Product Details

• Actors: Michael Caton, Stephen Curry, Eric Bana, Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, Robyn Nevin
• Directors: Rob Sitch
• Producers: The Castle
• Format: Import, PAL
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 4 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Roadshow
• Run Time: 82 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000KKNIKE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,283 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Australia released, PAL/Region 4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, SYNOPSIS: In this small Australian comedy, Michael Caton stars as Darryl Kerrigan, a contented, mildly eccentric family man with an easy laugh and a quick compliment for his wife's cooking. Darryl, his wife, and his four children live in domestic bliss in a ramshackle yet proud domicile neighboring the airport. But that serenity is threatened when the government issues a compulsory acquisition order, which means the Kerrigans must vacate their home to make way for an airport expansion project. And even though he makes a hobby of buying useless junk as long as he gets it for bargain price, no amount of compensation money will convince Darryl to relinquish his "castle," which stores the family's collective memories and symbolizes their unique character. Darryl organizes the other affected neighbors, hires a bumbling attorney/family friend, and pursues his battle in court. However, he soon discovers he needs more than gumption and spitfire earnestness to support a case in front of the magistrates of Australia's high courts. The Castle was the first feature for director Rob Sitch (The Dish), who rose to prominence directing episodes of the satirical Australian television series Frontline. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Australian Film Institute, British Independent Film Awards, European Film Awards, Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards, Stockholm Film Festival, ...The Castle

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 100 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great movie - shame about the edits, October 25, 2001

By 

R. Baldry (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Castle (DVD)

As a Pom who has just moved back from Australia, I thought I would buy this DVD to remind me what I'm missing. It is, of course, a great film and a funny one. However, I should warn anyone who has seen and loved the film in its original Australian release that there are some rather annoying edits for the American market. For example, Darryl now thinks that 'The only thing funnier than Funniest Home Videos is the best of Funniest Home Videos'. RIP Hey Hey it's Saturday. He's also waiting for some 'Cheap facing' for the extra room he's building. Oh, and no-one in the family has 'ever left their home town'. The idea that 'no-one's been further than Alice Springs' was obviously deemed meaningless.

Not only that, but (and I'm sure this isn't my imagination) there are some rather interesting background music additions. Some of it is pretty sappy.

Unfortunately, until a DVD version is released in Australia there is no alternative for people who want to get a copy of this film, but be warned - if you're a die-hard purist you will find this a bit annoying.

101 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars US version vs original version, December 24, 2003

By 

M. Fyvie (Zollikon, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Castle [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I must have watched the original version of this film (bought in Australia on VHS) at least 10 times. For many years I've wanted to get rid of the VHS version and buy it on DVD. During trips to Australia over the last few years I have tried to buy it (region 4, PAL), but have always been told that it is not available on DVD.

How disappointing that Australians have to buy the US version on DVD, which is technically illegal - and unless they have illegally modified their DVD players to watch region 1 discs, technically impossible.

Australian veiwers will then be further horrified when they find that their cult film has been altered in about 30 places. Many words and phrases have been changed, and the fact that the words don't match the lip movements is patently obvious. Music has been changed, music has been added where it didn't exist, and some scenes (which were very funny!) have been deleted entirely. For example - watch the trailer on the disc, the scene where she talks about not having kids until she is "at least 23" has been removed entirely. Why? The running time is only 84 minutes!

Fantastic film, but a huge thumbs down for Miramax. If the rest of the world is forced to listen to American slang and work it out using context, why can't the US listen to the slang from another country? I'm sure the writers of the Castle were less than thrilled to have their work altered in this way.

Then of course some American audiences are wondering about the rating - R. The only reason for this is the f... word. On a recent trip to the US I observed that 8 out of 12 films at a local cinema were rated R. In some cases these same films are rated 12-14 in Switzerland. For those wondering - the original rating on the Australian version was "M 15+ medium level course language"

Some might argue that American audiences would have be unable to understand an unaltered version, but please - is there really a big difference between "scooped it [icecream] out of the punnet" (original) and "scooped it out of the bowl" (US). Or the plane flying overhead is no longer from Brisbane, it is "Sydney to Melbourne" in the US version. "Tertiary education" is also deemed too difficult and is instead simplified to "College education". This is but a small selection....

So in short - fanstastic film - but I'm keeping my original VHS version. Should the Australian distributors ever decide to make this great film available on DVD for their own audiences, I'll be the first to buy a copy.

My text, despite what the system might say, refers to the *DVD* version of this film. I can only assume that the American VHS version has been similarly altered from the Australian version.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the BEST sleeper of 1999, September 29, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Castle (DVD)

Ok, so the video isn't out yet, but I'm one of the few people who actually saw this movie. Poor Miramax, they didn't market it very well, and thats unfortunate for them and for the general public. A hokey, funny, beyond charming story of a man, a family, and their home, which is THEIR castle. He can't understand how he got his home so cheap, soooo its next to an airport runway, and high tension wires are in his back yard. Its all theirs. Until... the airport wants to expand. How will they fight a huge corporation? The BEST movie to come out of Australia in years! I belong to a film symposium class that viewed this movie. Its the only movie of the year that actually got a standing ovation.