Product Details

• #25432 in VHS
• Released on: 2002-04-02
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.com
The Dish, a good-natured and effortlessly funny Australian drama-comedy directed by Rob Sitch (The Castle), is filled with warm-hearted characters and has a factual hook that's irresistibly inspiring. This cumulative goodwill springs forth from the rural town of Parkes in New South Wales, where a 1,000-ton radio observatory dish is recruited to relay telemetry, voice, and television signals from the historic Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969. To make sure the dish delivers Neil Armstrong's "giant leap for mankind" to 600 million eager viewers, site director Cliff Buxton (Sam Neill, at his gentle best) relies on a three-man crew consisting of an American NASA watchdog (Patrick Warburton, resembling a bearish Clark Kent), a sarcastic engineer (Kevin Harrington), and a lovestruck math whiz (Tom Long) who's pining for the sister of the dish's rather dimly overzealous security guard (Taylor Kane).

Numerous other supporting characters add color to the proceedings, and crises arise (albeit briefly) when power outage, signal loss, and windstorms threaten to spoil Parkes's proudest hour. It all rates a bit high on the cuteness meter, but The Dish is so smoothly amusing that you won't object to its eagerness to please. By focusing on the Aussie locals, the film reminds us that the moon landing was an occasion of global unity, and pride in all humanity is reflected in the wondrous smiles of Cliff, his crew, and the citizens of Parkes. That they played such a small but pivotal role in this historical milestone is just one of many joys to be discovered in this delightful little movie. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
A pleasant, even charming, movie, but so determinedly small-scale and personal that it flirts with innocuousness. In a remote, unknown Australian town, a group of local technicians, together with an American from NASA, man a giant telescope tracking the moon shot in 1969. All sorts of embarrassing snafus occur just as the whole world is watching, and the various ambitions and jealousies of the men play into the mess. There's a touching moment when the entire town gathers around the TV to watch Neil Armstrong's first step, and they all realize that he and they have become part of history. Rob Sitch directed. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker