Rats in the Ranks

Rats in the Ranks
Directed byRobin Anderson
Bob Connolly
Written byRobin Anderson
Bob Connolly
Produced byRobin Anderson
Bob Connolly
Chris Oliver (Executive Producer)
StarringLarry Hand
Nick Origlass
Kate Butler
Kath Hacking
CinematographyBob Connolly
Production
companies
Arundel Productions, Film Australia
Release date
  • 5 September 1996 (1996-09-05) (AUS)
Running time
93 min.
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Rats in the Ranks is an Australian documentary film released in 1996.

The film detailed the last weeks of the 1994 Leichhardt Council mayoral elections.

Anthony Albanese, then-Assistant General Secretary of the NSW Labor Party, proposed to the Labor caucus at the Leichhardt Council that they should solve their factional dispute over who should run for Mayor by pulling a name out of a hat[1][2].

The filmmakers, Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson (later known for Facing the Music and other projects, but already well known) were allowed access to the innermost meetings of participants including the serving mayor Larry Hand and his Labor Party opponents. Hand's exposure to a wider audience spawned the character Col Dunkley in the successful Australian TV series Grass Roots, and Rats in the Ranks is regarded as a classic in its portrayal of local politics in Australia.

Awards

Rats in the Ranks has been screened at more than forty film festivals and has won multiple awards, including the Silver Plaque for Social/Political Documentary at the Chicago International Film Festival in 1996, the 1996 Critics Choice Award for Documentary at the Sydney Film Festival,[3] and the Logie Award for most outstanding documentary series/program in 1998.

Box office

Rats in the Ranks grossed $200,000 at the box office in Australia.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The infamous scene in Rats in the Ranks featuring Anthony Albanese". The Canberra Times. 23 October 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2026.
  2. ↑ Hopman, Sally (21 May 2024). "Uncover the real story behind Rats in the Ranks - for one night only at the NFSA". Retrieved 16 May 2026.
  3. ↑ Rats in the Ranks. The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  4. ↑ "Australian Films at the Australian Box Office" (PDF). Film Victoria. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2012.


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