Sundowners

Sundowners
by Fred Zinnemann

Sundowners
List Price: $14.98
Category: VHS Video
See more movie releases

Buy Sundowners at Amazon.com
(Click here)
Buy this VHS video movie at online store in your country
Canada

VHS Tape Cover Information

Actor: Deborah Kerr, Dina Merrill, Glynis Johns, Peter Ustinov, Robert Mitchum
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cinematographer: Jack Hildyard
Editor: Jack Harris
Producer: Gerry Blattner
Writer: Isobel Lennart
Writer: Jon Cleary
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 133 minutes
Release Date: 1994-01-18
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Studio: Warner Home Video

VHS Movie Reviews of Sundowners

Movie Review: From the Land Down Under Direct to Your Living Room - and Heart
Summary: 5 Stars

Few youngsters today have heard of this movie, even fewer have seen it, and their lives are quite a bit poorer for that lack.

In today's world of gun-blazing police tracking down the latest serial killer and movies that try to set records for how many cars they can smash up in ever more inventive ways, this movie stands out as impossibly warm-hearted and simple. It's the story of the Carmody family, itinerant sheep drovers in 1920's Australia, and the only gun in this story is one used to shoot rabbits for the family pot. What makes this movie so watchable are the great and finely nuanced performances by just about all the actors here: Robert Mitchum as a man who can't stand being tied down to one place, but nevertheless recognizes and respects his wife's desire for a permanent home; Deborah Kerr as a strong woman who'll take only so much idiocy from her husband, but who also always finds a way to forgive and understand; Peter Ustinov as a British expatriate who finds the concept of marriage disturbing but is always attracted to the fairer sex; Glynis Johns as the impossibly bright, cheerful, and non-stop chattering pub-owner - each performance is as solid as the hard soil of the Australian sheep country where this was filmed.

The scenery is impressive in its own right, with various indigenous Australian animals each coming in for their own cameo appearances, from kangaroos and koalas to emus and wombats. But the background that really impresses is the portrait of the sheep farming industry itself, from the large flocks of sheep to the shearing sheds to the rough-and-tough men who make their living from the sheep.

There's quite a bit of humor here, much of it provided by Ustinov and Johns, but the thing that sticks, and will cause a possible case of teary-eyed vision, is the relationship between Mitchum and Kerr. This is a marriage that won't fail, a bond much stronger than the vagaries and vicissitudes of life or even their disparate desires for a particular way of life. It's never overplayed, but you can sense the deep chemistry between these two from the opening minutes of the film and it never falls out of sight.

This movie was nominated for five Academy Awards, and though it won none of them, it's almost criminal that this movie has been largely forgotten. Perhaps finally having it available on DVD will rectify that situation.

---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Summary of Sundowners

An episodic account of a family of roving sheepherders in Australia. Paddy Carmody (Robert Mitchum) loves being "someone whose home is where the sun goes down," but his wife (Deborah Kerr) and teenage son are tired of the nomadic life and want to settle down. Director Fred Zinnemann (From Here to Eternity) takes a wonderfully laid-back approach to this likable material, emphasizing the refreshingly grown-up relationship between Mitchum and Kerr as well as the stark scenic attractions of Australia--a continent that, in 1960, was still unfamiliar terrain for the movies. Puckish, portly Peter Ustinov provides the lion's share of the comic relief. One of the high points is a sheep-shearing sequence (the normally self-assured Mitchum was so nervous about accidentally harming an animal that he required a few bottles of beer for fortification before shooting the scene). The Sundowners scored five Oscar nominations, including acting nods for Kerr and Glynis Johns, but won none. --Robert Horton

Drama VHS Video

VHS Video Movies
Movies most talked about in Best Picture Winners and Nominees, 1960 -- 1964
Zorba the Greek ImageZorba the Greek
Release date: 2004-08-03; DVD
Best price: $6.45
Price in other shops: $14.98
Mary Poppins (40th Anniversary Edition) ImageMary Poppins (40th Anniversary Edition)
Release date: 2004-12-14; DVD
Best price: $13.40
Price in other shops: $29.99
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Special Edition) ImageDr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Special Edition)
Sony; Release date: 2001-02-27; DVD
Best price: $4.91
Price in other shops: $14.94
Becket  (Letterboxed Edition) ImageBecket (Letterboxed Edition)
Mpi Home Video; Release date: 1994-10-17; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.32
Price in other shops: $29.98
My Fair Lady ImageMy Fair Lady
Warner Brothers; Release date: 1998-12-08; DVD
Best price: $12.81
Price in other shops: $19.98
Lilies of the Field ImageLilies of the Field
Release date: 2001-03-06; DVD
Best price: $6.85
Price in other shops: $14.98
How the West Was Won ImageHow the West Was Won
Release date: 2000-09-12; DVD
Best price: $7.73
Price in other shops: $14.98
Cleopatra (Five Star Collection) ImageCleopatra (Five Star Collection)
Release date: 2001-04-03; DVD
Best price: $33.71
America America (B&W) ImageAmerica America (B&W)
Warner Home Video; Release date: 1994-11-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $80.00
Tom Jones ImageTom Jones
Release date: 2001-06-19; DVD
Best price: $19.89
Similar VHS Movies
From Here to Eternity ImageFrom Here to Eternity
Sony; Release date: 2001-10-23; DVD
Best price: $6.97
Price in other shops: $14.94
King Solomon's Mines ImageKing Solomon's Mines
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2005-01-11; DVD
Best price: $11.64
Price in other shops: $19.98
The Innocents ImageThe Innocents
Release date: 2005-09-06; DVD
Best price: $6.87
Price in other shops: $14.98
Friendly Persuasion ImageFriendly Persuasion
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2000-12-05; DVD
Best price: $12.84
Price in other shops: $19.98
An Affair To Remember (50th Anniversary Edition) ImageAn Affair To Remember (50th Anniversary Edition)
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2008-01-15; DVD
Best price: $10.80
Price in other shops: $19.98
The Heiress (Universal Cinema Classics) ImageThe Heiress (Universal Cinema Classics)
Universal; Release date: 2007-02-06; DVD
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: $14.98
Becket ImageBecket
Release date: 2007-05-15; DVD
Best price: $13.37
Price in other shops: $24.98
Separate Tables ImageSeparate Tables
Release date: 2001-12-11; DVD
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops: $14.98
Home from the Hill ImageHome from the Hill
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-01-23; DVD
Best price: $11.48
Price in other shops: $19.98
Heaven Knows Mr. Allison ImageHeaven Knows Mr. Allison
Release date: 2003-05-20; DVD
Best price: $7.34
Price in other shops: $14.98
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners