The film started filming in October 1965 and was shot at a number of locations in the area of Sydney: It was one of Muriel Steinbeck's last acting roles. Claire Dunne was working as a weather girl when cast in the female lead. Walter Chiari had previously visited Australia during the filming of On the Beach (1959), which starred his then-girlfriend Ava Gardner. £166,925 of the budget came from the NFFC and Rank, the rest from the production company Williamson-Powell International Films.

The film was one of a series of movies financed together by Rank and the NFFC. Powell obtained them three years later and brought in his long-time collaborator Emeric Pressburger, who wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym 'Richard Imrie.' Finance Michael Powell first read the novel in London in 1960 and wanted to turn it into a film but Peck had the rights. They're a Weird Mob was optioned in 1959 by Gregory Peck with him to direct but not appear, but he could not come up with a workable screenplay. Alida Chelli was the girlfriend of Walter Chiari, but almost did not get the part because she was thought to be too glamorous and might have upstaged Claire Dunne.

John O'Grady, the author of the novel, makes a cameo appearance as the grey-bearded drinker in the pub in the opening sequence of the film.John Hargreaves as Youth at Train Station (uncredited).Ken James as Bellboy at King's Cross Hotel (uncredited).Liza Goddard as Girl on Ferry (uncredited).Judi Farr as Hotel Telephonist (uncredited).Realising the impossibility of referring to the pope by that derogatory term, Harry gives in. Nino says 'If I am a dago, then so is he'. But this is undermined when Nino, sitting in the Kelly house notices a picture of the pope on the wall. Harry says he does not like writers, brickies or dagos. Ī tone of mild racism exists in the film between Anglo-Saxon/Anglo-Irish characters such as Kay Kelly's dad Harry (Chips Rafferty) and Nino. A romantic attraction builds between Nino and Kay despite her frosty exterior and her conservative Irish father's dislike of Italians. Nino endeavours to understand the aspirational values and social rituals of everyday urban Australians, and assimilate. Working as a labourer Nino becomes mates with his co-workers, despite some difficulties with Australian slang and culture of the 1960s. Nino declares that he will get a job and pay back the debt. However, on arrival in Sydney, Nino discovers that the cousin has abandoned the magazine, leaving a substantial debt to Kay Kelly. He expected to work for his cousin as a sports writer for an Italian language magazine. Nino Culotta is an Italian immigrant, newly arrived in Australia.

It was the penultimate collaboration of the British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. They're a Weird Mob is a 1966 Australian film based on the 1957 novel of the same name by John O'Grady under the pen name 'Nino Culotta', the name of the main character of the book.

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