Quigley Down Under [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of Quigley Down Under [VHS]
Movie Review: It's Tom Selleck at his leading-man finest...
Summary: 4 Stars
Matthew Quigley, a stoic rifleman arrives in Australia in the 1860s a world far away from his home Wyoming... He is answering an ad from a British landowner who will use his talents as an expert marksman...
But things don't go according to plan and, at supper, and after we hear these words, "Nobody knocks me out of my own house," Elliott Marston becomes his arch enemy...
Quigley's arrival sets the tone of the motion picture perfectly, coming into a fight with an evil plantation owner before he has even set foot on Australian soil where some genuinely funny moments happened especially when he met Crazy Cora right off the ship...
After a showy display of his talents (continuously hitting a bucket at about a thousand yards) Quigley discovers to his horror that he has been hired for sniping Aborigines encouraged by the local authorities...
Tom Selleck is excellent in the role of a cowboy, exuding natural charm, cool spirit and dignity... He perfectly suited to the role of the finest sharp shooter hero with a moral... There is a moment when he teaches local Aborigines a secret, and it hits the correct note...
Alan Rickman is perfect as Marston, the arrogant, clever bad baron who thinks himself the fastest six-gun...
Laura San Giacomo believes Quigley to be a man she once loved and whose name is Roy... She has her own tragic past as obviously her romance between Quigley and herself... San Giacomo proves to be a lovable heroine...
Director Simon Wincer creates outstanding scenery with the desolate Australian landscapes...
Movie Review: Half pretty good - Half pretty bad
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie suggests what sort of career Tom Selleck might have had if Westerns were in vogue. I prefer this gruff and grizzled persona. And he seemed to put his heart into it.
It helped that this movie had a superb director of horse operas, Simon Wincer, the Aussi director of PHAR LAP, THE LIGHTHORSEMEN (hopefully, there'll be a Region 1 DVDs available soon), and LONESOME DOVE. (I am particularly fond of his work in THE PHANTOM.)
There's a good supporting cast from Australia along with Britisher Alan Rickman who, as usual, kept stealing scenes as a rich rancher villain. Laura San Giacomo is a fine actress but she has an unfortunate role as a crazed American woman that joins the hero. Her role undermines the movie, taking away the "coolness" required of Westerns, probably becuz Selleck, as an actor, just can't compete with Laura.
But worse, there's a red gash across the plot of the movie called "hypocrisy". What does a white American have to teach white Australians about justice in the treatment of natives? Especially when the American situation is dismissed by Tom's character with one vague statement about the Indians not wanting to be forced from their lands. This is a situation that cries for clarification. But none is offered. Instead, along comes one of the most embarrassing plot turns political correctness has ever provoked: Laura San Giacomo's character finds and clings to an orphaned aboriginal infant as if it were her lost child.
I don't know if the Australian aboriginal people were that helpless -- where they need a fair-minded white man to rescue them. I know I don't like dark people depicted as helpless until a white person rescues them.
What's good about this movie -- Simon's direction, Tom's persona, Alan Rickman's villainy, the gunfights -- is dynamic and fun. What's bad about this film -- the crazed lady, the hypocrisy and the political correctness -- is abysmal.
Movie Review: Excellent and very entertaining
Summary: 5 Stars
My husband & I watch this frequently. My husband enjoys the accuracy of the filming of period details. Worth buying. Movie Review: Quigley
Summary: 4 Stars
Loved this movie. I watch it over and over. I gave this one as an Xmas gift.Movie Review: So Good Even My Aussie Friend Liked It!
Summary: 5 Stars
My friend in Australia and I occasionally exchange movies. She is a hard one to find something to her taste and is very picky, but she did enjoy this movie. Granted she did find fault, heh heh -- like when he is dragged behind a horse she said he would have been shredded, and the aboriginal turnout at the end would have taken the entire indiginous population of Australia together at once! (Me? I found that part touching!) Other than that though, she found it entertaining, so that must mean she thought the story did no damage to either country's image.
Now if I can just teach her to suspend disbelief and enjoy the story... LOL