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The Man From Snowy River - (1982)
Revisiting this George Miller-directed Australian classic after so many years, there were a few things about it that felt bizarre - not the least of which is the prominent use of Kirk Douglas, who gets lead billing and actually plays two twin brothers.
We're all taught about Banjo Paterson in school, with his poem "The Man From Snowy River" taking prominence - but I don't remember being led through the entire thing, because it's quite a lengthy piece of work for a poem and feels more like a short story written in prose. For it to be adapted into a feature film felt novel at the time, and in the years since the only thing about it that has lived on is it's score - it's most attractive feature, although the landscape is a cinematographer's dream and is made excellent use of. Despite being as Australian as Australian can be, Douglas seems to swoop in and steal all of the limelight - first as the goofy prospector Spur, and later in the film as Spur's twin brother and ranch owner, Harrison. The two characters feel more typical to American Westerns, which makes Snowy River all the more unusual for an Australian film.
The romantic hero role has Canadian-born Tom Burlinson being introduced - not the find of the century, and not someone who's career took off in later years. His love interest is played by the more substantial Sigrid Thornton, who had a significant Australian career, but never transitioned to the U.S. like so many Australian actors do these days. Also in the cast is Jack Thompson. It sticks pretty closely to the 'young man proving himself' arc - Jim Craig (Burlinson) sees his father die in an accident (that he's pretty much responsible for) and is thrown off his land, despite owning it. He finds work at Harrison's ranch, falls in love with his daughter, and spends much of the film showing everyone that he's really good at horse riding, rustling, whip-cracking, kissing, knot-tying, pouting, wood chopping and carrying a tea set. The climax involves the hunting down of a mob of horses to get Harrison's prize colt back - as per the poem. Great music and landscapes, along with many breathtaking shots of horses galloping - but the human drama aspect is somewhat cloy, with Burlinson and the screenplay not working for me.
I'd be interested to know what non-Australians think of it. It has a solid 7.2/10 on the IMDb, with a little more average 3.4/5 on letterboxd and a quite healty 85%/89% on Rotten Tomatoes.
6/10
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