Gettin' Square

Gettin'Square
A promotional poster for the film
Directed by	Jonathan Teplitzky
Produced by	Martin Fabinyi Timothy White Trisha Lake
Written by	Chris Nyst
Starring	Sam Worthington David Wenham Gary Sweet Timothy Spall David Field Freya Stafford John Brumpton
Studio	Mushroom Pictures WTA Production
Release date(s)	2003
Running time	Australia: 100 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English

Gettin' Square is a crime caper movie set on Australia's Gold Coast and directed by Jonathan Teplitzky. The protagonists are ex-criminals trying to keep out of trouble.

Gettin' Square won nominations at several Australian ceremonies including the AFI Awards, Inside Film Awards, Australian Comedy Awards, and Critics Circle Awards. Wenham's performance as Spiteri saw him win the Best Actor category in every major Australian film award through 2003.

Chris Nyst has also written and directed another feature film, Crooked Business, which was released in 2008.

Plot

Barry Wirth is a retired small time criminal who is released on parole from following the death of his mother to care for his younger brother Joey. He had been serving time for a manslaughter he claims he did not commit. Following his release trouble begins brewing for the big criminals of Surfers Paradise when a corrupt accountant Warren Halliwell who handles their money laundering is arrested for an illicit affair and has his records taken by the Crime Investigation Commission (CIC) who then use it to seize many ill gotten assets and subpoena many Gold Coast Criminals. This creates trouble for an ex-criminal, Darren "Dabba" Barrington, whose money from previous crimes has been seized as well as Chicka Martin a big time criminal. Meanwhile Barry seeks employment which he eventually obtains as a worker at a service station which is how he is reunited with Johnny "spit" Spitieri who robs the store. Johnny is a small time criminal and junkie who Barry aids in return for Johnny's help when they were in prison together. The main conflict of the film is caused when Johnny Spitieri is arrested for a drug deal which leaves him owing twenty thousand dollars to Chicka. This and the corrupt detective DeVier's continued abuse of Barry leads to Barry creating a plan to allow him, his brother, Johnny and Dabba to 'get square' (go straight).

Box Office

Gettin' Square grossed $2,292,587 at the box office in Australia.

See also

• List of movies set in Australia

External links

• Review at SMH.com.au
• IMDb entry
• Rotten Tomatoes entry
• Gettin' Square at the National Film and Sound Archive