effort by Perry.
A rather amusing article on the film 'Bootmen' found in 'Adam Garcia Online' says of 'Bootmen', "…the only potential problem was that a lot of people involved in the project- including Perry- had no experience in making a movie." It goes on to quote Garcia, who when he found out that Perry was to direct joked, "Dein, you've never been behind a camera. You've never even been in front of a camera!"
On its release, 'Bootmen' was well received within Australia, winning five awards at the 2000 AFI's. They were, 'Best Achievement in Cinematography'; 'Best Achievement in Costume Design'; 'Best Achievement in Production Design'; 'Best Original Music Score' and finally 'Best Achievement in Sound'. Along with additional nominations in three other categories.
In 2001, 'Bootmen' won three FCCA Awards, for 'Best Editing', as previously mentioned; 'Best Cinematography' and 'Best Music Score'.
According to the 'Cinefiles' website, in it's first week of release (5th Oct 2000) 'Bootmen', hit no 3 in the Top 20 Most Popular Films. As indicated by the 'Bums on Seats' Archives (on the Cinefiles site), by December the 7th, the film had its 9th and final week in the top 20 but in total, raked in over $2.6 million!
Despite its sizeable takings, 'Bootmen' received mixed reviews from film critics, with many of them (the more intelligent ones I feel!) criticising the quality of acting, (or lack there of!) and the rather light on plot.
These negative reviewers included Roger Ebert from the 'Chicago Sun-Times', whose review can be found on IMDb Movie Reviews (http://us.imdb.com/), along with a plethora of other opinions, both positive and negative.
On the 'Variety' site, found in findartices.com, David Stratton gives a rather ineloquent and uneducated review of 'Bootmen' in which the main character becomes known as 'Scan', (as opposed to Sean), played by Adam Garcia, who apparently featured in the 'Soft shoe Shuffle'! Possibly the worst part of his review was his comment about Sophie Lee's 'versatile' acting. (?!) He gave the film 4 stars: "The film soars on the sheer built-in energy and the routines themselves…" (http://www.findarticles.com)
As opposed to Davids' lengthy ramblings, Margaret Pomeranz made her review short, sweet and slightly more fluent, giving it three and a half stars. "Bootmen does have moments that make you uneasy but generally the sheer good-nature of the film sweeps you along helping you to overlook any minor glitches." (The Movie Show site @ www.sbs.com.au/movieshow/reviews.php3?id=76)
Despite a few major technical and structural problems, 'Bootmen' is an entertaining movie. The film could not have held its own if it had not been for a few outstanding aspects; such as the dance choreography, the musical soundtrack and a few exceptional performances by afore mentioned cast members. If you are willing to sit through some agonising scenes, the exuberance and liveliness of the tapping makes it well worth it. As David Stratton said in his comments on 'The Movie Show', "You could quibble at some things, but better to just enjoy it."